New Hampshire’s Best Hotel: Meredith’s Church Landing at Mill Falls
Above, an aerial view of the Church Landing hotel, with several other Mill Falls resort properties (including the Chase House, top left, and the wataerfront Bay Point, on the right) in the background, and from left to right below, a fire roaring in the lobby fireplace, a guestroom overlooking Meredith Bay, a late autumn sunrise over the Bay (viewed from a guestroom), and the front entrance in the early evening.
Rustic yet luxurious Church Landing at Mill Falls, on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in Meredith, is our Editors’ Choice as the top, four-seasons hotel in New Hampshire.
Church landing is our favorite of the four properties in the Mill Falls at the Lake resort group in the beautiful village of Meredith. (MAP) We are big fans of the village, the Mill Falls resort as a whole, and we love Church Landing in particular for its lakeside surroundings, and principally for its rustic elegance and northern lakes ambiance, unlike anything else in New England. The hotel has 58 guest rooms and suites, all with fireplaces and most with balconies overlooking Meredith Bay.
Our editors had been bringing our children to Church Landing since the year it opened in 2004, wondering at the time whether the beautiful, birch tree-lined interior would age well (it definitely has), until they left for college, and now, we have found Church Landing (and Meredith) a lovely, welcoming, couples’ weekend sanctuary, off and on during all four seasons of the year.
The on-site Lakehouse Grille restaurant (operated in partnership with the Common Man) is also one of our statewide, New Hampshire favorites, for its ambiance and American cuisine, not to mention its large, outdoor patio offering wonderful views of Meredith Bay in the summer. The Lakehouse Grille is a destination in itself, for year-round residents and regular vistiors (as is its sister restaurant, Camp, our kids’ favorite, located across the street in the Mill Falls complex).
In the winter months, Church Landing had become our ski resort hotel of choice, though it was a 25-minute drive to Gunstock Mountain, which we began to visit more and more with the kids (because of its proximity to Meredith!). The fireplaces welcomed mom and dad upon arrival and the indoor/outdoor pool welcomed the children.
In the summer, Meredith Village becomes more walkable, of course, and instead of reading in front of the fireplaces, hotel guests can read on the Adirondack chairs on the lawn beside the lake. Moreover, public walking and biking trails, shopping for clothing, home goods and souvenirs are all easier because walking is easier.
The 1,000-passenger, 210-foot M/V Mount Washington, offering scenic cruises, dinner cruises, and moonlight cruises, docks at the Meredith Town Docks a few steps from all the Mill Falls hotels. Tickets can be purchased online or at the dock.
To sum Church Landing up in a few words: very, very comfortable, pleasingly rustic but palpably deluxe; the experiences and the 1880s, camp-style décor will never get old.