Merrill Farm Inn

We booked last-minute for a 3-night stay for a mini New Year's getaway. Wanted to bring the dogs, so we were limited on our options. The location was excellent, only a couple miles away from the North Conway downtown area, lots of shops and restaurants. Giving this place 3 stars because it definitely in need of some TLC, but the location and the fact that it was dog-friendly were 2 major pluses. The "cabin" was not bad. Not really what I would call a cabin, more like a tiny house (no wooden walls or features, no decorative rustic touches, electric "stove"), but not bad. You could tell it was a dog-friendly place because ther was some leftover dogs hair on the couch which wasn't great but understandable (sort of?). Quite run-down, mismatched furniture, sloping floors, cobwebs, definitely needed some repairs and some simple touches to make it just a little bit nicer. Also hardly any storage space, so the 2 of us with 2 dogs was a little messy. Also the hot water in the shower ran out VERY quickly, which we found out the hard way the first night. It was supposed to be a "family" cabin, but there is literally no way we could have had more than 2 humans in that place. Would absolutely never stay there with toddlers/kids. The main house/lodge was also nice enough, but again, in desperate need of some updates/repairs/simple paint jobs. Breakfast was included in our stay, and that was lovely. The food was simple, but very good. Staff was friendly, but we had very little interaction with anyone, other than checking in and out and breakfast. Overall, it did the trick...but it seems like a few small, inexpensive updates/repairs would make it a much nicer experience. Places to visit/eat: -Whittaker Park- x-country skiing, hiking, etc. Great place to walk the dogs in the snow, it was like a winter wonderland. Peaceful and beautiful. -Eat lunch or dinner at Delaney's Hole in the Wall. Really good food, plus sushi! -Eat breakfast or lunch at Big Dave's Bagels. Bagels were fantastic (especially the Maple Bagel!) and can be made into sandwiches for lunch. Super friendly staff too.

The Merrill Farm Inn was great for our family visit, 5 adults and my nephew, an 11 year old. The rooms were clean and there were games and a pool table for my nephew to enjoy. The only drawback was that the website said the stay had a reataurant and included on property breakfast. We arrived late in the day and had booked dinner reservations. We entered the restaurant “The Barn” and it was freezing cold, very drafty. The chef/manager (only person working) lit a large fireplace. I’m not sure what the problem was but thick white and black smoke from the fireplace immediately blew out into the entire dining room so we almost couldn’t see each other. The chef/manager ran out and opened the door and all the windows very wide so the fire alarms and sprinklers wouldn’t go off. So the five of us were coughing and sitting in a room that had very thick smoke and was about 35 degrees! We decided we couldn’t sit there and eat dinner coughing so we politely explained why we had to leave. The chef/manager was very apologetic and brought our delicious food into the game room. Needless to say, we did not have dinner there again or breakfast for the two mornings of our stay. We drove to a diner next door and paid for our breakfasts. We tried to explain the problem to a nice woman at the front desk but she really didn’t have any answers or offer to comp part of our dinners. She just shrugged her shoulders.

My husband and I spent a night in one of the couples cabins during a shopping trip in Conway. It was a sweet little place. The furnishings were quite outdated, but still comfortable. The little propane stove kept the cabin cozy all night. The breakfast was delicious as well. We'd definitely stay there again :-)