Couple opens bed and breakfast, glamping site
LANCASTER – A special home should have a name.
That’s what Nancy Messbarger was told when guests would visit her Sugar Grove home after it was built on her husband’s 90-acre family farm eight years ago. Nancy and her husband, Bill, decided to name their two-story old-world, French-style home “Arhaven,” since the couple always referred to it as their “haven” anyway.
The home, surrounded by rolling hay fields but nearly no other neighbors in sight, has kept its name over the years, but now the name also will act as the Messbarger’s newest business venture.
Beginning June 1, the couple will open a one-room bed and breakfast in their home and a glamorous camping, or “glamping,” site on another part of their property.
Myriad travel experiences, including their latest trip to Italy, have acted as research for Arhaven Bed & Breakfast, 5250 Goss Road, and it’s the way the Messbargers have always chosen to travel.
“We’ve stayed at bed and breakfasts all over the world,” Nancy said while standing in the Arhaven master suite, called “Haven Suite.”
Often, she said owners of bed and breakfasts point visitors to places they would never know existed if they stayed in a hotel and went off visitor’s guides.
“We like to go off the beaten path when we travel. ... That has been some of the greatest experiences we’ve had, just the hosts sharing with us,” she said.
The Messbargers said Arhaven will serve breakfasts to guests and act as a serene setting for people looking to unplug and live in luxury while still experiencing the rural landscape around them.
In addition to the Haven Suite, the Messbargers are trying out a second option for guests to live even closer to nature in glamping-style fashion. Nancy told Bill she wants to give couples a place to camp without having to sleep on the ground in a tent and without a decent place to shower. Since March, Bill started building a cottage that is complete with a composting toilet, an outdoor shower, a four-poster bed and decor that flows from Arhaven right into the camping retreat, called “The Feathered Nest.”
Before guests arrive and the ribbon-cutting begins at noon Saturday, Nancy will have tried out all the amenities the couple has to offer, including the outdoor shower.
Nancy said she is keeping details about the new business to a minimum when people ask to see it. The idea is to have a big reveal at the ribbon-cutting and open house that follows.
Nancy retired from a public relations and marketing profession less than two months ago, just in time to manage the final details before the official opening date Sunday. Bill has been working for the past year to get his wife’s longtime dream of owning a bed and breakfast, and now a glamping site, up and running.
“This has been a dream she’s been wanting to do for a long time, and we have this big house,” Bill said.
Bill was a builder and farmer before he retired two years ago.
“He’s been my biggest supporter,” Nancy said. “This is our heart and soul here.”
The Haven Suite will be available for rent from April through Christmas. The Feathered Nest will likely be available from April through October.
Reservations can be made at www.ArhavenBandB.com, but the website will not go live until after Saturday’s open house.
For more information on Arhaven, contact the Messbargers at 740-215-6745 or ArhavenBandB@gmail.com.
sroush@lancastereaglegazette.com
740-681-4342
Twitter: @SpencerRoushLEG
If you go
•What: The Arhaven Bed & Breakfast ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house
•When: Noon to 3:30 p.m. May 30
•Where: 5250 Goss Road, Sugar Grove