The Craftsman House

If the Banff Springs Hotel had a guest house – this would be it! Even the great pictures of this property on the website do not do it justice. It is even larger with more spaces than pictured and such a magnificently restored historical home that had us captivated the entire time as we noticed detail after detail. From the woodwork, to the beautiful doors with ornate hardware, to all the varied antique light fixtures, beautifully restored working fire place, bathroom fittings (including claw foot tubs), ornate tin ceilings, stained glass windows, curved wall and staircase and that was just the beginning. Then there are all the amazing elegant antiques the house is furnished and adorned with and all of the colors and décor that have been so tastefully done. It really is true “they don’t make them like they used to”. The house has such an interesting and rich history and includes a great write up and scrapbook showing the restoration process so be sure to look for this when you visit. Each and every bedroom was so charming (we rented the entire house for a family celebration) and the beds were so comfortable with feather duvets, great pillows and lovely linens (the sheets felt so luxurious I was looking for their tag with the brand name so I could order some for home).
It was great having the entire house for our enjoyment (the owner lives on the property but in a separate private suite) and even if you only rented one room (vs all of them as we did) there are so many shared spaces that you could utilize that sharing would not be a problem – from the sitting room off the kitchen, to the dining area, to the indoor sunroom reading nook, to the living room, to the sitting area in the upstairs bedroom not to mention the cozy covered front deck or back outdoor patio complete with outdoor fireplace. The charming character home still has all the modern amenities such as WIFI, TVs (not that you need them) and great climate control system which was welcome as we had an early snow at the time of our visit.
The owner Steve couldn’t be nicer and was available for any questions we had and the breakfast was so delicious with lots of variety. There is also a coffee and tea station and well stocked kitchen including bottled water, etc. My father is a European wood craftsman and Steve even allowed him to visit his shop (also on the property) and discuss his restoration techniques and we also enjoyed visiting his great antique store right on the same property.
We are from Calgary and other than the Banff Springs we have never found such a great historical property to stay at so this was a rare find indeed. In addition, Bragg Creek is an entrance to the mountains that we sometimes forget to consider and a nice change so we will definitely be back. The rest of my family who joined us can’t stop talking about how magnificent the property was and we could not have enjoyed our stay more except that longer would be even better!! Highly recommend this to anyone considering staying here – worth every penny!!