Inn At Lafayette, Shoreline

An easy walk upstairs after your dinner at the Café Allegre and you have “arrived” at the Inn at Lafayette, a traditional Inn with individually designed suite like rooms and elegantly marbled baths. Sleep peacefully on Egyptian cotton linens, but at the same time make use of all the business amenities of a first class business hotel. And all this in the heart of historical Madison with its authentic colonial homes, nearby beaches, and the truly unique Sculpture Mile with changing outdoor exhibitions of traditional and abstract works by prestigious sculptors.

The Inn's five individually designed and decorated rooms are filled with amenities and conveniences deserving of the finest European Manor Houses. All rooms feature a private marbled bathroom, cable television, two state of the art telephones complete with private lines, conference and voice mailbox capabilities, plug in computer and fax port, Egyptian cotton linens and bathrobes.

Classic and Casual, Classy and Comfortable, Historic and Contemporary, with a cuisine that is Savory and Sumptuous, partaken in one of four elegant dining rooms adjoined by a very comfortable bar. To give an example from the menu: Involtini Di Melanzane – “A Garden fresh eggplant delicately browned, rolled and stuffed with ricotta, covered with our Sunday sauce.”

The renowned Cafe Allegre, for your mealtime pleasures, serves lunch Tuesday through Friday from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm. Dinner is served Tuesday through Thursday 5:30 pm to 10:00 pm, Friday and Saturday from 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm, and Sunday 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The dining room is closed on Mondays.

Madison, like its neighbor Guilford, is blessed with both the ambiance of historic New England as well as its shoreline location. But Madison has an especially alluring advantage, and that is Hammonasset State Park, Connecticut's largest shoreline park and beach. The adjacent tidal wetlands created by the Hammonasset River are a particular treat. They border the Griswold Airport, small enough to host the airborne sport of paragliding.

Paragliding, consisting of flight in a kind of motor driven parachute, or motor controlled (and one would assume safer) hang gliding, is particularly appropriate to the shoreline and its natural splendor where one can, “follow a meandering river for several miles, below treetop level, carving turns around the bends,” or, “glide above a rocky coast and see fish swimming in the shallows, undisturbed by my shadow passing overhead.” Seems like the ultimate shoreline experience!