Goodstone Inn & Restaurant sits on 265 acres in Middleburg, Virginia. Photo by Jumping rocks photography
Explore Nature's Bounty
Warm spring days call for the real thing: outdoor vistas that inspire a hike, food straight from the farm, and sunbathing on a poolside terrace. All of that is available at Middleburg, Virginia’s Goodstone Inn & Restaurant, where the land takes center stage.
In 2015, Goodstone’s farm introduced a beekeeping program, which supplies homegrown honey for menu items and in gift jars for purchase. Don a beekeeper outfit and learn how to extract honey from the hive’s trays, and also why honey is different colors depending on the season. You can request a tour of the working farm and meet the chickens (they supply roughly 80 eggs per day), Grayson the llama and his flock of sheep, and Oliver, a 700-pound pig who is the inn’s mascot of sorts. 
The farm, located at the center of Goodstone’s 265 acres, includes floral and produce gardens that supply the inn’s award-winning restaurant with flowers, kale, spinach, tomatoes, a variety of berries, deep purple “dragon carrots” and more. The seasonally inspired French country cuisine includes duck-confit-and-leek ravioli, truffled crab cakes and Goodstone’s Classic Chateaubriand, a center-cut prime filet with glazed carrots and mushrooms.
Goodstone’s 18 guest rooms and suites are decorated in English and French country décor and located in six separate buildings scattered around the property. The Carriage House is the inn’s centerpiece and home to the restaurant, three guest suites and the Hayloft room, which has an oversize jetted soaking tub and its own roof deck. Other interesting features can be found in the other 17 guest quarters, including The Manor House’s brick patio with rockers overlooking the hillside and Bull Barn Cottage’s lavish bath with a steam shower.
Grab a pair of binoculars and a birding guide (both supplied by the inn) and wander a 3-mile trail up and over rolling hills, past horses feeding on grass in the pasture, and alongside Goose Creek, where you can swim or canoe, or rest on a tiny beach. The hotel’s heated pool is open from early May through early October and is especially sweet when the wisteria is in full bloom in May. Rates begin at $299 and include a full breakfast and afternoon refreshments.
36205 Snake Hill Road, Middleburg, Virginia; 540-687-3333; www.goodstone.com
Photos by Andrew Bordwin photograph
Lounge on a Philly Rooftop
Few urban pleasures compare with sinking into a fireside sofa at a rooftop bar. The Logan, a new cosmopolitan hotel in Philadelphia, allows you to do just that. Opened in December as part of Hilton’s Curio Collection, the hotel includes the Assembly rooftop lounge, where guests can sip cocktails while seated on a cushy sofa—or in a hanging birdcage chair—and enjoy panoramic views of the city’s art and museum district. Located in the heart of Philly’s art scene, the hotel is a short walk to The Barnes Foundation and the Rodin Museum, and a mile from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (home to the steps made famous in Rocky).
The Logan hotel features contemporary décor.
Inside The Logan, the contemporary yet warm public spaces take their cue from James Logan, a mayor of Philadelphia in the 1700s. Logan’s passion for botany and reading (his personal library contained more than 3,000 books, including many American classics) inspired the hotel’s library and the James Logan Suite, which includes photos of Logan’s family and copies of some of the books he valued. The 391 guest rooms and suites feature local art, 42-inch flat-screen TVs, iPod docking stations with Bluetooth music connection, and views of the garden courtyard or Logan Square. Urban Farmer, the hotel’s signature steakhouse, offers locally sourced ingredients and craft beer from nearby breweries. Rates begin at $259.
1 Logan Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 215-963-1500; www.theloganhotel.com
Play at a Refreshed Resort
Lansdowne Resort, one of Virginia’s popular golf and spa destinations, is polished up after a multimillion-dollar renovation that included the spa and all 296 guest rooms and suites. The redesigned rooms are done in earthy tones and a wine-country-inspired décor, with nightstands made from wine casks, and images of farm fields in frames crafted from wine corks. Set on 476 acres overlooking the Potomac River, the resort offers many ways to unwind, including golf (two championship courses or the family-friendly nine-hole course), a massage in the luxury spa, and swimming in five pools (one with a waterslide and pop-up sprays). And if you don’t play golf, but would like to enjoy one of the courses, try FootGolf—it’s golf played with a soccer ball and your feet instead of a golf ball and clubs. Room rates begin at $189.
4050 Woodridge Parkway, Leesburg, Virginia; 703-729-8400; www.lansdowneresort.com
