Oregon's Inspected and Approved Bed and Breakfasts

All B&Bs are not alike. That's one of the great things about B&B, but it's also what makes choosing just the right one for each traveler a challenge. When making your decision on where to book, we suggest that you choose a member of the Oregon Bed and Breakfast Guild which has been inspected and approved and follows the Guild's Standards and Ethics.

Did you know that in the State of Oregon a bed and breakfast with 2 or less rooms are not required to meet any state or county standards?! There is no inspection by county health departments, no food handlers training or permit is required and no entity checks to see if there is even any commercial liability insurance to protect you if you are injured on their property. If they have their own private water system, no county or state agency is checking to see if the water supply is safe.

You never have to worry about any of that when choosing a B&B that is a member of the Oregon Bed and Breakfast Guild! The member inns of the Oregon Bed and Breakfast Guild (OBBG) have all been inspected and approved by OBBG and even it's small 1 or 2 bedroom B&B members meet state standards and more importantly, OBBG standards which are even higher than the state in many cases!

Here at Sandlake Country Inn we have been proud members of OBBG for more than 15 years and are also licensed and inspected by not only OBBG, but also our county health department twice a year with surprise inspections. Sandlake Country Inn has also been certified "Green" by the OBBG Green Inspected Program.

When making your choice of where to stay, choosing a B&B is a great choice, and choosing an Inspected and Approved Oregon Bed and Breakfast is is not only a great choice, but you can rest assured that you'll be healthy and safe too!

Diane Emineth
Sandlake Country Inn 
8505 Galloway Rd
Cloverdale, OR 97112
"Your Romantic Getaway near Pacific City Oregon"

Our Home Roast Rocks!

Here at Sandlake Country Inn, we take coffee seriously! Ron has been roasting our green beans about 4 years now. The beans we purchase are organic, AAA & free trade! Even our home roast decaf is chemical free using the Swiss water system.

Enjoy Ron's home roast which we deliver to your door before breakfast, and for the rest of your day if you ever want a great cup of coffee, just help yourself to our 24 hour beverage table. There we have a Flavia beverage system with a variety of coffees. We also have a large variety of Stash Teas which are a local Oregon company.

Sandlake Country Inn is a certified "Green Lodging" property and we are proud of being able to offer luxury accommodations which are able to meet green standards. Whenever possible we purchase products made in Oregon. Not only does it help stimulate our state's economy, but it's a great way to lower our carbon footprint. The least distance a product has to travel the better it is for the environment.

Earth Day, April 22, 2010

Earth Day and Being Green

It's been encouraging to see how going "green" has become mainstream. We still have a long way to go as a society, but Oregon businesses have really been in the forefront.

We have been using green practices for many years here at Sandlake Country Inn, but now with the help of the Oregon Bed and Breakfast Guild's partnership with the group Sustainable Travel International, we became a certified "Green Lodging Establishment"in 2008! Be careful of those businesses who are "green washing"! That's the practice of just claiming they're green but are not able to provide proof.

Going "Green" doesn't have to mean that you can't enjoy luxury! In fact, most of our guests over the years have no idea that when they stay with us we are a "green" property.

Since we purchased the inn 9 years ago, we have made a commitment of our business practices to promote the sustainability of our planet's natural resources. Here are a few things we have done to help

• Compost
• Recycle
• Buy locally when possible
  
• Use environmentally friendly cleaning products with all natural ingredients
  
• Use durable products instead of throw away
• Use e-mail for most all business communications
  
• All bubble baths, soaps & lotions are environmentally friendly...no chemicals, all natural products
• Purchase our lotions & bubble bath in bulk & provide each guests room with reusable glass containers instead of disposable travel bottles
• When an appliance breaks, we've replaced it with an energy efficient appliance.
• Purchased a TerraPass for each of our vehicles to eliminate it's carbon footprint
• Replaced light bulbs wherever possible with florescent or LED blubs
• Encourage our guests to reuse their towels if they feel comfortable doing so
• Reusable grocery bags when shopping (Costco has great ones 3 in a pack for $4.00)

Come celebrate Earth Day 2010 with us! We'll show you how our Oregon Coast Lodging mixes green practices and affordable without any hassles or attitude!

Oregon Coast Bed and Breakfast Celebrates Oregon's Bounty

Here at Sandlake Country Inn you can experience Oregon's Bounty in many ways. All you have to do is look out your window of your suite or take a walk. Don't be surprised if you see deer, beaver, a multitude of birds and amazing beauty. Take a walk on the nearby beaches and the bounty of beauty will astound you.

As part of our commitment to being "green", we purchase local and regional foods and products when possible. For an example, our exceptionally comfortable Englander Eurotop beds are made in Oregon, we use our local Tillamook Cheese for all our cooking and we buy only Pacific Seafood smoked salmon for our Togetherness Baskets. That's just a fraction of what we do to not only promote green practices, but we feel it's very important to help promote our local economy and businesses.

In our historic farmhouse which was built in 1894, the original homesteader was the very first cranberry grower in Oregon! His name was W.C. King and he became known as "The Cranberry King". His original property here was approximately 250 acres and so he had plenty of room to grow his cranberries. To harvest the berries, he would block the creeks (there are 2 on our property) which would flood the fields. The cranberries float to the top of the water and then are harvested. The areas around us now are mostly dairy farms, but there still are a few Ocean Spray cranberry growers left.

