The Inn at Camden Place is a bit of a hybrid inn-boutique hotel. It’s a very basic inn, without all the amenities of a hotel or bed & breakfast, but still had a small, charming feeling. We enjoyed chatting with the inn keeper, Judy, but found that most of the other guests beat us in age by a good 30 years (I guess when you kayak & cycle, that’s how you become known as the “young, active people.”)
Our room, an Acadia Room, was quite large, which was great since we stayed there for a few days. It had a large king size bed, a TV hidden inside a beautiful wardrobe, two comfortable chairs, an ottoman, & a desk (which oddly enough didn’t have a chair at it – the ottoman made a nice desk chair for our purposes). The bathroom was small & simple, but fine for our needs. We were lulled to sleep by the sound of rushing water throughout the night coming from a small waterfall that runs under the neighboring building (the entire complex used to be a textile mill). Housekeeping didn’t service our room one day, for some reason, but Judy took the time to freshen things up for us. The eco-conscious visitor will enjoy the fact that all the provided bath products are environmentally friendly (although they only provide shower gel, not bar soap), & there is an inn-wide recycling program.
We enjoyed 24 hour access to filtered water & coffee & tea in the lobby. The inn doesn’t offer any sort of breakfast, which makes the price a bit hard to justify, but also gives you a chance to discover the fantastic breakfast options in town (the Marriner’s Restaurant has blueberry pancakes which deserve their own blog post!). The lobby common area was nice, & Judy even let us store our rented bikes in there.
The central location of the Inn at Camden Place absolutely can’t be beat. While the interior feels a bit more like a basic hotel then a well put together bed & breakfast (they could really benefit from an interior designer, some more art on the walls of the guest rooms & greater attention to the little design details, like the quarter-round that was only on two walls of our room), the ability to walk out the front door into downtown is worth the compromise.
Things to know if you go…
– Most of the rooms are up at least one set of stairs & you will have to carry your own luggage.
– The front desk is staffed from 8am-8pm, with an emergency number left for guests outside those hours. If you arrive after 8pm, your room key will be left in an envelope outside the front door.
– Try 40 Paper across the street – it’s a wonderful Italian bistro tucked into an office building in a bit of an off-beat location. The vibe is fun & different from the rest of Camden’s laid-back-seafood-vibe.<
– If you’re in need of laundry services while in the Camden-Rockport-Rockland area, Clean Bee Laundry has coin machines (without the sketchy laundromat feeling) & same day wash & fold service. They’re a lifesaver to those of us determined to pack for a 10-day, active vacation with only a carry on! Their rates were very reasonable & our wash & fold clothes were finished in just a few hours.
Leave a Reply