1804 Inn — Hotel in Hollymead

For our 47th anniversary we chose to stay at one of our favorite places in the world - the 1804 Inn. It was perfect. We always stay in the beautifully appointed four-room Phileo Suite. To set expectations in these uncertain times, I established a nice dialogue in advance at the Inn with Ginger. Everything she patiently explained was spot on. Upon our arrival, our suite was absolutely immaculate. Our nightly bottle of wonderful Barboursville wine was in the refrigerator with our delicious cheese plate. Each evening before dinner we would have our wine & cheese on our patio, in the quiet, overlooking the vineyards and cattle pastures. Before our excellent gourmet breakfast each morning, I would go on a historic and beautiful walk passing by the Ruins of the Governor Barbour Mansion, the winery, wild flower gardens, vineyards, pastures and cottages. Our lunch at Paladio was again an amazing leisurely experience transporting us back to Italy with excellent, excellent food, wine and service. Perfect. Our reserve wine tasting in the Library the next day was also exceptional (food, wine, service). Paladio was not serving dinner while we were there, so we drove to Charlottesville each evening to have dinner at three great restaurants. Finally, as another example of the Inn’s superior caring customer service, I foolishly left my laptop’s power cord in the suite. The staff found it and kindly shipped it back to me with the associated tracking info. The staff was just great in all respects. So nice! Already looking forward to our return for another...

We started our multi-city vacation to celebrate our 45th anniversary at Barboursville Vineyard, and it was a wonderful experience. |We arrived at the Sangiovese at 1:45, the key was in the mailbox, the cottage ready for us. The beautiful, welcoming cottage that I loved immediately. Think Thomas Jefferson, with everything modern that you need. We started in the Discovery Room for a tasting, then moved on to our 3:30 reservation at Library 1821 for a Classic 6 flight (both of these reviewed separately).|Because the afternoon was just perfect, weather-wise, after the tastings we sat out on the nearby deck and shared our wine/cheese/fruit platter that was waiting for us in the refrigerator, and opened the bottle of Merlot that we chose for the room. Watched the cows walk by below us. Listened to the birds and the soft breezes. It was heavenly. |We slept well, we had everything we needed for a beautiful stay. The next morning's breakfast (shared together on the back porch) was absolutely delicious and everything we could want as far as coffee/tea/water/jams/juices, etc., was right there for us. The accommodations are very well thought out for the most pleasant of stays. I would highly recommend and re-visit in...

Wonderful and relaxing vacation! We stayed in the Blue Run Cottage, in the Vermintino Suite. It was very spacious and VERY clean. The bedroom has great views of the vines and opening the windows when the weather is nice is absolutely amazing. We spent most evenings sitting in the deck chairs watching the sun set over the vineyard. The cottage is down a gravel road away from the inn. There is a cow pasture on one side and the vineyard on the other. The cottage is surrounded by pecan trees which provide good shade. It is perfect and secluded, great for a covid vacation. We had lunch at Palladio and liked it so much we got take out to take back to our room another night. It was absolutely perfect. I also have to give a shout out to the Ladies at the Library tasting room. They were so fun and fabulous, it made for a great experience. Also, the wine is very good, which may surprise some who don’t like east coast wines. We really liked many different wines and drank them all week. Try to avoid Monday/Tuesday because most things are closed due to staffing issues caused by covid. This was really the perfect peaceful getaway and we will definitely be back! Thank you to Ginger and the Inn staff for a...