‘Special’ Welsh Hills Inn offers lots to do, enjoy and explore

        Welsh Hills Inn in Granville, Ohio, is a special place. Really special. Location, features, beauty, activities and, most of all, the wonderful couple that leaves no stone unturned in making occupants feel welcome, important, and totally relaxed.              
        And the Inn’s dogs –– we can’t forget the dogs, Wrigley and Dakota. Their opinion counts. A sign at the entrance establishes their exalted place at the Inn. It says that you must have their approval before entering. Don’t worry, they love everyone –– they’re as welcoming as Innkeepers Bobbi and Jeff Noe.
        Stay there once and you’ll start thinking about when your next visit might be. It’s that kind of place. So many people agree that the Inn is routinely voted one of America’s best inns. So good that TripAdvisor has ranked it the top B&B Inn in the US, and fourth in the world.
        Not only is the Inn wonderful and prides itself on offering a wide variety of activities and settings, but it’s an easy drive to fine dining options, fun shopping in a classic and college town, and plenty of rolling wooded scenery to enjoy no matter what direction you go.
        The rolling scenery is amazing, both in its beauty and its roots as a product of Ohio’s glaciers.
        “Welsh families looking to start new in America settled this area that reminded them of their homeland,” Jeff Noe said. “The Welsh Hills isn’t a large area, only about 2,000 acres, but the land is fertile and scenic.”
        It’s all a gift of the last glacier to bulldoze northern Ohio, leaving behind an undulating landscape of deposits –– an end moraine –– when it retreated. Since then nature has done an incredible job of redecorating the Welsh Hills.
        There are 15 natural acres at Welsh Hills Inn, laced with nature trails to escape and enjoy the scenery and wildlife.
        If you feel like doing something else outside, there are English gardens to stroll in, a lighted clay bocce ball court, and a stocked pond for fishing. No fishing gear? No problem. Bobbi and Jeff will fix you up. Don’t feel like being active? No problem. Claim an outdoor rocker and enjoy the view. Feel like a nap? Try one of the outdoor hammocks.
        Arrange for a massage, gather around and warm up with an evening fire in the outdoor fireplace. Shoot targets or clays at the Inn’s range, bike the area’s quiet roads.
        Like movies? So do Bobbi and Jeff. The nicely appointed swimming pool building is set up for viewing movies selected from a huge library of current and classics.
        It’s that kind of place. Lots to do and explore.
        But mostly it’s relaxing, romantic, and everything is high quality, including the wonderful breakfasts that Jeff Noe personally conjures up every morning.
        For more information go to welshhillsinn.com. For featured sites in the surrounding area start with Explore Licking County at explorelc.org.
        Granville is about a two and one-half hour drive from our area.