By MINDY KEPFIELD

Staff writer

A rural property formerly run as a bed and breakfast will become a haven for a Wichita couple escaping the big city.

Jay and Rachael Vosburgh have bought the 10-acre compound at 1362 US-56 and plan to make their home in a 1900s dairy barn that Joyce Barkman turned into the Milk and Honey Bed & Breakfast.

The couple’s children and visiting guests will stay in the main house, a five-bedroom Victorian with two wraparound porches.

The property will give the Vosburgh family an opportunity to “get the hell out of Dodge,” he said, “It’s a better way of life.”

Vosburgh sold building supply businesses in Kansas City and elsewhere but still has interests in Wichita where he also has a house.

His wife, Rachael, already is in love with the new home.

“I haven’t been able to get her out of there from the day we closed,” he said. “She has been busy fixing everything up and re-arranging.”

Barkman, now in her 70s, decided to retire this year.

“Well, I am old enough to get out of that kind of business,” she said. “I did meet many people, and that is what I will miss the most: The people that came to stay there.”

The county appraiser’s office listed the value of the home site and 10 acres of adjoining farm land at $663,640.

Salina Homes listed the property for sale at $870,000 in mid-May and in two weeks it had sold for an amount in that ballpark, Vosburgh said.

The Vosburghs were pleased that Barkman agreed to let them have much of the home’s furniture.

“She left good stuff for us,” he said. “What we got is unbelievable, and we keep finding things.”

A 10-acre estate will be a lot of work to keep up, but they plan to have family help.

“We plan to try and keep it nice and enjoy it,” he said.