Michael Bradbury was looking for a country home when he and his wife, Annie, first stumbled upon the historic 108-acre Hill farm in Willis. Behind a field of wildflowers and long green grass sits the property’s main house, originally built in 1885, with pine floors and shiplap walls. As soon as Bradbury opened the creaking screen door, he knew he was in for it.

“It was just a find,” he says, standing in the main entrance of the grand farmhouse, which was the only structure on the property when Bradbury purchased it in 2017. “And when I walked into this hallway, I fell in love. And I was like, ‘All right. I’ve got a project ahead of me.’”

The floors were covered in layers of lacquer and paint. The walls hidden beneath brittle, aged wallpaper. But he couldn’t help imagine how the space could look with time and resources.

“We were just looking for a family property,” he says. “Some land. But when we walked in, Annie said, ‘Uh oh.’ And it’s just grown from there. I thought, ‘Man. This can’t be just for us. It has to be available for the public.’”

Two years and several renovations later, it is. Now, in addition to the one-and-a-half story farmhouse that sits as the property’s crown jewel, Bradbury has added two newly built cottages, fitted in a Waco-chic aesthetic that syncs up with the rest of the property’s historic appeal, and a barn-red pool house fit for families. In total, the Historic Hill House + Farm now offers eight rooms for bed-and-breakfast guests.

If you go The Historic Hill House + Farm is at 3603 FM 1725 in Willis; historichillhouse.com. Bed-and-breakfast rates start at $145 per night for interior rooms. Whole property rentals start at $1,475 per night. Breakfast included.

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And they’re still building. Or, rebuilding, actually. The sound of nail guns affixing oak siding to two historic barns purchased from Pennsylvania and Canada, and moved to Texas piece by piece, pierced the otherwise serene property on this Thursday morning. Soon, these barns will be finished, adding 6,000 square feet of usable space that will become home to a full-service restaurant and an event space that Bradbury thinks will be the perfect fit for weddings and corporate events.

“We’re not a hotel,” Bradbury says. “We’re not really a restaurant. We’re not a wedding venue. But then, we’re all of them.”

What, then, are they?

“We want this to feel like a second home,” he says. “You’re going to dine with a world-class chef, but he’s also the one serving you dinner. And it’s multicourse, and he’s using unbelievable ingredients. But it’s comfortable and casual.”

Inns like this are commonplace in the Northeast and in Europe. Fredericksburg and some of the more historic corners of Texas have a few. But here in ever-shifting, ever-evolving Houston, finding a 135-year-old house, surrounded by two 175-year-old barns is a rarity. And that’s what he finds his guests enjoy.

Jodie Schrier was one of his first guests when he opened the inn back in 2018.

“I loved it,” she says. “I didn’t want to leave.”

“She kept hounding me,” Bradbury teases. “She would say, ‘I need to work here!’”

Now she does. Schrier is the head of marketing and sales for the nascent inn, which just hired its executive chef, Joshua Slaughter, formerly of Birmingham, Ala.

Slaughter describes himself as a technique- and seasonal-based chef who is excited to work on planting a 2-acre garden behind the barns to help source fresh, local ingredients. His food is showcased each morning for bed-and-breakfast guests, who enjoy an inclusive breakfast. And he has started hosting chef’s dinners for both guests and outsiders who’d like a reservation for the four-course meals. They start at $55.

“We’re an experience,” says Brian Monaco, the general manager who recently moved down from New Milford, Conn., where he worked at a Victorian inn. “From top to bottom, to be an experience is the goal. We want people to come out and explore.”

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There’s a 2-acre pond stocked with bass and running trails around the property’s perimeter for that kind of exploration. There’s also a pool and family game rooms stocked with both board games and digital options like a Wii.

“Family friendly is important,” says Bradbury, who often talks about the coming venue space as the exact kind of place he’d like to be available when his daughter is ready to be married.

His goal is the same for brides, who can rent out the entire property or just host their wedding in the barn, and staycationers alike: a unique, stress-free experience.

“We’re an hour from downtown Houston, and 35 minutes from where I live in The Woodlands,” Bradbury says. “And to think, I can get the kids out of the bubble, get them on some property, running around and getting dirty in just 35 minutes. And that’s what we’ve noticed with the guests who are coming here. That’s the experience they’re craving.”

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