If you’re ever in Kumasi, Ghana’s second-largest city, make it a point to stay at the Four Villages Inn.
FVI is an unique bed and breakfast with four individually designed rooms. I stayed in the “Carver’s Room,” featuring wood carvings from the village of Ahwiaa.
FVI has been around for about seventeen years now, owned by a Canadian-Ghanaian couple Chris and Charity Scott, for whom the bed and breakfast has been a labor of love.
Charity was away in Canada while I was a guest at FVI, so unfortunately I did not get to meet her. Apart from being an hotelier, Charity is a professionally trained chef who has schooled the delightful kitchen staff herself. One testament to her tradition of great cuisine was the absolutely scrumptious zucchini soup I had on the first night I was there–part of the excellent four-course dinner they offer.
Chris is an outgoing man with a terrific hearty laugh that often erupts from him as he recounts some of the hilarious absurdities of living in Ghana, and he does have lots of stories.
Lodging at Four Villages Inn is really like staying in someone’s home as a pampered guest in friendly surroundings. My experience was that all Chris’s guests were very interesting to chat with, and unlike other hotels where you pass others in the hallway in silent anonymity, at FVI you get to interact with other guests and make new friends. Several more people know about Wife of the Gods, than before I got to FVI, especially since Chris has been talking it up enthusiastically to all the guests who have passed through since I’ve been here.
The Inn is the only lodging I’ve been to in which it feels natural to leave your door open, because you don’t feel like you’re living in a room, but in a house–which in fact you are. The rooms have personal handwritten notes politely requesting moderation with water and electricity use, particularly the air conditioner, which is sensible. It’s a good thing to sensitize people to the reality that there isn’t an inexhaustible supply of resources. The assertion that one has “paid for it so I can use it any way I want” is so last century.
FVI is highly recommended. In addition, Chris and Charity are able to take you on a personal tour of the city.