Just got back from a weekend in Amherst at the Black Walnut Inn. I loved it! The room was charming, the breakfast was incredible, and the owners were lovely. They were waiting for me in the kitchen every morning at 7:00 am......very accommodating to my early schedule.
I came home with some delicious, home made marmalade!

My fiance and I took a cross state B&B trip over the course of 4 days and three nights. The second night our stay was here at the Black Walnut Inn. The previous review is spot on! Our room was absolutely fantastic (The Cahart Room). Please stay in this room if you travel to the Inn. It was not only the best room on our trip but also out of any B&B we have stayed in. It was extremely large, with a great updated bathroom but most importantly a New England feel that just puts a smile on your face! We found Northhampton to be more enjoyable than Amherst, although Amherst certainly has some nice things to offer. Northampton Center was just larger with more shops and restaurants. We stopped in to the Northampton Inn for a drink which was very nice. But back to our Inn. When we arrived there was a note with our key left for us. We were happy with this and settled in to our fantastic room. The only problem during our stay, although a crucial one, was that the breakfast table only fit 8 people. Now in our case the B&B was not fully booked however there was one group of 8 that filled the table. We came down for breakfast during the time frame given and the table was full. We are patient people so we were given a cup of coffee to take back to our rooms (which was nice). However, we returned three more times over the next hour and the table was still full with the same group. Now this is partially inconsideration of the visitors at the table. However, at the same time there should be some coordination to this process as after the third time attempting to eat we were frustrated and had planned on already being out to enjoy our day. Once we ate, the food was delicious with fresh homemade breads, local cured meats and made to order eggs. We spent some time talking to one of the female employees who actually used to live on the east coast of the state as we do now, and she was incredibly nice. It seemed like we were eating breakfast with a great friend! With a better system for breakfast this place would be one of the most fantastic B&B's.

Certainly deserving of its high ratings, we stayed here for "graduation weekend" in May when this B&B was completely booked. Our generally wonderful experience was marred by the breakfast scene on each of our two mornings: 22 people needing breakfast, but the table seats only 8! A quality B&B such as the Black Walnut Inn should not have a morning meal that mimics I-95 on a Sunday night. The innkeepers made no attempt at scheduling, so it was first come first serve -- and then eat in a hurry. Breakfast at a good B&B is one of the reasons many of us choose this type of lodging, and it is a shame that this otherwise very good B&B hasn't figured out some full-house breakfast accommodation that would bring the breakfast scene into line with the rest of this B&B's atmosphere.

At this Inn, we experienced our first incident of discrimination against us as a family with a young child (2 years old) leading us to write our first negative review on this forum.
We often stay in B&B's, especially since having our son, and we always research the properties ahead of time to confirm that children are welcome. In this case, our stay was booked through the University (they informed the Inn that we had a child) and, in addition, we called ahead to confirm that there would be accommodations for our child (space for our travel crib). When we arrived, we were shown to a nice room and returned to the car for our bags. At this point, the host returned and told us that another room had become available that might be preferable for us as a family. It was clearly not as nice a room - with 2 twin beds! - so we said we would prefer the original room. The host went on to inappropriately try to talk us into taking this subpar room. The exchange ended in him saying that, if we were to take the nicer room, he would 'hold us responsible' were our child to make any noises during the night. At this point, if we (and not the University) had been paying for our stay, we would have left - no question. As it was, we took the subpar room and left before breakfast the next day. Ironically, after we were tucked into bed and our son fast asleep, we were kept awake by a man sitting outside our room, talking loudly on a cell phone.