Whereas most small inns located along the Mendocino coast have to make do with an acre or less, the Inn at Schoolhouse Creek has the luxury of spreading its 12 adorable cottages and 8 guestrooms amid 8 acres of beautiful flower gardens, lush meadows, and cypress groves. Most of the cottages are designed for couples, though a few can comfortably fit kids as well; our favorite is the secluded Cypress Cottage, with its private yard graced by an inviting pair of Adirondack chairs. All are luxuriously loaded with fireplaces, TVs with VCRs (DVD players available for borrow), CD players, phones, private baths, private entrances, and decks or adjoining garden seating areas. Rates include a bountiful buffet breakfast and evening wine and hors d’oeuvres, served on the front porch of the inn’s 1862 Ledford farmhouse. Perhaps the best indulgence, however, is the inn’s hot tub, perched at the top of a meadow overlooking the ocean.