We’ve written about Iona Stables and Inn before. If you haven’t read that piece yet, start there — because context matters, and because Robert and Linda’s story deserves to be told from the beginning.
The short version: Iona Stables and Inn is a bed and breakfast near Milford, Delaware, operated by two hosts who have quietly built one of the finest small accommodations in the mid-Atlantic. The kind of place that earns its reputation not through advertising but through the experience of every guest who walks through the door. Top 1% of B&Bs in the country. Not our words — the ranking that puts it there. Robert and Linda’s.
We loved it then. And then they went and made it better. We’re still shaking our heads as to how that was even possible.
The Foundation — What Made It Great Before
Before we talk about what’s new, a word on what was already working — because the renovations built on a foundation that was already exceptional.
Robert and Linda are the kind of hosts who set the standard. Warm, attentive, communicative without being overbearing. They have an instinct for hospitality that can’t be taught — the kind that makes you feel genuinely looked after from the moment you arrive to the moment you reluctantly leave.
We’ve compared other hosts to them before, including Scott and Kim at the Private Suite in Hillsboro — another pair of hosts who understand that great hospitality is about the details, every single one of them. Robert and Linda are the benchmark. They were already running something special.
And then they picked up a hammer.
The Living Room — Opened Up and Transformed
The most immediately apparent change is the living room, which has been greatly expanded — transformed from a comfortable common area into a genuinely generous space that invites lingering in a way the original footprint couldn’t quite manage. The added room breathes. There’s space to settle in, spread out, and actually relax rather than perch.
Anchoring the expanded space is a proper coffee station — the kind of thoughtful addition that tells you everything about how Robert and Linda approach hospitality. Coffee isn’t just available; it’s considered. A well-stocked station that serves as a quiet morning ritual for guests before the day begins. Small gesture, enormous impact.
The Screened Porch — The Crown Jewel
If the expanded living room is the renovation’s most practical improvement, the new screened porch is its soul.
Where a patio once stood at the back of the property, there is now a massive screened porch — and massive is not an overstatement. Ceiling fans move the air on warm evenings. The screening keeps the bugs out and the view in. And the view is the whole point. Robert and Linda made a deliberate choice in the design: limited posts, spaced to keep sight lines as open and unobstructed as possible, drawing your eyes out across the lawn toward Cox Creek less than 200′ away.
Sit out there in the evening with a glass of something cold as the sun sets off the water and wetlands beyond. Or the family can eat dinner while enjoying nature.
That is when you will understand completely why they built what they built. It is the kind of space that becomes the reason you came back.
Sit long enough and you may see a flock of geese or a fox running across the lawn.
The Bedrooms — From Three to Four
Previously, Iona Stables operated with two guest bedrooms on the second floor — except one of which had been carved out to serve as the Inn’s office. That office is gone. The space has been reclaimed, converted, and the result is two bedrooms now available to guests on the second floor, two bedrooms on the first floor, for a total of four good sized bedrooms altogether.
The expansion didn’t just add headcount — it improved the experience of the two second floor rooms. The double windows that previously defined the bedrooms have been replaced with larger windows that bring in more light and better frame the property outside. Each room has room to breathe now, to feel like an actual retreat rather than a comfortable but compact overnight stop.
But the detail that may have us most excited is this: both second floor bedrooms now open onto a small covered porch fitted with directors chairs. Step outside your room in the morning — coffee in hand from the station downstairs — and you are greeted with a direct view of Cox Creek. The water visible, the air fresh, the day not yet demanding anything of you. It is precisely the kind of moment that makes a good stay memorable.
Down to the simple detail of matching the shower curtain, towels and bath rug put you at ease as if it were your own home.
The Outdoor Kitchen Addition — Fully Equipped and Fully Thought Through
The new porch wraps around the expanded living room and just outside of the original kitchen, accessible off the old back door along the wrap-around porch, is a brand-new full kitchen addition. Fully equipped, thoughtfully integrated, and positioned in a way that serves guests without disrupting the flow of the property.
For extended stays or guests who want the flexibility of cooking for themselves, it’s a genuine upgrade in independence and comfort — without sacrificing any of the warmth and hospitality that defines a stay at Iona.
The Other Sides
Robert and Linda could have easily stopped with the previously mentioned improvements.
But they didn’t.
The rebranded their “front of house” look to incorporate a roof over the second floor deck.
They also added a portico to the Inn’s entrance on the side where the parking is, making it even more welcoming.
Still the Same Hosts. Somehow Even Better.
The renovations are impressive. But what they don’t change — and what Robert and Linda clearly understood when they planned every one of these improvements — is the heart of Iona Stables and Inn. The hosts are still the same people who earned that top 1% ranking before a single wall was moved. The breakfast is still the kind that sets the tone for your entire day. The grounds are still beautiful, the horses still visible across the property, the long driveway still offering that particular arrival feeling of having found somewhere genuinely tucked away from the noise of ordinary life.
All the renovation did was take something exceptional and refuse to let it stand still.
Find Iona Stables and Inn on AirBnB with a search near Milford, Delaware. Book a room. Sit on that screened porch as the light goes off Cox Creek. And make sure you get up early enough to catch the morning view from your bedroom porch before breakfast.
You’ll want both.
Journey Moore Often, because the places worth returning to are the ones that keep giving you new reasons to come back.