Rene Lecler, the travel editor of England's prestigious Harpers & Queens magazine came to visit, and wrote us up in his famous book, The 300 Best Hotels of the World©. Of the hundreds of articles about The Point, his presents the spirit of the place better than most:

"This is undoubtedly one of the two or three oddest places listed in this book. It is not a hotel (heaven forbid) and not even a guesthouse since the only guests there are people whom the owner, Ted Carter, actually likes. It's really like being invited to a houseparty by a man who insists on keeping Armagnac in his boathouse and Vuitton suitcases in the closets.

"Originally The Point was what they call here in the Adirondacks a 'camp.' A log-cabin if you like, except that in this one, having been built by William Rockefeller in the early thirties, one suspects that the only thing that held the logs together were the French Impressionists.

"The feeling hasn't changed much - only the people. It's way up New York State on the shores of Upper Saranac Lake - a jewel if ever there was one - and you arrive in a kind of Cleopatra's barge well stocked with liquids and little titbits and you sail right into the boathouse where sleek speedboats have come to rest . . . . .

"Then come the surprises: The Point is absolutely, but absolutely, lovely, a place in which everything you see is total perfection of taste with priceless pieces scattered about in glorious extravagance."

"The Great Hall is so 'great,' with its massive fireplaces and vast couches, that you can't stop looking. Bedrooms are vast, and just the same as the rest of the place - deliciously odd, amusingly grand and yet intimate because this is a lived-in place."

"One eats with one's host and his co-owner, James Myhre, a young man who is one of the finest cooks I have ever met, who produces great food like a conjurer, and everything comes on Carter's own family Meissen (eighteenth century and worth 500 dollars a plate... ).

"The talk is great, the wine superb and the whole place sparkles with wit and charm.

"Outside, the great dark green woods of the Adirondacks frame a lake of pure silver and the air is like vintage Pommery. Some of the time you sail, trek, go canoeing or just sit there and reflect on your good fortune at just being there."

Nice man, Rene. Several years later, he wrote an article about Cyprus for my journal. It was his last piece published before he died; he followed his wife by just a few months. Long time travel companions, now they are on the great adventure together.