HIstoric Garden Week in Virginia has slipped by; The Fan Woman’s Club Kitchen and Garden Tour is a memory; the Museum District’s Mother’s Day Tour has passed — but we’re not done yet! Next Saturday, May 14th between noon and 5 PM, selected homes and gardens in the Ginter Park neighborhood will open their doors and gates to visitors.

Ginter Park House and Garden Tour celebrates 100 years of Architecture May 14 2011 between noon and 5 PM

The annual tour will be celebrating 100 years of architecture and gardens and the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the Ginter Park neighborhood.  Times-Dispatch article on Ginter Park Tour Ticket Information and Details.

And, once you visited the ten homes and gardens open for touring, just up the road you’ll find Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens featuring its Millions of Blooms.  Right now the roses and peonies are in their prime and provide great photo opportunities. You can also check out the progress of world-famous artist Patrick Dougherty as he builds his stick sculpture, which will be named on May 21 at the Spring Fling in the Garden.

And, this is the FINAL weekend for the exhibition “Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso, Paris” at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Better get there before it’s gone for good!

Lots in store this weekend, don’t miss out! Richmond and central Virginia are the place to be….

If you can’t catch one of the Richmond tours during Historic Garden Week, there’s always the Fan Woman’s Club Annual Kitchen and Garden Tour.

Kitchen and Garden Tour in Richmond's historic Fan District May 1 2011 1-6 PM

This year’s theme, Urban Delights, offers a diverse selection of homes and gardens in Richmond’s historic Fan District. Discover how urban homeowners maximize every inch of space both inside and outside their homes. See how each home has been personalized by its owners who focus on blending historic architectural details with the functionality required by modern families.  The tour features homes across the length of the Fan District, from the 1400-block of Grove to the Boulevard.

The Fan Woman’s Club organizes this tour each spring as its primary fundraiser to support its grants to neighborhood non-profit organizations and its neighborhood improvement activities.  The woman’s club has upgraded park facilities with new benches and plantings and funded new period-appropriate street litter receptacles.  Houses are staffed by volunteers and neighborhood businesses sponsor the event.

The Historic Fan District is an 85-block turn of the century (19th to 20th, that is) residential neighborhood, named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 as the largest intact Victorian neighborhood in the United States. It takes its name from its tree-lined avenues and streets that “fan out” from Monroe Park, adjacent to the academic campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Best described as architecturally diverse, the over 2,300 classic town homes feature bay windows, turrets, high ceilings, parquet oak and pine floors, mahogany woodwork, stained and leaded glass, and varied porch and balcony designs. Most homes are brick or brick and brownstone.

At the east end of the Fan, close to Monroe Park, sits a unique clapboard residence on a large corner lot.  Completed before the area gained popularity in 1869, on a parcel purchased in 1862, it is now Richmond’s premier bed and breakfast known for its hearty gourmet breakfasts. A stay in our urban inn is a better way to stay: to experience the Fan neighborhood like a local, to dine in neighborhood eateries, and to enjoy live theater, neighborhood entertainment and nearby museums and attractions.

The Garden Club of Virginia has organized the 78th Annual Historic Garden Week in Virginia from April 16th through April 23rd, presenting house and garden tours all across the state of Virginia.

Virginians from north, south, in the mountains, and by the sea are opening their doors and gates to welcome visitors to their unforgettable gardens and delightful homes dressed for Spring with fabulous flower arrangements provided by local garden clubs.  Most of the properties welcoming visitors on specific days are privately owned, but the proceeds from this tour support the preservation and restoration of the grounds of more than three dozen of Virginia’s historic landmarks.

Richmond is proud to host tours on Tuesday April 19th, Wednesday April 20th, and Thursday April 21st. Schedule.

78th Annual Historic Garden Week in Virginia Special in Richmond April 18 - 20. Book today!

Tuesday’s tour features homes and gardens in Richmond’s Hampton Gardens/Cary Street Road area. Built in the 20′s and 30′s, these homes range from Georgian Revival to English Tudor to Colonial. Each is filled with furnishings and art that reflect the personalities of its owners.  Gardens range from dramatic slopes with multiple stone terraces highlighted with banks of roses to a private backyard with a low maintenance garden of river birch, hydrangea, hosta, and Virginia’s famed azaleas.

Wednesday’s tour highlights the grandeur of Monument Avenue, the first street in America to be named a National Historic Landmark.  Homes open for the tour reflect a variety of sophisticated American and European architectural styles popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Grand entrances, soaring spaces, period architectural details, and manicured gardens and courtyards provide a feast for your eyes and wonderful ideas to take home with you.  Make prior arrangements and have lunch at the Branch House, the largest single family home built on Monument Avenue, now the Virginia Center for Architecture at 2501 Monument Avenue. Homes on Monument Avenue are not often open to the public – this is an opportunity not to be missed!

Thursday’s tour takes place in the Windsor Farms area of Richmond and includes the Windsor House built in 1945 on the site of the Windsor Farm. Located in a park-like setting, originally designed by Charles Gillette, noted landscape architect, the original brick structure and its seamless additions are an oasis in the city.  Even a later home, a Dutch Colonial built in 1970, opens its doors and gardens to the public on this Wednesday. Enjoy a prearranged lunch under a tent at Agecroft Hall and enjoy the grounds and gardens of Agecroft as an added bonus.

