By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – If mountain sunset views, a warm and comfy room and a hearty breakfast is what you seek, you need look no further.

Atop a hill with views of Mt. Blue and other nearby mountains, Rick and Sally Speich opened The Country Cricket Bed and Breakfast on Dec. 10.

Tucked back off Holley Road on 300 acres of rolling hills and trails, the 1970s timber-frame building currently offers a four-room suite including a double room, single room with a twin trundle bed, sitting room with satellite television and kitchenette. The refrigerator is stocked with yogurt and juice, and the counter displays a variety of teas, coffee and hot cocoa. And because the property is also a working farm with more than 20 recently bred ewes, breakfast can include the couple’s own lamb sausage.

“But we also have the regular stuff,” Sally Speich said.

Formerly the Holley Farm Resort, a restaurant and cross-country ski area, the building also houses a sauna and an indoor pool, the first in Franklin County, according to Sally Speich. For now, the pool lays dormant but the couple intends to bring it back to life in May until October. They also plan to add up to four more rooms, they said Wednesday. And cross-country skiing and snowshoeing will be back next season too, though, there are already trails available for the more adventurous of guests.

Prices range from $40 nightly for a single room to $100 for the entire suite, including breakfast. For a minimal fee, the chefs will also provide breakfast for guests of guests. Their first “guests” were friends from Scotch Plains, N.J., who presented them with a guest book when they visited this summer. To date, they are the only entry.

“Our stay has been comfortable, refreshing and wonderful,” the Hoeckeles wrote. It was also fun to stay on a working farm, they added.

The couple hosted their first paying guest Christmas weekend, a Maine woman visiting nearby family.

“It was wonderful,” Sally said of their first experience as innkeepers.

After years of hard work, the couple is delighted to be playing host.

They purchased the property in 1998 just after the infamous ice storm that left more than half the state without power. It had been sitting unoccupied for seven years and for two years, the Speichs continued to work and live in Linden, N.J., while spending every vacation and many weekends making repairs. They moved to Farmington in 2000.

There were 3-inch-thick trees growing from the pool, Rick Speich said holding his hands in a circle.

They look forward to future and returning guests. Their Christmas guest already said she’d return this summer when the pool is open, Rick said.

“I’m excited about the guy (from South Harbor) who called and bought a gift certificate for his wife for Christmas,” he added.

Meanwhile in the warm glow of wall sconces, a plate of gingerbread men and other treats sat waiting on the small cafe table in the kitchen for new guests Wednesday night, a couple from Connecticut also visiting family.

For more information on The Country Cricket Bed and Breakfast, phone 578-0579 or visit www.thecountrycricket.com.