Staff writer
Ranch hands used to occupy the Doyle Creek bunkhouse in Florence, now turned into a bed and breakfast.
“The last hired man, when he left Clint didn’t replace him,” said Sarah Cope, who lives in the home near the bunkhouse with her husband, Clint. “We still needed to do something to utilize the house, so that’s how the bed and breakfast idea came about.”
After about eight years of managing the place, the Copes said they have enjoyed sitting back and watching as landowners Randy and Judy Mills worked with Junior Grimmett, an independent carpenter who previously did stonework for the ranch.
“Judy has tremendous ideas and can see how things work,” Clint Cope said. “And Junior has an amazing way of making it happen.”
Grimmett said work on the ranch began last fall, with a three-month break in the winter. He and Tyson Grimmett worked to install an upstairs bathroom, two new doors, and a wrap-around concrete porch in addition to remodeling the rear-entry and re-roofing part of the house.
He said work would be finished this week.
“We just wanted to update the house a little bit more,” Judy Mills said.
She said after visiting an agri-tourism convention, she and her husband wanted to use the ranch to get more people into the county.
“I never really thought about it,” she said. “We take the stars for granted. We take the quietness for granted.
“We need to let the rest of the world know about God’s country.”
The Copes say they have appreciated the time and effort put in to improve the bunkhouse, and look forward to giving visitors a better experience than they had before.
“We’ve met so many people doing this,” Sarah Cope said. “We call it our own hidden treasure that, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know about.”
Photos and rates for Doyle Creek bunkhouse can be found at www.vrbo.com.