The Damariscotta Lake Farms restaurant and bed and breakfast on Bunker Hill Road in Jefferson will open for business Feb. 10.
After several fits and starts and months of work, the opening has been a long time coming, said Darlene Souza, one of the owners.
They will host an open house from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 4 and 5. Anyone is welcome to come and tour the newly reconstructed bed and breakfast. Appetizers, cookies and drinks will be served, and the cook will have the kitchen open for anyone who wants to order food.
Regular hours – 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday – will begin Feb. 10.
For the first few months, the kitchen will only serve breakfast and lunch, but the bar will be open until 9 p.m. and patrons can order from the lunch menu until closing.
“It’s going to be very family oriented,” Souza said. “Everything homemade; we want people to think they just left grandma’s.”
Darcy Knof, Souza’s sister and an owner of County Coach Charters, a limo service in Nobleboro, added that the restaurant will be anything but fancy.
“You’re not going to have to mortgage the house to take your family out,” she said.
The limo service and the bed and breakfast will be working together to provide package deals for wedding parties, Valentine’s Day dates, and any other events.
“This is really a family affair,” Souza said. “I don’t think we’ve had to hire but two people and when we open, we’ll all still be here.”
Souza thanked her family for their help, and said that in her 20 years of living in Jefferson, it’s been her biggest dream to open the bed and breakfast.
“Every day somebody stops by that has a memory of this place,” Souza said. “Every time I feel down, somebody calls and says, ‘I didn’t think anybody could get this place going like you have.’ It picks me right back up.”