Here’s an inn-side tip: plan to attend all three tours in Richmond, and book your three-night stay at Richmond’s premier bed and breakfast right in the middle of it all in the heart of Richmond’s historic Fan District. Book your stay for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights – April 18, 19, 20, reference OPEN HOUSE, and get 35% off Wednesday’s room rate.  In addition, you’ll get a hearty gourmet breakfast every morning that will stick to your ribs for the day’s walking tour. Come back to the inn, enjoy our complimentary evening wine and cheese in the inn’s private gardens.  You’ll get free off-street parking, private en-suite bathrooms, and even free Wi-Fi to keep up with your e-mail – if you must.

The tours are walking tours, so please wear comfortable walking shoes for your own safety and as a courtesy to the homeowners who have generously opened their residences for the tour. Each ticket will have a map of the houses open on the tour.  Organizers of the tours request no interior photography or sketching and no use of cell phones within the tour houses.  Tickets will be available on tour day at any of the properties open for touring. Advance tickets for the tour are available on-line, as are guidebooks with all the details about each property and tours across the state.  Luncheons must be prearranged as well! Make your plans now!

The gardens around the inn are starting to spring to life! On Friday morning the daffodils started blooming.  Signs of spring are all around, the daffodils joined the Cornelian Cherry that had been showing its yellow buds and blooms for several days.  The star magnolias have started showing their white blooms as well, particularly those branches that are in the sun.  There are two of these trees in the garden at the William Miller House Bed and Breakfast and they are among the early bloomers – blooms which will be followed by bright green leaves.  The blooms generally last only a few days; the spring rains drive the petals to the ground.  So, we relish in the days we can enjoy their splendor!

The daphne odoro just outside the kitchen door are in bloom and their lovely fragrance fills the air in the west garden near the wellhouse.  And, of course, the warm days and cool nights have perked up the pansies in the planting beds.  So plan a spring visit to Richmond, enjoy the gardens at Richmond’s premier bed and breakfast and take advantage of pleasant weather and all the cultural and historical activities and events in central Virginia!

Leather Leaf Mahonia sets its blooms, soon they will be berries! Not edible, of course!

Catch them while you can! Star Magnolia in bloom!

Daphne Odoro in bloom by the kitchen door!

Daffodils SPRING to life in the garden

The Richmond Symphony Orchestra League’s Designer House and Garden Tour has opened and extends through October 11th. This is the RSOL’s 14th Designer House, a beautiful English Tudor, gorgeously transformed by interior designers, landscape designers, artists, craftsmen and women, and sculptors. Design Professionals. More than 30 rooms and 11 outdoor spaces reflect the creativity and latest trends in space planning, color, visual impact and comfort.

RSOL's 2010 Designer House & Garden as seen from the river side

The original 8-acre site was landscaped by the noted Charles F. Gillette and his design genius has been restored and enhanced by prominent landscape professionals- a first for the RSOL’s Designer House. The house, names Rothesay, was originally built in 1913.  The current owners have graciously moved a lifetime of collections and accumulations out to allow the designers and landscape architects to magically transform the space into the 2010 Designer House, a biennial fundraiser for the Richmond Symphony.

Tickets ($20) are available at the door.  The organizers have arranged for parking in the lot at the intersection of McCloy Street and Douglasdale Road, since parking has been prohibited on Rothesay Circle. A shuttle runs continuously from the lot to Rothesay Circle, starting 15 minutes prior to opening and continuing 30 minutes after closing each day. The Designer House and Garden will be open Monday through Friday from 11 Am to 2 PM, 11 Am to 3:30 PM Saturdays, and Noon to 3:30 on Sundays.  You can make an entire day of your visit, by planning a lunch with a choice of sandwiches, salads, and soups along with a glass of wine or beer at the on-site Cafe Rothesay in a designer space.  Don’t forget to stop by the boutique, you just might get a jump on your holiday shopping and find that perfect gift.

Tiffany: Color and Light’s closing is imminent – just 3 weeks away on August 15th!  Have you seen the glass master’s exhibit at Richmond’s Virginia Museum of Fine Arts? Better make your plans now.

Don't Miss the wonder of Tiffany's Glass

The Richmond VMFA is the only museum in the US to feature this exhibition and, once it closes, the items will be dispersed back to their owners: museums from around the world. Drawing on the finest collections in Europe, North America, and Russia, the exhibition presents Tiffany as an artist of international stature and significance. Curated by the world’s leading scholars, the exhibition focuses on his primary achievements – the innovative techniques and artistry he developed to achieve original and spectacular effects in glass. Among the exhibition’s more than 180 objects are examples of the leaded-glass windows and lamps for which he is best known as well as blown-glass vessels and decorative objects such as mosaics, jewelry, bronzes, paintings, watercolors, architectural elements, and silver. Eight newly restored windows from the Erskine and American United Church in Montreal – considered one of his most spectacular commissions – have never before been shown in the United States and will form a dazzling and memorable centerpiece to the presentation.  And, save your ticket stubs for the exhibition to take advantage of our special: stay at our inn for two nights Monday through Thursday, present your used ticket stubs, and we will refund your admission fees by applying a credit to your invoice! Subject to Conditions.

