‘So Dear to my Heart’ bed-and-breakfast continues to welcome guests after 12 years in business

Brenda Edgar picked out her dream home when she was 4 years old. Forty-three years later, she purchased the house and transformed it into the 'So Dear to my Heart” bed-and-breakfast in Ainsworth.

The five bedroom, three-and-half-bath 1917 craftsman style home sits at 3355 Old White Way in Ainsworth. Edgar grew up about 2 miles from the home and was fascinated with the house since she was a child. Her family was friends with the original owners and her mother's baby shower was held there.

'I was here before I was here,” she joked. '(But) when I was 4, I decided ‘I want to live here someday.'”

She hung onto that dream and when she was 17 decided she wanted to turn the space into a bed-and-breakfast because it was the best way for her to be able to live there and have it paid for. She laid out the blueprints for each room in her mind and began collecting furniture.

She decided she would name the place after one of her favorite childhood movies with the same name, 'So Dear to my Heart.” The movie is about a man who is reflecting back on his childhood, memories and things dear to his heart.

'I wanted it to be meaningful to me in relation to the house,” she said of choosing the perfect name. 'And it just fit. The theme of it all just fit.”

She even keeps three copies of the movie on hand at all times for guests to enjoy.

During and after college, Edgar kept her bed-and-breakfast in mind and continued to collect things she wanted to feature in her dream home. Despite moving to two different states and many cities, she kept hope that one day she would own the house she'd dreamed of owning as a child.

'I would have like a one-bedroom apartment and I'd have four bed frames,” she said with a laugh, explaining that at 17 she began collecting furniture for the business. 'Everything I bought, I knew exactly where in the house it was going to be going.”

In 2007, Edgar finally got the opportunity she'd been waiting over 40 years for: she was able to purchase the home. She said she was met with lots of opposition from friends and family who did not believe anyone would visit a bed-and-breakfast in southeast Iowa but she was determined to make it work.

'The common thread was who's going to come out to a cornfield in the middle of Iowa and stay? There's nothing to do, everybody said that,” she recalled. However, Edgar knew her top-notch cooking skills were what would set her apart and she was determined that would be her draw.

'Nobody believed it was possible, but it is. It is possible, and it's working,” she said. 'Don't tell me I can't do something because I will. That was my whole attitude: everybody says it won't work, but it will. I will make it work.”

After purchasing the home, she thought it would take about six months to get the space up to par, but 2 1/2 years later, she was still working on things. However, she decided she had no other choice but to open and says she continues to work on things slowly.

'It took five times longer than I thought it would, but it paid off and I think it was worth it,” she said. 'It gave me a good jump start to where I wanted to be.”

In the 12 years since Edgar has owned the place, she has had people from all over the world come to stay and most people learn about her through telling one another about their positive experience. One of her favorite stories is how she reconnected with an old friend who came to stay at her home.

A couple of her former guests were in Montana and speaking to someone at a motorcycle shop who was planning a business trip to Chicago. The customers in the shop told him to stay at 'So Dear to my Heart,” so he sent an email inquiring about a room.

Unbeknown to the traveler, he and Edgar were childhood friends and were able to catch up while he came to stay.

'He didn't know it was me so needless to say he came and it was this huge reunion, but he found about it from some motorcycle people clear out in Helena, Mont., that had stayed here,” she said. 'Word-of-mouth is the greatest thing in the world.”

Edgar says she even has guests from as close as Washington, Mt. Pleasant and the Iowa City areas because she feels her bed-and-breakfast offers a vacation-like atmosphere in a close-to-home setting for those who may work and not be able to go on long trips.

'I think it gives you a chance to explore what's really around here,” she said. 'Too many of us that live around here, don't really know all the little spots that are a good little day trip or an afternoon trip.”

The swinging bridge in Columbus Junction and the Amish village in Kalona are a couple of places she often sends guests to when they ask for places to visit. She said even for people who live in the area, they often do not visit these things because they are familiar with them, but she encourages people to explore places around them.

'There's all these little pockets of interesting things of information and things to do locally that in our everyday lives, when we live here, we don't go to,” she said. 'For the people who step out of their normal routine ... they tend to look for something different and they experience those things.”

The atmosphere she has created is what Edgar credits as the reason people come to stay. She said the relaxed, country lifestyle is a change from what people are used to on a daily basis and she enjoys being able to offer that.

'I wanted it to be casual-elegant so that it was nice, but at the same time, people could put their feet up on a footstool, come down to breakfast in their pajamas and everybody feels comfortable,” she said.

Despite the relaxing atmosphere, meeting new people and making new friends, there are things about owning a bed-and-breakfast that are not so fun. One of those Edgar can some up in one word: cleaning.

'That's the hardest part,” she said. 'The rest of it is pure pleasure.”

She said she would recommend owning a bed-and-breakfast to anyone who likes people because hearing their stories and watching them connect makes it worthwhile for her.

'The people are the greatest thing about it,” she said. 'The benefits and rewards that you would get out of it far outweigh the cleaning.”

Starting a bed-and-breakfast can be as simple as only renting one room and growing from there. She said the bed-and-breakfast atmosphere creates a family environment that creates a special reward for her.

Now, Edgar has fulfilled her childhood dream of owning the home and after 12 years of being a business owner, she has no plans to ever give it up. Surrounded by the neighbors she grew up with and whom she waves to as they drive by, she knows owning a bed-and-breakfast is what she was meant to do.

'It's good for the heart,” she says with a smile.