Offering a peaceful respite, sharing a historic property
Couple renovates Waln family home into bed and breakfast
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

Bill Dey stands in the foyer of PeaceFields Inn, a bed and breakfast located near Historic Walnford in Upper Freehold.

The drive to PeaceFields Inn in Upper Freehold is lined with grapevines growing at the winery, horses grazing and frolicking in green pastures and farmers tending to their livelihoods on miles and miles of farmland.

The long, circular drive that surrounds the inn like a moat is surrounded by tall spruce and white pine trees draped at the bottom in lush ivy. While parking in the rear of the 1850 Georgian colonial farm estate, one can’t help noticing the swing dangling in a tree nearby that looks out over what must seem like endless open space to those who travel there from near and distant cities.

When walking up the porch, which is painted green and bedecked with welcoming wicker furniture and a wooden chair swing for two, the double doors adorned with evergreens open. Guests may first be greeted by Taylor, the innkeepers’ 6-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever. Soon after she wags her tail to say hello, the Deys, Cathy and her husband, Bill, appear. Not only do they own and operate the inn, but they also happily use some of the rooms in one of its wings as their own living quarters.

PHOTOSBY JEFF GRANIT staff Taylor, a 6-year-old chocolate lab, greets guests as they arrive at the PeaceFields Inn.

“PeaceFields is our home, and we enjoy sharing this historic property and the surrounding area with our guests,” Cathy Dey said.

Having previously owned a bed and breakfast at the Jersey Shore, the Deys had a quieter vision for their second endeavor with an inn.

“Owning the Atlantic View Inn at the Jersey Shore — now that was a business,” Bill Dey said. “It was nonstop.”

Cathy added, “There were never enough hours in the day.”

With their second bed and breakfast, the Deys not only wished to live in a place closer to their families, who reside in Central Jersey, but also hoped to provide a peaceful, rural atmosphere with the simple elegance of an earlier time where guests could find respite from their everyday world.

PHOTOSBY JEFF GRANIT staff Cathy and Bill Dey with Taylor, the couple’s chocolate lab, in the living room of the Georgian colonial farm estate in Upper Freehold that they converted into a bed and breakfast called PeaceFields Inn.

In the fall of 2002, the Deys found this property that they consider to be very special. The inn, formerly the Nicholas Waln Jr. House, is situated on a quiet country road adjacent to Crosswicks Creek and Historic Walnford, a 36-acre mill village listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Deys moved into what over the years had evolved into a two-family home a few days before Christmas in 2002 and began the process of developing their new bed and breakfast early in 2003. Although they initially thought the necessary renovations into their dream bed and breakfast would take about a year, it took a few months longer. The Deys gutted the structure entirely, creating five themed guest rooms with private baths and electric fireplaces. They decorated the inn to their heart’s content before they were finally able to hang their sign and open for business.

Innkeeper Cathy Dey stands in the doorway of the dining room of her bed and breakfast.

The Deys didn’t alter the structure dramatically from its original form and, in fact, left many of the home’s original characteristics. A marble fireplace warms guests near the tall and glistening Christmas tree the Deys put up in the parlor in the winter, the crown moldings on the ceiling could lead patrons from room to room, and the pine staircase with its original banister takes the tired to their beds at night. Their care for these features is a testament to Waln, who built the home for his family. Waln was the grandson of Richard Waln, a Philadelphia Quaker who in 1772 purchased the nearby mill property now called Walnford. Richard Waln improved the property, making it commercially successful. His family ultimately built five estate homes in the area, including the PeaceFields Inn.

The Deys are the fourth family since the Walns to occupy the home. Other inhabitants, according to the Deys, included the Schooleys and the Blacks.

Clockwise — Innkeeper Cathy Dey stands on the wooden staircase that leads guests up to their rooms. Guests at the inn can enjoy a poster bed in one of the rooms of the bed and breakfast. A swing hangs from a tree near the pasture adjacent to the PeaceFields Inn.

“Everyone took very good care of the house,” Cathy said. “This house has beautiful memories for people.”

She said she and her husband feel blessed to have found the home and the support of their community in renovating it into a bed and breakfast.

“We knew right off that we liked this place and what we needed to do to it, and the township let us,” Cathy said. “They were wonderful.”

The inn creates a quiet getaway for two, or a peaceful setting for a small group retreat, business meeting or family function. The Deys cater to a lot of individuals traveling on business, as well as people who either show at or are just in the area to enjoy Upper Freehold’s Horse Park of New Jersey.

For guests looking for entertainment on their jaunt, the shops in downtown Allentown are just a drive away, as are the old homes of Upper Freehold and other historic places such as the Old Yellow Meeting House. The area also offers various farmers markets along with Christmas tree and horse farms.

In addition, the country setting that engulfs the inn has many amenities to appreciate, such as wildlife including birds, deer, foxes, turkeys and sometimes even a coyote or two. The inn offers boxed lunches for those who would like to tour the rolling hills of western Monmouth County.

Whether visitors’ days spent at the inn are filled with business or pleasure, all retire to specially themed rooms, most of which have soaking tubs and candles.

In decorating every guest room, Cathy Dey tried to bring the joys of the landscape indoors. For instance, the “Solitude and Simplicity of Winter” room is adorned in cream and black coordinating fabrics that complement an antique cherry dresser and queen iron bed.

“A Warm September Day” room has a pumpkin-yellow and autumn-red quilt that sets off the pallet. The room is decorated with antique oak furniture and also features an air-jet massage tub in the private bath, as well as a queen-size sleeper sofa in an adjoining sitting room.

For those looking to find the rejuvenation that spring evokes, there is the “Spring, Ah Spring” room decorated in soft greens, pale yellows and a touch of old rose with Cathy’s grandmother’s Depression-era walnut furnishings, a queen-size bed and a wing chair.

All guests at the inn enjoy a full country breakfast, which can include waffles, omelets, complimentary snacks and soft drinks, fine towels and bed linens. All rooms come with a combination TV/VCR, telephone service and high-speed Internet access.

In the summer, visitors have the luxury of air-conditioning and access to an in-ground pool.

Rates start at $125 per night, but the Deys also offer corporate and mid-week extended rates.

Bill and Cathy look forward to having many people share their “peace fields” with them.