the secret garden
by Joan Medlicott

In what ways are being a realtor and operating a bed and breakfast alike? Cassandra leans forward and considers this for a moment. Then she smiles: her eyes dance with pleasure.

“In several ways,” says Cassandra Clark, the enthusiastic new owner of the Secret Garden Bed and Breakfast on Main Street in Weaverville. “Both careers are people intensive. In each, people come to you, and for brief periods of time offer you a vignette of their lives.”

Born in Maryland, Cassandra (not Cass or Cassy) grew up in Hawaii and spent much of her adult life in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Married with one son, now grown, she thrived for thirty-five years as a successful realtor. But Ft. Lauderdale burgeoned with people and noise, and the pace of life grew frenetic. Stress accumulated. Cassandra waited and vizualized. Quietly, yet intensely, she imagined a town, a bed and breakfast, and a lifestyle. Weaverville matched her dreams. And when she saw the Secret Garden, she fell in love.

“I enjoy entertaining,” she said. “This is a happy business. It affords me the opportunity to welcome people and provide them with a respite from their lives for a night or a week. I offer them a home away from home without responsibilities, and don’t we all need that kind of nurturing at times?”

We sit in the serene living room. with its comfortable chairs and couches and the warm rich woods of tables and sideboards, many of them antiques, The house and its owner seem to reach out and wrap their arms about you.

Warm and caring, independent and well organized, Innkeeper Cassandra Clark is challenged by the myriad details of her new business: decorating and maintenance, marketing and record keeping, preparing to receive guests, anticipating their needs yet respecting their privacy, cooking. She is a good short order cook, she says, and loves working from her home. In the business aspect she is supported by the Executive Association of Greater Asheville, a small business networking and referral association, to which she belongs, and which meets every Thursday morning for breakfast in Asheville.

On a personal note, she reads constantly—especially biographies of men and women with artistic talents: artists, actors, musicians, and was deeply touched by Ray Bradbury’s Dandylion Wine. She enjoys movies whose characters demonstrate great strength of character, and the sounds of children laughing fill her with delight.
“I am totally satisfied with my move to the mountains, with my work, and my life. I regret nothing,” Cassandra says.

Joan Medlicott began her career as a writer at age 63. Joan’s work includes several self-published books about the Virgin Islands (where she was born and raised), a non fiction Celibate Wives: Breaking the Silence, and in the last three years, the Ladies of Covington Send Their Love, The Gardens of Covington, From the Heart of Covington and the soon to be published, The Spirit of Covington. Joan lives with her husband and two dogs in Barnardsville.