Good sleeping weather, comfy bed, pleasing views: These were my husband’s criteria for accommodations on our end-of-summer driving tour. At the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, surely at least two out of three of those demands could be met.

We pulled into the circular driveway at Gideon Ridge Inn an hour or so before sunset. Set way back from and above the main thoroughfare that runs through the low-key town of Blowing Rock, N.C., the bed and breakfast looked even more inviting than the scenes on its website.

A quick walk through the entrance hall to the broad stone porch in back revealed instant serenity. To the south, beyond purplish ridges, we saw the lights of Hickory and maybe Charlotte; to the east, Pilot Mountain; to the west, Grandfather Mountain and the remains of the day. We dropped off our bags in the Blue Room, one of 10 suites with private baths, and headed back to audition the porch couches and chairs, a la Goldilocks, till we found the ones that were just right. We’d missed afternoon tea, but manager Donna Biles sent out a tray just for us.

She explained later that a lawyer from Boston named Norman Lindau had the house built with rock from a quarry at Grandfather Mountain. Lindau used it as a summer residence, bringing cooks and other staff down from Boston. He invited his celebrity clients here — possibly including W.C. Fields, Milton Berle, Mae West and Bob Hope, whose autographed photos once added to the scenery — to retreat from the heat.

Seclusion, coolness, glamour. Lindau had a set of criteria in mind as well.

The house changed hands through the years; it’s now owned by Cobb and Cindy Milner.

Our room lived up to expectations with accented royal blue chintz and a navy velvet reading chair. South- and west-facing windows afforded coolness that lulled us to sleep, snug in a lovely bed with pillows that responded to custom smooshing. If the evening had been a tad chillier, we might have lighted our gas fireplace.

Breakfast was civilized and relaxed; we had a choice of sitting in the dining room, called Restaurant G, or on the terrace that surrounds it.

The only hitches about Gideon Ridge Inn seemed to be the almost-nonexistent WiFi and the scarcity of electrical outlets that could handle three-pronged plugs. Manager Biles was polite but unapologetic.

“We get hit and miss cellphone service,” she said. “We’ve talked about boosting our signal, but people need to unwind and relax. There’s a trend for hotels to ‘detox,’ and we just decided we’re ahead of our time.”

So there we were, in a no-tippety-tap zone. Brochures touted fly-fishing, hiking, biking, white-water rafting, golf. We did none of those things, yet we left, after a few days of reading and napping, as contented as players who’ve hit their trifecta.

•  Gideon Ridge Inn, 202 Gideon Ridge Rd., Blowing Rock, N.C.; 828-295-3644; www.gideonridge.com. Rooms $200-$340 in the spring and summer; breakfast and afternoon tea included.