Chiff Chaffs bed and breakfasy in Poulsbo Washington in Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com

The front door of Chiff Chaffs B&B made
me feel I was welcomed by old friends.

It was like I’d arrived at a friend’s home when I drove into the gravel driveway in front of the Chiff Chaffs Bed & Breakfast on the Kitsap Peninsula, just outside of Poulsbo, Washington.

Owner and hostess Jarilyn showed me into a comfortable living room with fireplace and piano and tall windows that let in a wash of summer light. Since she had to run a few errands, her husband Mike helped me carry my bag upstairs to Ellen’s Suite. He handed me front door and room keys attached to a dangle of silver and blue crystal beads.

The comfortable living room
with fireplace and piano is awash
with summer light from tall windows.

Ellen’s Suite, with views of Poulsbo across
the bay, has a queen-size pillow-top bed
with a white emboss-stitched coverlet.

We returned to sit in the living room for a chat. I was immediately sniffed by and introduced to Tucker, Mike and Jarilyn’s 18-month-old Golden retriever. Apparently satisfied that I was an acceptable guest, he laid down on the carpet to take a nap.

This house on Poulsbo’s Liberty Bay was built in the 1920s as a beach cabin. It underwent a renovation in 1971, and Mike and Jarilyn purchased it two years ago.

“It was pretty much a disaster area,” Mike recalls. The renovating-redoing kitchen doors, trim, landscaping-took a year and a half. They chose not to go with Poulsbo’s reigning Norwegian theme, because, as Mike says, the architectural structure of the house "isn’t very Norwegian.”

Prior to moving to the Kitsap Peninsula, Mike and Jarilyn lived in a Georgian house in Seattle, which they had in mind for a B&B. They tried for two years, but ran into a “dead end against the city council”, so they decided to move away from the city.

They’d already had a lot of experience doing renovations, but this is “a dream,” says Mike.

He and Jarilyn “agonized over the name” for their new B&B. Then Jarilyn’s best friend brought her mother from England to visit. One morning the Englishwoman said, “What’s that chiff chaff? It sounds like birds.” She told Mike and Jarilyn it’s the sound a small grey English warbler makes. They loved the sound of it and took it for the name.

“It’s a conversation starter, alright,” Mike says.

They opened their new B&B the first of August 2005 Mike says, "and never looked back.”

Ensuite bathrooms feature “bubblemassage” hydrotherapy tubs and heated towel racks.

Jacob’s Suite’s welcoming king-size bed.
(Photo courtesy Chiff Chaffs.)

He adds, “When we planned this out we thought ten to fifteen bed nights a month would be okay. The first month we did 24!” Though they’re booked a good deal of the time, they see no reason to expand from two suites. “We don’t want to compromise the neighborhood."

Chiff Chaffs offers two accommodations are Ellen’s Suite and Jacob’s Suite. Again they agonized over names, finally selecting them from Ellen and Jacob Jordal, “the Norwegian couple we bought the house from.” Jacob’s Suite, with its pillow-top king-size bed and sleeper sofa, has outside access directly to a Jacuzzi. The sitting area may be closed off from the bedroom.

Ellen’s Suite, with its view of the town of Poulsbo across the bay, has a queen-size pillow-top bed with a white emboss-stitched coverlet. Ensuite bathrooms feature bubblemassage hydrotherapy tubs and heated towel racks. In keeping with Chiff Chaffs English décor, a tiny night light is a beaded half lamp shade. Colors are pastel blues and fawn.

Jacob’s Suite’s private patio —
perfect for a little tête-a-tête.
(Photo courtesy Chiff Chaffs.)

My idea of a treat is drinking
fresh-squeezed orange juice
while someone else cooks.

Mike and Jarilyn have thought of everything: cable TV, fireplaces, robes, wireless high speed internet access and full breakfasts.

A grandfather clock chimes the hour for breakfast the next morning. Jarilyn is a genie in the kitchen. Breakfast consists of almond whole wheat waffles with a mango blackberry sauce topped with fresh blueberries, served on blue and white Spode and Delftware. There’s also a homemade-this-morning tray of warm blueberry muffins. And on any cool northwest morning, Tucker lying under the table is a welcome foot warmer.

“My grandma always said, ‘Treat your family like company and treat your company like family’,” Jarilyn says.

While preparing breakfast, Jarilyn tells me, “We travel all over, and I think what would I like? For me coming back and finding someone has made the bed and cleaned up the bathroom is a real treat.”

My idea of a treat is to start the morning seated at a center island breakfast bar drinking fresh-squeezed orange juice while someone else cooks.

“I’m going to dash out and pick some chives for us,” she says. “Be right back.” Outside the door is her kitchen garden, which is “finally growing oregano for me.” Next year she promises the garden will have blueberries.

Almond whole wheat waffles with a
mango blackberry sauce topped with
fresh blueberries, served on blue and
white Spode and Delftware.

The next morning, while preparing ham and scrambled eggs over herbed popovers with oregano sauce, Jarilyn talks a little about her life. She moved to the Seattle area from North Dakota in the 9^th grade, while Mike’s lived here all his life. “Grandpa Artie showed us how to buy our first FHA repo, with no money due for ten months. We could fix it up, and that’s how we managed to move up in the world.” Chiff Chaffs is their 7^th renovation and the ultimate one, she says.

On cool Northwest mornings, Tucker
is a welcome foot warmer.

“In 1993 we stayed for the first time in a B&B in England and fell in love with the whole concept.”

She says Mike couldn’t envision how he’d fit in the mix until they went to Ireland, which he loved. In inns there he saw gentlemen greeting guests, telling them about the neighborhood and showing them around and told her, “I can do that.”

Jarilyn removes from her oven a tray of fresh scones-that was that terrific smell making my mouth water-and says, “I was always trying to be a stay-at-home mom but then (this dream) happened after the kids were grown.”

"I can't wait for you to try these
berry scones," Jarilyn says.

I admire the scones with their berry center. “I kind of adapted them,” she says. “I can’t wait for you to try them.”

Mike and Jarilyn try to travel to Europe every three years. “We’ve been doing it since the kids were little.” Chiff Chaffs is based on the couple’s dream vision of a European waterfront inn.

Jarilyn's vision has helped make Chiff Chaffs a success: “We try to make people feel like they want to come back." As a result they've had a lot of repeat business. Then she laughs and says, "Tucker gets more comments in the guest book than we do.”

Take your coffee into the English
garden or down to the beachfront
to see Great Blue Herons or Bald Eagles.

— Feature and all photos unless noted
by Carolyn Proctor,
Jetsetters Magazine
Adventure Editor.

One guest wrote, “Tucker is our new best friend.” Others used the feathered pen to write: “Your official greeter is awesome”, and “Tucker added to the ‘just like home’ ambiance.”

Besides raves about sunrises, breakfast scones and popovers, and the graceful hospitality of Mike and Jarilyn, another guest wrote, “Can’t wait to spend more time watching the bay from the hot tub.”

Chiff Chaffs Bed & Breakfast is best summed up in the words of guests Mabs and Chris Sanok of Port Townsend, WA. “Just the escape we needed. Thank you.”

Chiff Chaffs
Bed & Breakfast
18388 Shallow Bay Ave NW
Poulsbo, WA 98370
360/779-6443
www.chiffchaffs.com
info@chiffchaffs.com