James Morris owns a B&B. Yeah, technically it’s a B&B, but it’s more like renting a too-cool loft-house in the North American town that leaves theatre-lovers’ tongues wagging for years. Morris does hospitality in style. I chat with him in the living room of his latest venture, Rundles-MorrisHouse—an exquisite B&B in the painfully lovely hamlet of Stratford, ON, about half-way between Toronto, ON, and Detroit, MI.

Like the legendary local theatre festival (ahem, that’s the Stratford Shakespeare Festival), Morris’ vision brings to Stratford elements other farm towns hardly dream of (I know…I grew up in one): an outstanding restaurant, the world-class StratfordChefs School (now featured on Food Network Canada), and most recently, the swankified B&B humbly named for himself, thank you very much.

A multi-storey apartment building next door and a shared concrete wall with Rundles restaurant hardly seems like enough space for Morris’ dream property. But the über-cool concrete structure squeezes in beautifully. Hipster Toronto architects Shim-Sutcliffe designed it, and today Rundles-Morris House sleeps parties of four—ideally for two couples travelling together—amidst a dazzling mélange of contemporary furnishings designed by the likes of Frank Gehry, Le Corbusier and paintings by Canadian Richard Roblin. It’s a study in wood and light—blending cedar and Douglas fir in a structure that basically wraps around a massive skylight, while river-facing windows bring more light and nature’s art into the living room and master bedrooms.

Morris’ partner Richard Maloney—a handsome, young local who attended the Stratford Chefs School and still travels the world to take cookery classes—handles bookings and tiptoes in each morning to whip up gourmet breakfasts.

            What else I loved in Stratford:

• A zillion things, but the Mennonite summer sausage sandwich at Susie Palach’s York Street Kitchen took me back to my granny’s apron strings, www.yorkstreetkitchen.com.
• The sublime food at Bijou—alum of the Stratford Chefs School—gives Morris’ own restaurant a run for much less money (careful what you teach the young!), www.bijourestaurant.com.

Rundles-Morris House: www.rundlesrestaurant.com/MorrisHouse.htm (The house is filled with stairs, no elevator).

Stratford Shakespeare Festival: I’ve been several times, and never seen a bad show. The likes of Christopher Plummer show up on its stages, and its musicals are sometimes (dare I say) better than Broadway. www.stratfordfestival.ca