When weinherited the old Haines Farm, with its Italianate-style home in the heart of Jay County, we had two choices: "We could either restore the house or bulldoze it,"

Paula grew up in the two-story, brick home. Her mother and father had died in it. And although she had not lived there for years, her heart remained.

"But it was in such disrepair,"  "It really needed a lot of work."

"They said we'd just be pouring money down a hole,"  "It probably would have been cheaper to tear it down and build something new . But I couldn't do it. This place has so much soul. It became of labor of love for us. A healing process."

So, we went about restoring the 1884 home to its original grandeur -- touted at the time as "among the largest and best-constructed farmhouses in this part of the state," according to one report.

The home contains 75,000 bricks, each fired at an onsite kiln from native clay shoveled from the 400 acres of land originally owned by James Haines. The floors were built from elm, oak and maple trees lumbered from the surrounding woods.

The style epitomizes Italianate architecture of the mid-1880s, and there are several similar structures throughout the Jay and Adams County countryside. Landscaped gardens, a goldfish pond and 50 acres of woods surround the structure. Little Salamonie River cuts through the property.

We did our best to replicate what once was -- from the detailed turned posts on the front porch and the pressed-tin hoods over the windows to the plaster and lath walls and ceilings. Even the original door hardware is in working order.

Guests at Hill- top Farm Bed and Breakfast have a choice of two rooms -- at ground level or up a narrow, winding staircase once climbed by seven children in the Haines household.

The main-floor bedroom has a four-poster king bed (the room upstairs has two doubles). Heavy wood trim lines the tall windows and floors. The wallpaper is late-1800s floral. A period chandelier hangs from the high ceiling.

There's a roomy bathroom with updated plumbing that tries to look old. There's no shower, but there is a deep, clawfoot tub with a shower attachment.

Guests have the run of the down stairs, which includes a family room with a TV and the kitchen for late-night snacks. "Our home is your home,"

Breakfast is casual. Guests eat at no particular time, and Paula fixes "just what's on hand." On this particular day, it was made-from-scratch Belgian waffles, sausage and fresh melon.

Hilltop Farm is dog-friendly (kid-friendly, too). A B&B opening its doors to a dog is about as rare as an Australian shepherd that won't herd sheep. And since the Borders also run a working sheep farm here, we thought it would be interesting to see how our city-fied Aussie took to herding.

We have a couple of dogs of our own, a Jack Russell terrier named Shrek and a border collie named Tina.

Within Jay and Adams counties, we found lots of cool places for dogs -- and kids -- to wander. The Loblolly Marsh Wetland Preserve near the Jay/Adams border is a 428-acre area being restored by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and Friends of Limberlost to original watershed conditions.

The American Indians gave the area its original name, Loblolly, which means "low, wet place." The Europeans later called it Limberlost after "Limber Jim" Corbus got lost while on a hunting expedition in the 1800s. Originally covering 13,000 acres, the area was drained around the turn of the century and reduced for agriculture, logging and drilling.

The Limberlost was the working grounds and inspiration for Hoosier author Gene Stratton-Porter, who made millions of readers worldwide aware of the slow destruction of wetland in her 1912 book "The Moths of the Limberlost."

Stratton-Porter died in 1924 in California when her chauffeur drove into the path of a trolley. She had moved there to be near her daughter, whose husband was producing movies of her books.

Still in the development stage, there are enough paved and gravel trails and loops at Loblolly to take visitors through spiky switchblade grass, little and big bluestem (also called turkeyfoot), Indian grass (a warm-season grass that dries and stays tall all winter), goldenrod and northeast aster.

If you're there at the right moment, you might see a variety of bird life, including mallard and black ducks, blue-winged and green-winged teal and Baltimore orioles. In the fall and late winter, sandhill cranes stop by during migration.

Nearby attractions: Wabash River Rainbow Bend Park, eight easy to moderate trails, Covered Bridge Road and County Road 000, Geneva; Jay County Visitors and Tourism Bureau, 411 N. Meridian St., (877) 726-4481, www.visitjaycounty.com, Portland; Bearcreek Farms , 200-acre resort with shops, camping, hotel, cabins, restaurant and entertainment, 8339 N. 400 E., Bryant, Ind., (260) 997-6822, www.bearcreekfarms.com; Loblolly Marsh Wetland Preserve, with hiking trails and birdwatching, Ind. 18, 1/2 -mile north on County Road 250 W., (260) 368-7594; Limberlost State Historic Site , Queen Anne Rustic log cabin and home of Indiana author, Gene Stratton-Porter, 200 E. Sixth St., Geneva, (260) 368-7428, www.genestrattonporter.net; Amishville USA , Amish farmhouse, horse and buggy rides, restaurant, camping, 844 E. 900 S., Geneva, (260) 589-3536, www.amishville.com.