One Sunday evening in 2004, industrial designer John MacPherson revealed to his wife over dinner that he was was not looking forward to going to work the following morning at the hearth-and-fireplace studio he owned. Off the top of his head, he said, "Why don't we open a B & B?" It was February 1st. By April, their house in Laguna Beach, CA, was on the market. On September 1st, they moved in to the Foster Harris House in "Little" Washington, VA, and on September 6th opened to a houseful of guests who were already booked into the established Bed & Breakfast.

It wasn't that they had focused on this small town, the location of The Inn at Little Washington. They hadn't even heard of the fine dining restaurant at the end of the food pilgrims' route out of the capital. They were prepared to go anywhere in the world. But there were a few criteria. "We wanted to be in a wine-growing region. They're always a draw for foodie folks who travel for pleasure. And food and wine are our passions."

So John and his wife Diane, a business consultant as ready for change as he was, considered the Napa Valley and Sonoma. They loved California where John, a Massachusetts native, had moved 20 years before to find the sun. They thought about Italy and France. "But they were a great distance away and there was the language, the logistics." Europe was dismissed as "not the sanest thing to do."

On a visit to Australia, friends suggested Virginia. Back home, John and Diane hopped on a plane and spent five days traveling the entire state. They stumbled onto Washington, John says, by chance. In the bedroom of one of their lodgings he found a copy of The Inn At Little Washington's cookbook. "I devour cookbooks and I was awestruck. Here was this place I'd never heard of, right in this county." The couple made an appointment to visit and were given a tour around. They decided Washington VA was where they would have their B & B. And without any location to buy, went home and packed up their house. "We were supremely confident we would find something here. I don't recommend this to anyone."

But they were right. Their real estate agent called on all the innkeepers in the area asking if any of them wanted to sell. It so happened the owners of the Foster Harris House within walking distance of The Inn were considering retirement.

Five years on, a cookbook is about to come out - The Foster Harris House Cookbook. Recipes aren't just restricted to dishes that feature on their glamorous four-course breakfast menu. He and Diane run a Sunday Supper Club once a month or so where they cook dinner for guests who have stayed at their B & B before. They offer a prix fixe four- or five-course meal cooked from ingredients bought from local producers. It gives John an opportunity, he says, to do some fun dishes.

He's not professionally trained. But he was brought up just outside Boston by parents who both had Italian grandmothers. "It was a really little house, in the 900 square feet range, so we spent a lot of time in the kitchen. My mother was a fantastic cook. She would prepare meals for 10 because there was always a good chance they may come by." He learned from her to make his mise en plat look beguiling. "She made sure the food was beautiful and I saw it only took a moment. I always saw food as the paint or sculpture that sits on top of a platform, a contrast of different colors and textures. I can't not put food on a plate without it looking a certain way."

Guests who feel they may have over-indulged can either work it off or repeat the experience elsewhere by going on one of the couple's Tour d'Epicure cycling adventures through the Rappahannock countryside. Enthusiastic cyclists from way back, they've plotted trips that stop at local wineries and eateries to fuel cyclists for the next leg of their journey.

The Foster Harris House, PO Box 333, 189 Main Street, Washington, VA 22747, 540 675 3757.

The Foster Harris House Cookbook, $24.95.

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