The Winfield Inn is located on a high bluff on the shores of Lake Superior. We are a family owned and operated lodging facility. We are originally from the greater Minneapolis area. My wife, Jackie, and I first came to Bayfield around 1990 to see a show at Big Top Chautauqua and I remember telling her at that time “this is where I want to live.” Her response was, “that’ll be the day.” It was four years later when we were visiting, for the Bayfield Apple Festival, that I took a walk up Hwy. 13 to the north part of town. Unbeknownst to me there was a motel located up the hill and it had a “For Sale Sign” posted. At the time, I was selling real estate for Edina Realty and so when we returned to Minneapolis I called the listing agent for information on the motel mainly out of curiosity as to what real estate sold in the area. That call was followed by others from the agent over the next six month period. It was at this point that we really started to think about making the move to Bayfield and all the consequences that it would entail. We finally put in an offer an the property and two years later we became the new owners. We changed the name from Bay Villa Motel to Winfield Inn and we were now in the hospitality business.

Our son Justin made the initial move with us. He had never been to Bayfield, but decided that he was up for a change in his life. Our daughter Brooke moved to Bayfield two years later and worked at a number of other jobs before joining us at Winfield Inn. Justin married a local woman Katy and they now have a 3 year old daughter. Brooke also is married and she and her husband Shawn have two sons. Our other daughter Kim still lives in Minneapolis. However, her daughter Nicole has lived and worked on Madeline Island for the past three years and her son Mark just graduated from UMD in Duluth.

Over the past 16 years we have developed a property management department representing a number of locally owned condos, cabins, and houses in the Bayfield area. And we are now the largest lodging rental facility in Bayfield. In 2005 we expanded into the real estate market and formed Winfield Realty, representing buyers and sellers. This operation is managed by Brooke as the broker and Justin and I are acting agents. After the first couple of years of operation we opened a small gift shop in our motel lobby and then in 2007 we moved downtown into a 1500 square foot store in a building that had recently been renovated. The new store represented our final expansion plans except for the continual growth of Jackie's flower gardens at the Inn, which are now one of the largest private gardens (but open to the public) in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Jackie, Brooke, Justin and I all work full time with a large staff to try and make everyone’s stay in Bayfield as pleasant as possible. So whether you are here for a relaxing vacation, a stroll thru the gardens, a shopping experience, or just looking for a real estate investment, we are here to serve you. We hope that you will think of us the next time you plan a vacation.

Robert A Hansen
President, Winfield Inn, Inc.