Akua O.
Yelp
I cannot believe that this place doesn't have any reviews yet!!!! I cannot say enough good things about this beautiful B&B located under 1.5hours from Washington DC. It is fairly close to the Shenandoah National Park, and accessible from Rt. 66W.
I was looking for a mini-vacation getaway that would be under 3 hours drive from where we live, and where we could do some outdoor-sy stuff, like canoeing and horseback riding. After doing a ton of googling and B&B searches and came upon 4 places that we narrowed down to, one of which was this place.
First thing I noticed, when we arrived is that its a pretty unassuming location and property, which is right up my alley. I have never been a fan of anything that "tries" really hard to look impressive. It sits back off the road and has abotu 50 acres, so you have to drive in to the house on the property. Its a beautifully renovated 18th century (if I remember correctly) home with a cottage and guest house on the property and horse stables. The current owner has 3 horses and 2 ponies.
The innkeeper was a young hip, totally down to Earth chef that is helping his uncle, who is also a chef run the place. Do let the pictures fool you, their food looks and tastes THAT good, check the site for examples. Once we spoke to them more, turns out these two ( the nephew and uncle) are these two very accomplished worldly exquisite chefs. I can't speak to their resumes, but I'm fairly snobby about food and quality, and I will say that they are THAT good. 5 star in my opinion. He taught me so much about different foods and even sent me home with a sample of chinese five spice he gets from some awesome distributor that i'm pretty sure i, as a normal food sapien, would never have access to. I also got to sample his caramel ice cream that he MADE and he gave me recipes!
When it comes to the property, we stayed in the Windsor Suite, (which isn't in the main house, but in the cottage) which is considered their most romantic room, for couples. It is constructed in one longer room, when you walk in there is seating area to your right, and a bar-like area to your left with a fridge underneath and wine glasses ready and waiting (wine comes with your stay!!!). The top-of-the-line bed/linens sits inthe middle of the room and there are double closets as you go into the bathroom area. To the left in the bathroom area is the toiley and badee (sp?) and to the right, a stone-tiled, all glass two-person spacious walk-in shower. Straight ahead is this massive window, overlooking the grassy nolls where hte horses are playing. In front of that is a huge 2-person Kohler tub. There are his and her sinks and they stock the room with high quality towels, top of the line coffees and teas and any kind of personal care product you need.
Where's the TV you ask? Well, they don't have one, because they have an iPAD in their suites instead, stocked with subscriptions to several major newspapers and a netflix subscription that you have full access to. So not only can you watch a movie and cuddle in bed, you can take the iPAD in the double bath and watch a movie while you soak!!! It was renovated 6 months ago, so not only is it beautiful it feels totally new and clean as well.
On to the food:
We loved hte family that runs this place so much that we got caught up hanging out with them in the kitchen of the main house, and missed letting them know we wanted to stay for their dinner! Without wine pairing it costs $85, which may sound steep, but the other option is hte world-renowned Inn at Little Washington at a whopping $188/pp, which was not an option for us.
So since we missed dinner we had to go out for dinner, but the breakfast the next morning more than made up for it. The owner/chef, Dayn, personally made, plated, and delivered our plates to us in teh main dining area. Our table was finely dressed, cloth napkins iwth holders and set with all the appropriate silver wear and plates. We had fresh squeezed orange juice and water waiting, then he brought us fresh baked zuchini bread and banana bread (best i've EVER had!!). He then brought us coffee, and not just any coffee this was some of the best coffee I've ever had. I'm a food snob, but coffee is something I've never cared much for, until I started working. It was fresh pressed, lightly sweetened and creamed, and had a foam top. We then got our first course: poached/roasted pear, home made granola, and strained greek yogurt, plated iwth honey swirl, raspberries and mint. A-MA-ZING. Our next course was duck confit, paoched egg with hollandaise sauce, and corn and wild rice pancakes. A-MA-ZING.
My boyfriend is a skeptic of everything, but he nearly licked the plate.
I can't express enough how this is the most amazing meal I have had in forever, but honestly, they are more amazing people. To have your whole family and children around strangers, and being so giving, was touching. They are great people and a 10 thumbs up B&B!!!