We will be attending a convention in New Orleans in December and are looking to spend a couple of nights afterward in the surrounding area outside New Orleans. Can anyone point us to a romantic B&B that would be an easy drive from New Orleans?

Hi! I work at a bed and breakfast in Cape May, New Jersey, so I went to my Guide of top bed and breakfasts all over the U.S. The best one I found in Louisiana is called Madewood Plantation House. It is a few miles NW of New Orleans and offers Breakfast and dinner. Guests enjoy antique-filled rooms and canopied beds along with a wine and cheese hour prior to dinner. One of the top 12 inns of '93 by Country Inns Magazine. Feel free to e-mail me for more information. Jessica at the Queen Victoria B&B in Cape May, N.J.

the nottoway plantation in white castle is amust tel number is 504 545 2730 IT IS A 53OOO SQ FT RESORED PLANTATION THAT WAS COMPLETED IN1859 IT ALSO HAS GREAT RESTARAUNT . YOU WILL ENJOY NOTTOWAY

I've read good things about the Hotel Ste. Helene in NO. 16 rooms swimming pool elegant

Regarding the posting on Madewood Plantation above. My wife and I stayed there last year. Yep, it came highly recommended by tour books. But, I suspect there are two kinds of highly recommended B&Bs: those that get great press because they are great inns, and those which great press because their owner also happens to be the Travel Editor of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Madewood belongs to the latter category. It is an interesting plantation to tour; the house has been restored in a genteel sort of way. However... the food was atrocious, our room (on the main floor of the main house) was dismal, and the bed un-sleepable. The only thing that made the place at all interesting was meeting our fellow guests, who were a very interesting lot. Would I go back? Not even for free. Could I recommend another inn in the vicinity? Unfortunately, no. I just wanted to steer you away from Madewood.