Movie Making Comes to Thurston House!

Full Sail University students

Exciting times here at Thurston House bed & breakfast in Maitland. This Central Florida inn has been a hotbed of activity for a couple days! The fabulous local college Full Sail University approached me about the idea of using us as a location for their last major film project before graduation. When I found out it was about a bed & breakfast, I was inn (in – ha-ha!). It is a scary murder mystery called Murder at Lou’s Bed & Breakfast. There is lots of blood, screaming, and some scary characters.

the dead guy

The movie making process is fascinating for sure. Once all the filming is “in the can”, editing will make this an award winning film and will provide high marks for all these students. I can’t wait to see it, and also the video they have committed to do for my website. What fun!

Becoming a Certified Wildlife Habitat – 3rd Step

The 3rd step in becoming a certified wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation is to create protective cover. Wildlife needs places to hide, such as a meadow, a prairie, dense shrubs and evergreens. If you don’t naturally have these things, you could place hollow logs and rock piles around your yard.

Thurston House, Maitland, Florida

At Thurston House Bed & Breakfast in Central Florida, we are very fortunate to have a lot of natural covers, from meadow areas, closely packed bushes and lots of trees with dense leaves. Come see!

Becoming a Certified Wildlife Habitat – 2nd Step

To be a Certified Wildlife Habit like Thurston House bed & breakfast in Central Florida, you need to be committed to the wonderful world of wildlife. The first step I told you about mentioned the importance of having native plants.

Lake Eulalia in Maitland, Florida

The 2nd step is providing water to wildlife. Thurston House is fortunate to overlook beautiful Lake Eulalia, but we also have a bird bath and a shallow dish that both provide water. If you have any of these things, or even a natural spring or stream on or near your property, you would certainly qualify!

Keep tuned for step #3!

Become a Certified Wildlife Habitat Like Thurston House!

Certified Wildlife Habitat sign at Thurston House

Maitland’s only bed & breakfast, Thurston House, has been certified as an official Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation! Protecting wildlife can be easy & fun, and is good for the future of our world. This is the first blog about what it takes to be certified.

red berry shrub

The first step in this process is to start growing plants that are native to your area. Be sure to include trees, shrubs and other plants that offer food such as pollen, nectar, acorns, nuts, cones, berries and other seeds. Exotic plants that are not native to your region can become invasive. This could make them harmful to both people and wildlife!

More to come….

A Turtle Comes to Visit our Maitland yard!

Turtle from Lake Eulalia in Maitland

We often have turtles come out of Lake Eulalia and trudge up to our Thurston House Bed & Breakfast yard to leave their eggs in a sandy and safe area. This one is perhaps the biggest I have ever seen! This all is part of why our yard has been designated a Certified Wildlife Habitat. To be certified as such, we are required to provide a quality habitat, including food, water, cover and places to raise their young. We are such a place, and it is truly amazing that we are located only 5 miles from downtown Orlando!

Lake Eulalia in Maitland

Elegant Robes at Thurston House B&B!

Telegraph Hill robes

Every time I wash one of our beautiful robes, I can’t help but think what a wonderful amenity they are for our guests to enjoy. They are of the finest quality, a taupe striped seersucker, and made by the Telegraph Hill Robe Company in San Francisco. They are of generous size, kimono styled and feather light, just the right type of robe for our warm weather here in the Maitland-Winter Park area of Central Florida. Book your room now and come try them out!

Deneen Pottery Mugs Featured in Central Florida Bed & Breakfast!

Thurston House in Maitland has just received a shipment of new mugs and vases for 2010. They were made by the premier producers of custom handmade logo stoneware, Deneen Pottery. They are a family business that was started in 1972 by Peter and Mary Deneen. Cloth & Clay, Inc. was their name from 1992-2001. Today, they are well known as Deneen Pottery: Same people, same excellent products.

All products are hand-thrown stoneware designs that meet their customers specifications. Each piece is carefully crafted, one at a time. Every year they come out with new mugs shapes, sizes, other products, new colors and fabulous glaze finishes.

Thurston House mugs & bud vase - 2010

The new Thurston House mugs can be found in colors such as deep rose, teal, wisteria and plum, to name a few. The bud vases are featured in federal blue with a rose white glaze – just beautiful! These items are used at Thurston House but are also offered for sale. Get them while they last! Some people travel across the country and specifically stay at inns that feature these beautiful mugs so they can bring one or two home for their ever growing collection. Come see!

Thurston House, Summit Avenue - Photo by Jennifer Kirby

Ironically, Deneen Pottery is located in St. Paul Minnesota. This is where “my Mr. Thurston” was from! This is the Thurston House on Summit Avenue in St. Paul.

North Orlando B&B helps Haiti!

Thurston House bed & breakfast has done its’ part to help the people in Haiti. We are proud to be associated with Clean The World, a non-profit organization who provides soap and shampoo to people in need around the world. They have devised a way to process used soaps and shampoos from bed & breakfasts and hotels, making them meet a high level of sanitary standards. Our fine amenities are from Greenwich Bay, who feature many wonderful types of soaps such as the unscented goatmilk and seafresh glycerine we use here. These soaps are often hardly used so it is wonderful they can be put into service this way.

Thurston House soap & shampoo

We had started saving these items a few months ago, so had quite a bit to send to them right after the earthquake. They probably have already been used in Haiti by now!

Maitland Minnesota Connection!

Since this is the year that Maitland and this home turn 125, we are researching more of the history and connection to Minnesota. Cyrus Brooks Thurston was a businessman from St. Paul Minnesota. He was involved in the businesses of farm implements and cold storage. These businesses made him a wealthy man and put him on all the Who’s Who lists and Social Register of that time. This home known as Thurston House was his winter escape. It is understood that he brought his family here for many getaways, just to relax and enjoy their 160 acre orange grove. Many of the old orange and tangerine trees still exist, looking a bit “challenged” but still providing us with sweet fruit this time of year.

His family home on Summit Avenue in St. Paul is a grand house, and is listed on the Summit Avenue Historical Homes Tour. It is no longer owned by their family. See this blog entry from 2007.

Cyrus Brooks Thurston in Maitland

Come to Thurston House now and relax like Cyrus did!