The Tinder Guest House

My husband and I used to go to bed and breakfast accommodations in Virginia before we had children. Now that we are empty nesters, we have decided to go back to this type of trip. We booked a Thursday night at The Tinder Guest House ($143), because we were going to pick up our daughter Friday morning in Richmond. We felt that Ashland was a good choice because we could leave home but be near Richmond the next day. We had a good experience at TGH. This is not a bed and breakfast in the truest sense - there is no hot breakfast, multiple rooms or an innkeeper on site. But the charm, accommodations and hospitality are all the same. The guest house is a former (Hughes) drug store that was built in the late 1800s. There is one guest room - former office space that has been converted into a bedroom with a comfortable queen bed and period furniture. It is cozy and clean, and the bedding is plush and warm. I liked the old building - it has a lot of character with creaky floors and a past that made me wonder about the people who walked the hall and sat in the rooms more than 100 years ago. In previous years, the upstairs had more bedrooms for guests, but now there is one and someone rents a second bedroom. That person has their own bathroom. If we hadn't been told there was a tenant, we would never have known - it was a quiet night. The guest room is stocked with a coffee/tea maker, water and juice bottles, cookies and muffins for the morning. The bathroom and a sitting/reading room and game room are down the hall from the guest bedroom. We visited just before Christmas and the rooms were nicely decorated for the season, including a little Christmas tree in the sitting/reading room. There, the owner, Sharon McKenna, has a white binder filled with things to do in Ashland and surrounding areas. There also is a bulletin board with need-to-know phone numbers, books, and a TV, though you may be content to wait for the trains to go by - the guest house faces S. Railroad Avenue. TGH is near everything - charming shops, Randolph-Macon College and Richmond is less than 30 minutes away. We visited a feed and seed store and picked up a chocolate chess pie from Homemades by Suzanne. If you book a room, be aware that trains pass right by the building. I grew up near a Navy base and am used to hearing jet noise. The trains were quiet in comparison and did not bother me. If you think you might be annoyed, Sharon has a white noise machine in the guest room. She also offers a $20 gift card to Origin Beer Lab, which is downstairs. There is a separate entrance to TGH and Origin. One note: You have to climb up a narrow, steep staircase to get to the guest room, similar to a "walk-up" apartment. I am struggling with a leg injury, and it was a bit of a challenge. Keep this in mind if you are disabled or have leg trouble.

If trains are your thing and all-things-railroading is your mojo, then this is the place for you! From the hallways adorned with classic railroad photographs to the reading room & game room facing the CSX tracks, you will be in railroad heaven here. The bedroom is spacious and comfortable, the game room was fun, and the reading room had more material than I had time to read. The host, Sharon, was very accommodating and extremely passionate about trains as well. IF, and that's a big IF, there was a "drawback" to the Tinder Guest House is that the TVs (one in the bedroom and one in the reading room) are digital over-the-air (in other words, no HBO/Cinemax). BUT the property has a strong Wi-Fi and you could use a HDMI Roku/streaming stick if you really want to watch TV. My advice, turn off the tube, and look out the window! Better yet, go downstairs, and take in the vibe of this quaint town!!