NEWPORT, R.I. -- A stay at Castle Hill Inn and Resort is luxurious. Bedrooms have fireplaces and whirlpool tubs, afternoon tea is set out in a second-floor parlor, and gourmet meals are served in a peninsula-shaped dining room overlooking Narragansett Bay.
We drove to Castle Hill directly into a late-fall blizzard. We were welcomed sympathetically, ushered to a sofa in front of a blazing fire, and offered sandwiches.
The inn sits on a promontory on Newport's southwestern shore. From the dining room, we could see a lighthouse (or at least glimpse its beacon through the driving snow) and hear the steady sounding of a foghorn. The main inn was built in 1874 as a summer retreat for Alexander Agassiz, marine biologist, oceanographer, and director of the Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology. Accent pieces -- furniture and wall decor -- have an Asian look, and we learned later that Agassiz (1835-1910) traveled extensively in China. Our room in the main house, was a small (10-by-16 feet) dormer room, with a cathedral ceiling, four-post queen bed with half-canopy, and gas fireplace. There was a small television and a CD-clock radio with an assortment of CDs. The bath had a whirlpool tub for two, a shower, a big sink with lots of storage underneath, a hair dryer, and toiletries.
The 40-acre estate has several room options. Harbor House rooms offer a panoramic view of the bay. Beach House rooms are set directly on a private beach. All have a fireplace and either a whirlpool or an old-fashioned tub.
Castle Hill is quiet and feels aristocratic. At breakfast, the waitstaff wear khakis, white shirts, and ties; dinner waiters wear suits. Among guests, the conversation is of stock prices and cholesterol levels.
The food is outstanding. Breakfast choices include eggs Benedict, omelets, Maine lobster hash with poached eggs, quiche, Belgian waffles, specials by executive chef Casey Riley, a New Mexico transplant who likes to fuse Southwestern and New England cuisine.
Dinner was Georges Bank scallops with porcini and served with a potato gaufrette and roasted chestnut cream, lamb rib roast crusted with garlic and pine nuts, beef filet with smoked Gouda potato gratin. Desserts were art: A butterscotch creme brulee arrived in a dish shaped like a chambered nautilus, topped with a Seckel pear poached in port wine perched on a nest of spun sugar.
Then there is tea. Between 4 and 6 p.m., guests gather in a second-floor parlor by a gas fireplace. From an antique cabinet holding some 40 blends of tea, guests make their choice and a trained brewer custom-brews and serves as you munch cucumber or watercress sandwiches, salmon mousse, homemade scones, biscotti, lemon curd, and fresh berries and cream.
Such luxury comes at a price. We took advantage of an off-season special and still spent more than $700 for the weekend for two, including two nights' lodging, two breakfasts, one dinner, and a Newport mansion tour. In high season, one night in the two-level Turret Suite in the main inn, with 360-degree views of Narragansett Bay, can be $1,450, double occupancy.
The best clue to the high-end clientele this inn targets may be the selection of magazines on the bedside table. I was remotely familiar with Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, Garden Design, and Spa Finder. But who knew there was a magazine called Jewelry Connoisseur?
Ellen Albanese can be reached at ealbanese@globe.com.
