Southampton Inn, Southampton, Long Island, New York

Southampton, New York-The Southampton Inn Travel Video Postcard:

The Hamptons on Long Island, New York, are almost synonymous with
Rich and Famous. So it was time to visit Southampton, Long Island, New York, for a little demystifying. True, you need some serious bucks in your pocket to visit Southampton, but the feeling is much less pretentious than you might think. True, A random drive along First Neck Lane in fabled Southampton, Long Island, New York brings you very close to gorgeous homes with endless driveways, selling for multi million dollars, and that's in a depressed housing market. But a few feet away is the Southampton Inn ( http://www.southamptoninn.com) an attractive, Tudor Style complex that happens to be a very family friendly place with subdued class.
Owner Dede Gotthelf, a warm and accessible woman, makes it clear that while she has her share of the "rich and famous" staying with her, hers is a place where ordinary mortals can come to gawk, or simply enjoy the lovely flowers, organic food, intimate dining patios..." I really want people to be able to just be themselves," she says.

It helps of course that the Inn offers a free shuttle bus down First Neck Lane, en route to what has been voted the Number 1 Beach in America, Coopers Beach And the shuttle is a good thing because the beach is also the most expensive to park: 45 bucks a day.

But it's a gorgeous place: wide, smooth, seemingly endless sand and coast, and apparently one can see the turrets of Calvin Klein's mansion from the beach.

The inn also gets that people hate leaving their pets behind, so management just declared that twelve rooms (out of 90) are "pet friendly," so for an extra $ 39.00 bucks a day, Fido can share your room with you.

I especially felt at home in the Kids' Room...a bright, fun, big room with lots of stuffed animals, happy wall lights, lots of crayons and stuffed things sitting in chairs.

Many play areas have a forced feel to them, but this felt just right.

While the inn appeals to families and say family reunions and the like, it does a brisk business in business meetings and weddings, with many many guests coming, I suspect, for the cache of The Hamptons.

The restaurant, named, by the way, after the inn's big black cat, Oso, Spanish for bear, is pretty complete with a children's menu and a tiny, colorful table for little diners.

What works well is that teens staying here can walk the few blocks to the sophisticated (if over-priced) village of Southampton, and that's great because traveling with teens can be challenging.

Wendie Hansen Sakakeeny is a travel writer, photographer and videographer, one of the developers of Travel Video Postcards as well as a respected Boston Voice Over Talent . The first woman to narrate a Nova for PBS, she is a regular descriptive narrator for WGHB Boston and the first to automate the New England Telephone system: she can be reached at wendiestvp@gmail.com

1. By: TravelVideo Pos...
2. Categories Travel & Outdoors
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4. Added :11-Oct-11
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