The FYI Signpost

Purling, New York -If you have a hankering for the Catskills or just want to get out of the Big Apple for a weekend, you can't do much better than the Tumblin' Falls House Bed & Breakfast. The wife and I have never really fallen for B&Bs - just give us our coffee and shut up. But at Tumblin' Falls the service was good, the omelettes were great, the accommodations were more than comfortable, and the steady, wet noise of Shinglekill Falls soothed our stressed out, big-city nerves. Hosts Hugh and Linda Curry are a nice couple. 

He's the former tennis director at The Breakers in Palm Beach. She's a former Wilhelmina model who stumbled upon the house on a summer hike, spent a night in its dreary, shattered-window shell, then convinced her husband, over thephone, that she'd found the house of their dreams. 

All cleaned up atop a few rough-hewn acres, today their three-story pastoral palace sports a wrap-around porch, antique-filled nooks and crannies, an eclectic collection of wall hangings, and five separate guest rooms. Take the Falls View Suite if you can get it, with its monster king-size bed and private bath. Perched up high, the suite offers a big-window shot of the 35-foot Shinglekill Falls and its neighboring, temporarily wheel-less grist mill - from 1788, the last of several water's edge factories that once cranked out supplies for the Union Army. 

The river itself, easily accessible from the Tumblin' Falls House, has three good swimming holes that guests have been known to use. And the Currys aren't above cooking the occasional trout, so go ahead and bring your rod. The Catskills loom over everything, of course: hiking, biking, birding, etcetera. There's antiquing in Saugerties, 20 minutes away, as well as outstanding food at the Cafe Tamayo. And just a bit farther is Woodstock with all its tie-dyed antiques still wandering around. Won't they ever go home? A recent weekend at Tumblin' Falls proved relaxing, restorative and quite memorable.