B&B hosts open doorway to local culture

If you visit the Crochet House do not expected to be treated like a guest, because within two minutes Leland and Sally Crochet will have you feeling like family.

Native to Terrebonne Parish, the couple was wrapping up their first careers, Leland worked with an auto dealership and Sally sold furniture, and considering what to do as they approached retirement.

The Crochets already had a home on a large piece of property. It is from there that they enjoyed sharing their culture with others. So, 18 years ago they decided to enter the hospitality business. They designed and built detached cottage-style guest suites around a swimming pool and garden setting to establish their independent bed and breakfast.

Sally explained that the idea of creating a bed and breakfast came when she worked at a furniture store and a woman kept coming in to buy mattresses for her business. “I was kind of embarrassed because I could only think of one kind of business that would need a lot of mattresses,” Sally said. “Then [the customer] explained she was going to open a bed and breakfast. And I thought, ‘hmmmm.'”

The first thing that seems odd about Crochet House is its being located in a residential area three blocks off St. Charles Street and between San Antonio Boulevard and Amarillo Drive in Houma. “You got to remember, this was surrounded by [sugar] cane fields when we bought the place,” Leland said. “The houses came later.”

The second oddity is that once you enter the gate to their fenced one-third acre yard, landscaped with foliage native to the area and designed with chairs, benches and artifacts in a casual estate style, you soon forget about being in a highly-populated area.

At this point, nothing seems odd and everything from the individually designed and decorated guest suites to the main house seem like home, away from home.

This is no fancy museum setting where one might be afraid to touch anything. The property carries a casual theme with mementoes the Crochets have collected over the decades. Photos keepsakes from their Cajun upbringing are displayed inside the structures. Patio and yard views honor the fishing and oil industries of the region and a testimonial icon of the Blessed Virgin is present to remind the hosts and their guests of a faith that has sustained the people of the region through both difficult and good times. A particular treat are Sally’s original paintings reflecting life in the area.

“We so much want to keep our Cajun culture alive,” Sally said. “We want to keep our French going.”

Leland and Sally tell visitors stories of the region, recall Louisiana history and talk about their families. “We speak English and French,” Sally said. “Our parents would speak English to us and French to their parents. Our grandparents spoke only French. But we didn’t teach French to our children. Now we could lose it.”

In addition to offering a place to sleep and traditional Cajun breakfasts, stories and music, the Crochets offer a list of area attractions from museums, to swamp tours, plantation sites and names of local restaurants where some folks get their first taste of real gumbo, and entertainment that includes music and dancing.

“We want our guests to get out and explore the area,” Sally said. “There are beautiful drives around here that are like nowhere else in the world.”

Comparing the Tri-parish area to the rest of the world is fitting as most Crochet House guests are from countries outside the United States. “We get them from France, Canada, Japan, all over,” Leland said, offering a filled photo and register book listing past visitors to prove his claim.

Even with the enjoyment offered at Crochet House, there is work involved. “There is always something to do,” Leland said while installing a new cable box in a guest suite.

Operating a Bed and Breakfast is not a matter of simply opening one’s home to strangers. There is licensing that needs to be secured, inspections to be passed, insurance policies to be paid for and the establishment of a business plan.

Leland explained that because the idea of a bed and breakfast is more popular in Europe than America, they remain listed in several European Guides. Crochet House also has its own website and relies heavily on word of mouth to spread its reputation.

“Just keeping up the place is a lot of work,” Leland said. “But we enjoy it.”

Because the Crochets are serious about their business Sally has served as a board member of the Louisiana Bed and Breakfast Association. Leland is currently serving his second term on that professional panel.

Leland and Sally have three grown children and eight grandchildren. Yet, with those guests they have welcomed to Crochet House, they can claim having thousands of members in their family.

Sally and Leland Crochet welcome guests into their lives as much as their home at the Crochet House Bed and Breakfast. Their intention is to keep the culture of south Louisiana alive with a personal touch. MIKE NIXON