Our guest blogger for this week is Lisa Craig Morton, owner of the Victorian Village Guest House

As I sit in the kitchen of my Neil Avenue home and look out on my sun-drenched garden, I am in awe of the wonders brought forth by spring’s rain showers, warm days and cool nights. The garden is exploding with greenery and pops of color. Birds are chirping and chattering in the canopy of hundred year old trees over the yard. This beautiful morning started with tending the garden – planting some new perennials, pinching the spent blooms off yesterday’s flowers, checking the progress of my herbs and tomatoes and seeing what has popped open since yesterday’s assessment! Today I discover that the first hydrangea is blooming and the first tomatoes are starting to take shape on the vine. The peonies (my favorite flower) are starting to fade, the rains of the last few days hastening their decline. In front of the house, the hum of traffic and passers-by up and down Neil Avenue is ever present. But the back yard is like a sanctuary, all lush and green, private and secluded. When people come to stay at our guest house, they are always surprised to find such an oasis in the middle of the city.

Growing up in Columbus, I always wanted to live on Neil Avenue. I was drawn to the interesting architecture, the history of the street and the possibility to be an agent for change in an area that had seen better days. Moving to Victorian Village six years ago was a dream come true as well as a transformational journey. I fell in love all over again with the Short North, an area I had frequented for many years, but was now getting to know on a whole new level. The diversity of the neighborhood and the surrounding businesses were the inspiration I needed to start a business of my own.

There is a sense of community here in the Short North. Having spent most of my life in suburbia and the trenches of Corporate America, I soon realized that the pace was a little different here, the players a little more quirky, the creative energy much more out in the open! It made me want to get involved and share this story with others, both here in central Ohio and those farther beyond. Creating Victorian Village Guest House has allowed me to support the Short North’s growing tourism business and has given me a way to let others “sample” what life could be like here in this walkable, wonderful collection of neighborhoods. It also gave me a new career and a livelihood when my banking job was eliminated in the recession. Standing at the back porch door and looking over the garden, I almost have to pinch myself when I realize that this is now my job!

Tags: bed and breakfast, Central Ohio, Columbus, Columbus Ohio, community, garden, Neil Avenue, Ohio, Short North, tourism, Victorian Village, Victorian Village Guest House