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By Virginia Butterfield
The six bedrooms in the main house and nine rooms in the cottages that dot the property are furnished in genuine antiques. Each borrows its theme from a facet of Craftsman decor—European design, the Aesthetic Movement or Oriental influence. Built-in cupboards conceal such modern conveniences as a television, minibar (complimentary) and hookups for phone and computer. Private baths feature claw-foot tubs, each with a rubber ducky.
“We’ve been coming to Santa Barbara for 25 years,” says one guest from Orange County who has interrupted his reading on the porch for a glass of iced tea in the dining room. About every third year, he and his wife leave the kids at home and make reservations at Simpson House. “I don’t want to swim,” he says. “I don’t want to mingle or make new friends. I just want to get away from everything to read and eat and not even take a walk into town.”
Excursions and historical walks are available in the vicinity, and a few theaters can be counted on for evening entertainment, but many visitors never leave the manicured grounds. This is a hideaway, a spot of guaranteed privacy for the individual who enjoys being alone and even demands anonymity. Talk at breakfast or at the evening wine-and-hor-d’oeuvres hour is not about IPOs but about the basil-mushroom-feta crêpes or the Santa Barbara County wines and tomato-mozzarella compotes.
As for careful service, those 35 staff members are skillfully present every minute. No sooner is a wish expressed than an attendant materializes—a snack, a drink, a book, a video—all appear like magic.
IF YOU GO: The Simpson House is at 121 East Arrellaga Street in Santa Barbara, about an hour and a half’s drive north of Los Angeles. Rooms range from $200 to $500, with most in the higher category. Reservations, especially for weekends, should be made 12 weeks ahead at 800-676-1280.
—Virginia Butterfield
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