While on their honeymoon in 1998, Orquida and Dan Ingraham had the pleasure of staying at a couple of very impressive bed & breakfast inns in Arizona and New Mexico. It was their first B&B experience and it ended up changing their lives. It was at that moment that they realized they had stumbled across their future careers and lifestyle. Within four years, in the summer of 2002, they left their townhouse and jobs in Northern Virginia and bought this magnificent house in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains to become innkeepers.
 
It certainly hasn’t always been smooth sailing, what with no experience and a 160 year-old house to deal with. But after ten years and serving well over 9,000 guests, they’re starting to get this innkeeping thing figured out.  Of course there are always challenges and more things to learn, but that’s what makes it interesting.  What makes it fun is the opportunity to meet so many kind and interesting people from across the country and around the world.  They wouldn’t change that for anything.

Orquida (or-KWEE-dah) hails from Northern Virginia, by way of Miami where she was born.  She graduated from Marymount University and prior to becoming an innkeeper spent over a decade in various accounting positions, primarily with defense contractors.  She worked long hours back then too, but now the commute is much shorter.

Orquida plans and prepares those fantastic breakfasts each day and serves as caring hostess to all of our great guests. She spends a lot of her time making sure that all of the rooms are perfect for the next folks checking in. She actually enjoys cleaning (well, most of the time).  Dan thinks she’s got an addiction to vacuuming, but she swears she doesn’t.

Dan (DANN) is originally from Western New York, but moved to the mid-Atlantic to attend college (Georgetown University) and ultimately grad school (George Mason University). He was also an accountant for most of his corporate life and is really, really, really happy to be out of that now. Really happy.

Dan spends most of his time behind the scenes on the business side of things, and trying to maintain this old house, keeping the lawn and gardens looking good, and in the summer, making sure the pool is clean and clear. His cooking role is generally limited to making the bacon or sausage for breakfast (‘cause it’s hard to screw that up). He’s also the primary cookie maker.  Dan is also very active in the Bed and Breakfast Association of Virginia, where he has served as President and is now its treasurer.  

Orquida and Dan are both huge dog lovers.  They currently are the proud caretakers of Fritz and Pansey, two dogs rescued together in 2009 from the Almost Home Pet Adoption Center in nearby Lovingston.  These two are a challenge in their own right, but provide great companionship and entertainment, and great love for each other.