This time of year fresh produce is a bit limited, but Oregon is fortunate to have fresh cranberries, apples and pears. When you stay with us, you will have an amazing 4 course breakfast delivered to your door each morning. The menu changes every morning, but you always will get some kind of fruit course. One of our guest's favorite this time of year is my Apple Cranberry Crisp. Sometime I will also add fresh pears with the apples.

To help celebrate Oregon's Bounty, I thought I would share this favorite recipe with you! Better yet, come and stay at our Oregon Coast Bed and Breakfast and I'll make for you. No dishes to wash up!

Apple Cranberry Crisp

1 12 Oz Packages Fresh or Frozen Cranberries
4 Cups Chopped Apples (or a combo of apples and pears)
2 Tbl. Butter, cut up
1 1/4 Cups Sugar
3/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts (or Oregon Hazelnuts)
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Butter, melted
1 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup Flour
Whipped Cream or Ice Cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease bottom of 13x9 baking dish. Toss berries & apples in dish. Dot cranberry mixture with butter. Sprinkle evenly with the 1 1/4 cup sugar and nuts. In bowl, whisk eggs, melted butter, 1 cup sugar and flour. Pour over top of berry mixture. Bake 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Top with whipped cream. Serves 8

Sandlake Country Inn in the News

Shipwreck-turned-B&B earns green lodging award

Kyle Boggs
Headlight-Herald Staff

SANDLAKE - Sand Lake in south Tillamook County... is not often associated with sustainable tourism.

But the area's Sandlake Country Inn is the only bed and breakfast on the Oregon coast - one of just five statewide - to be recognized with a "green" certificate from the Oregon Bed and Breakfast's Guild.

The inn, located a half-mile from the Sandlake Store down Galloway Road, was built with timbers recovered from an 1890 shipwreck.

On Christmas morning 118 years ago, the ship Struan, carrying a load of bridge timbers from Canada to Australia, washed ashore just south of Cape Lookout.

Local families scrambled to gather some of the million-plus board feet of planks to build homes and farm buildings, said Paul King, grandson of the home's original owner, W.C. King.

The home was converted to a bed and breakfast in 1989 and purchased by its current owners, Diane and Ron Emineth, in 2001.

Diane Emineth said she is pleased that the inn is on the Oregon Historic Registry but even more excited about its environmentally-friendly certification, awarded December 2008.

"Most people don't choose lodging because it's 'green,'" she said, "but they're usually very happy when they find out it is."

Among the steps taken by the couple to ensure environmental friendliness is to recycle everything possible.

Emineth was quick to point out they haven't had trash pick-up for six years. Instead, they compost, feeding leftover oats and grain to neighboring horses and taking garbage to the transfer station about once a month in the busy season.

The glass decanters in the guest rooms that hold shampoo, conditioner and soaps add to the inn's elegance, but more importantly, said Emineth, they substitute for other hotels' plastic mini-bottles that end up in guests' wastebaskets.

Other amenities at the bed and breakfast include a private deck for each of the three rooms (there is also a guest cottage) and a private jacuzzi in each bathroom.

"About 80 percent of our stays are people celebrating either honeymoons, birthdays, anniversaries or some sort of special occasions," said Emineth.

The inn was recognized by Inn Travelers magazine as the publication's "most romantic hideaway" in 2005 and again in 2006.

Emineth said the couple's inn also has been cited in the Best Places to Kiss Northwest travel guide and Best Places to Kiss Cookbook.

Emineth said room reservations are necessary in the summertime and recommended year-round. They can be made by calling (503) 965-6745, toll free at 1-877-726-3525, or online at www.sandlakecountryinn.com.

Emineth is organizing an aspiring-innkeeper seminar April 5-8. Information is available at www.bedandbreakfastseminars.com.

Green Lodging Certification

It's official, Sandlake Country Inn is now a certified green lodging property! What does this mean? It means that we have met the guidelines of the Oregon Bed and Breakfast Guild's "Green Inspection Program". This program has been developed with a partnership with Sustainable Travel International.

Going "Green" doesn't have to mean that you can't enjoy luxury! In fact, most of our guests over the years have no idea that when they stay with us we are a "green" property.

Since we purchased the inn 7+ years ago, we have made a commitment of our business practices to promote the sustainability of our planet's natural resources. Here are a few things we have done to help

• Compost
• Recycle
• Buy locally when possible
  
• Use environmentally friendly cleaning products with all natural ingredients
  
• Use durable products instead of throw away
• Use e-mail for most all business communications
  
• All bubble baths & lotions are environmentally friendly...no chemicals, all natural products
• Purchase our lotions & bubble bath in bulk & provide each guest room with reusable glass containers instead of disposable travel bottles
• When an appliance breaks, we've replaced it with an energy efficient appliance.
• Purchased a TerraPass for each of our vehicles to eliminate it's carbon footprint
• Replaced light bulbs whenever possible with florescent or LED blubs
• Encourage our guests to reuse their towels if they feel comfortable doing so
• Reusable grocery bags when shopping (Costco has great ones 3 in a pack for $4.00)
  

We will soon make Green Tags available to our guests who want to help mitigate the carbon footprint of their trip. Sustainable Travel International is providing U.S.-based Green Tags from the portfolio of activities managed by the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. BEF is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping stabilize our rapidly changing climate by providing high-quality, Green-e certified renewable energy certificates they call Green Tags. BEF operates projects that meet strict eligibility and performance criteria based on national standards.