|
|
|
|||||||
|
Loudoun County "If you have to end up in the Poor House, this is the one." So reads one of the adulatory notes in the guest book in the Cook House Cottage, a deluxe retreat fashioned from the cookhouse at what was first a plantation and later served as the Loudoun County home for the indigent. Dottie and Fred Mace, transplants from Machias in the easternmost reaches of Down East Maine, bought the circa 1814 property in 1987, spent four years renovating the cottage and main house, and produced some of the most appealing and comfortable B&B accommodations in Loudoun County. This really is out in the country, an utterly quiet twelve acres reached by dirt roads. About the only "traffic" comes from the horses and hounds of the prestigious Piedmont Fox Hounds hunt club, which passes out front in its thrice-weekly rituals with occasional guests like the late Jacqueline Onassis. The Maces started with a guest room and a small suite in the main house, both stylishly decorated and designed for comfort, and the romantic brick Cook House Cottage. The latter has an open living room with sofabed and armchair facing a small TV and a huge fireplace, a kitchen and dining area, and a second floor with a queensize pencil-post bed and a clawfoot tub in the bath. Following Fred’s untimely death, Dottie put major expansion plans on hold and enhanced three guest rooms in the main house. The Unison Room, a cozy Victorian affair, has a queen canopied poster bed, working fireplace, TV, and a new bath with a footed slipper tub and European hand-held shower. The larger Airmont Room with working fireplace comes with a queen feather poster bed, a couple of comfy lounge chairs and a similarly equipped bathroom. The third-floor suite offers a white wicker queen feather bed, extra day bed, TV, phone and private bath with shower. A full breakfast is served in the dining area or, our choice, on the wicker-filled side veranda overlooking the plantation outbuildings, rolling farmlands and a farm pond. Amid an abundance of flowering plants, Villeroy & Boch china and fine crystal, we feasted on bowls of perfect fresh fruit (raspberries, blueberries, grapes and sliced peaches), homemade scones and a feather-light quiche with ham, onions, vegetables and cheese. Another of Dottie’s breakfast favorites is stuffed french toast with cream cheese. Birds twittered and flitted in and out of a birdhouse
dubbed "Nest and Breakfast" as we took in the tranquil scene
from a chintz-covered wicker swing. Who wouldn’t think, this is the
life? (540) 554-2511. For more information: www.poorhousefarm.com Three rooms and one cottage with private baths.
Doubles, $155 to $175 weekends, $130 to $150 midweek. Cottage, $200
weekends, $160 midweek. Two-night minimum weekends in May and October.
Children over 12. No smoking. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places / Mid-Atlantic, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2003. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
page |
Full destination index | |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
