When Brian McGregor and Linda Aardema moved to Hillsdale, they didn’t expect to start a business.
“We moved here with no intention of opening a bed-and-breakfast,” Aardema said.
Now, four years later, the couple runs the Broad Street Manor, a four-bedroom home located in downtown Hillsdale and just minutes from the campus of Hillsdale College.
Aardema previously owned a practice in Birmingham, Mich., where she worked as a psychologist, and McGregor worked as an engineer for Ford. Previously living in Royal Oak, they now spend their days beautifying their historical home and cultivating hundreds of different species of flowers on their property.
Aardema explained how the manor becoming a bed and breakfast just “happened.”
“Somebody from the Hillsdale College President’s Club called one day to ask if we would consider allowing guests to stay at our residence because they were all booked up,” she said, “Less than five minutes after we’d hung up, I had a reservation for two families to come stay with us.”
Ever since then, guests have been routine at the manor, especially at times when Hillsdale College events are going on.
“It’s been wonderful,” Aardema said.
The grounds of the manor were nice when the couple arrived, but since then they have dedicated many hours to having a lawn full of blooming flowers, fruit trees and numerous other plants from early spring to late fall.
“We are trying to have flowers like daffodils and tulips that bloom early in the spring and then others to provide color for the whole season,” Aardema said, “We try to also have things that are fragrant.”
Many of the flowers and plants traveled from Royal Oak with Aardema, who kept them frozen during the winter until they could be planted.
Now, the manor has more than 100 hundred species of daylilies, many bought and planted just within the last year.
“I keep buying more,” Aardema said laughing, “Brian says pretty soon we won’t have any grass because of all the flowers.”
Aardema’s passion for gardening and flowers started at a young age.
“My dad had cherry farms in the Traverse City area. I grew up picking and selling cherries – appreciating how you could plant seeds and then have a wonderful harvest,” she ssaid. “My father encouraged us by example to love the things we grow.”
Building watering systems, finding unique flowers, canning cherry jelly, and eating fresh tomatoes from their newly-built raised garden beds have all just become parts of McGregor and Aardema’s day-to-day lives.
Aardema said one of her favorite experiences is to have guests from all over the country and from different climates get to come to Michigan, stay in the manor, and have the opportunity to be exposed to so many different types of flowers in a uniquely beautiful surrounding.
“We’ve been able to make our environment into a beautiful place,” she said, “Together we have lots of fun making things for the garden and enjoying it and sharing it with our friends and our guests.”
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