In or out of the pea soup, inn sits pretty in York, Maine

This upstairs room at the Dockside Guest Quarters has a deck with a view. (Ellen Albanese/Globe Staff)

YORK, Maine - We arrived at Dockside Guest Quarters in a classic Maine pea-soup fog. Was that really a building 50 yards in front of us?

It was, a charmer of an old New England "cottage," three stories high with white clapboards, black shutters, and a wraparound porch furnished with wicker rockers. Even in the fog, we could see that the house overlooked water on three sides. Massive trees framed a view of lush green lawn running down to the sea, so close we could see the swift current.

We loved the gauzy look of York Harbor in the fog, an occasional mast piercing the mist, a curved bow moving in and out of view, the insistent cry of gulls punctuating the soft patter of rain. In the morning all was crisp and primary colored. White masts stood against a blue sky, and yellow black-eyed susans bobbed in the gardens.

The setting is the best thing about Dockside. Situated on a 7-acre private peninsula, the property overlooks York Harbor and Marina on one side and the Atlantic Ocean curving around the property on the other. It offers a variety of accommodations, from king or queen double rooms in the Maine House to housekeeping units to suites.

Our room on the second floor of the Maine House, accessed by an outdoor stairway, opened onto a deck with a great view. The room was large enough to contain a wicker loveseat and coffee table in addition to a king-size bed. The simple decor was decidedly nautical, with blue and white bed linens, and accent pieces, such as a small desk, in seafoam green. A few nautical prints and old maps hung on the walls. There was a good-sized closet with an iron and ironing board, clock radio, window air conditioner, television, and telephone.

Our bathroom was large, with soft yellow walls, a tile floor, and an old-fashioned freestanding clawfoot tub surrounded by a country check fabric shower curtain. We are not fans of these tubs, which tend to be difficult to get in and out of, and the 360-degree curtain made the shower feel slightly claustrophobic. There was decent lighting over the sink, however, a hair dryer on the wall, open shelves for storage, and glass drinking glasses.

In the afternoon we helped ourselves to coffee and tea and baked goods set out on the first floor of the Maine House. The "continental plus" buffet breakfast included fruit, pastries, baked eggs in custard cups, and sausage. Guests can eat in the dining room or on the porch or fix up a tray to take back to their room.

With its wide floor boards, slate blue walls, fireplace, and big windows, the house has a homey, family feel. Dockside is in fact a family operation. Innkeeper Eric Lusty runs the inn founded by his parents, David and Harriette, in 1954. His brother Philip runs the on-site restaurant, a gray clapboard building at the water's edge with a terrific screened porch overlooking the marina and a menu focused, not surprisingly, on seafood.

At dinner we enjoyed seafood chowder, chock-full of haddock, shrimp, crab, and scallops. Grilled salmon was served with asparagus cooked just right atop a massive pool of polenta. Grilled prime rib was an unusual but successful treatment, served with roasted red potatoes and fresh green beans. For dessert we shared a Dockside hickory stick: vanilla ice cream inside a cookie crumb coating, topped with an intense fudge sauce that saved it from being ho-hum. The food was better than average, but not great. As with the inn itself, the real draw is the setting. And on a night when fog blotted out landmarks, it was a treat to walk just across the lawn to dinner.

Ellen Albanese can be reached at ealbanese@globe.com.