Courtesy of the Westport Review-Mirror, April 19, 2007
Husband and wife team Barry Shostak and Denise Doucet will be offering their hospitality to Westport visitors beginning this July when they open their new B&B on Church Street, A Victorian Reflection. Photo by Margaret Brand
Montreal couple find new path with Westport B&B
By Margaret Brand The Review-Mirror After thirty years in the corporate world Denise Doucet is looking forward to the adventures and the pleasures of running a bed and breakfast. She and her husband Barry Shostak, a management consultant, are moving to Westport this June to own and operate A Victorian Reflection, a land-mark brick home on Church Street. For the next two months they’re making their plans for their new home and business a reality after last fall setting in motion the purchase and the move. The couple will begin offering their hospitality to Westport visitors this July after a move from Montreal in mid-June. "The waiting was a good thing. It allowed us some time to do some planning”,	said Shostak, whose plans include continuing his job in Quebec from his new home in Westport. They took possession of the house last month and have begun refreshing the rooms, improving the barn, and preparing for the addition of a screened in porch. "The aim is to make it really comfy and homey. It’s a bed and breakfast but you want to make it feel like a home," said Doucet who has plenty of home to share. The couple will be offering a queen room with private shower, two queen rooms with Jacuzzi and private shower rooms and one queen-size and one double room with a shared bathroom. Healthy gourmet break-fasts, tea and coffee and a wine and cheese on Saturdays, and wireless Internet will be part of the	hospitality they will be offering. A lifetime love of antiques and a passion for collecting them are serving them well to furnish the bed and breakfast which will also feature antique items for sale. The couple spent time this winter going to estate sales to add to their extensive collection. Doucet got the antique bug in her childhood attending auctions with her father back in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, an interest she shares with her brother Levi, who operates an antique business and market garden east of Newboro. She’s looking forward to living in a small rural community once again where people live and work. "Westport has really welcomed us," she said.