To round out your Tiffany-focused trip, don’t forget to check out the Tiffany Driving Tour.  Focusing on glass works, make time to explore Hans Godo Frabel’s Glassworks in the Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. Richmond is rich in its art – don’t miss it!

Can a restaurant be a work of art? Take time to check out Amuse, the restaurant in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts that overlooks the the sculpture garden. A recent review by Dana Craig was very positive and limited hours make reservations hard to get. The secret: Plan ahead!

The hydrangeas in the east garden of our Fan District bed and breakfast are in full bloom

East Garden's Showy Hydrangea Blooms June 2010

celebrating the arrival of June and heralding the fact that summer is right around the corner. The gardens are in their glory, the spring flowers disappearing but making room for the bright blooms of summer – both its annuals and perennials.   The day lilies are in bloom, so is the lavender.  Our impatiens and other annuals have settled in nicely and are filling any spare void in the beds. We even have a water lily bloom in the pond, check out the goldfish swimming near by.

Goldfish checks out the latest addition to the pond - a vibrant water lily

Summer is a great time to visit Richmond, there is so much to do and see!  And, after a day of sightseeing or rafting down the James River, unwind in the beauty of our garden with a glass of wine as you make your dinner plans.  Our exclusive boutique inn has limited availability so act quickly to reserve your guest room in the middle of it all: convenient to dining, shopping, museums, antiquing, art galleries – all that Richmond’s historic urban neighborhood offers to residents and visitors alike!

The Fan Woman’s Club presents its annual Kitchen and Garden Tour Sunday May 2, 2010 between 1 PM and 6 PM.  Eight  fabulous Fan District private homes are opening their doors and their gardens to tour ticket holders.  Tickets are available on line as well as at a few local commercial establishments.  Ticket info.  Advance tickets may be purchased on-line through 6 PM on Saturday, May 1, 2010.  A preview of homes including photos by local photographer, Tony Giammarino, are available as well as short descriptions of what to expect at each residence. Take a peek, whet your appetite for a glimpse into family life in the Fan, purchase a ticket or two, and make it a great Sunday afternoon.  One of the tour homes is just two blocks away from our B & B.

The Fan Woman’s Club Annual Kitchen and Garden Tour is another one of Richmond Virginia’s best kept secrets. Visit Richmond, stay at our downtown Richmond inn, and we’ll share the best of the best with you from dining options at neighborhood eateries, sights to see, things to do, and we’ll give you insight into living in Richmond’s premier neighborhood.  Our bed and breakfast features two classic, elegant guest rooms, each with a private en suite bath, high end bedding and luxurious linens, thick thirsty towels, high speed WiFi, cable equipped flat screen TV’s, a complimentary evening wine hour, and a hearty gourmet breakfast as well as a host of other amenities to make your stay memorable.  Don’t forget one of our rooms has a whirlpool tub in addition to a separate tiled shower.

We’re looking forward to your visit!

West Avenue Garden Week Tour is just three short blocks from the premier Richmond VA bed and breakfast; and one of the homes on the West Avenue tour on Thursday, April 22 is featured in an article by Julie Young of Richmond’s Times-Dispatch.  Read the entire article here.

But, don’t forget! Historic Garden Week in Virginia features three tours in the Richmond area next week: Windsor Farms’ Elegant Family Living Tour on Tuesday, April 20; historic homes of the Church Hill Tour on Wednesday, April 21; and, West Avenue Plus Two Walking Tour on Thursday April 22. Tour Information.

Make your reservation at the best Richmond inn (according to our guests’ comments) and be in the middle of it all!  Start your day with a hearty gourmet breakfast and after a day of touring sip a glass of wine in our private urban garden with azaleas in full bloom!

The Richmond, Virginia area hosts three house and garden tours as part of Historic Garden Week in Virginia on Tuesday April 20, Wednesday April 21, and Thursday April 22.  This is the 77th Historic Garden Week organized by The Garden Club of Virginia. and is the oldest and largest program of its kind in the nation.  Creating beautiful gardens has been the tradition in Virginia since the 17th century. More than 200 homes throughout Virginia will be open to visitors to benefit historic preservation and restoration of important historic gardens.  Previous projects include gardens formerly owned by such notables as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Patrick Henry, to name a few.  This worthwhile cause affords visitors the opportunity to enjoy and visit private gardens and homes bursting with the blooms and promise of  Virginia’s beautiful spring.

Make your plans now to stay in our Richmond inn and be centrally located to the  three Richmond tours: Windsor Farms, Church Hill, and West Avenue in the historic Fan District – just 3 blocks away!  Plan a Spring getaway with us, after  a hearty gourmet breakfast Tuesday morning spend the day visiting the Windsor Farms neighborhood.

Between 10 AM and 4:30 PM on Tuesday April 20th, 7 homes and gardens reflecting elegant family living from a 1950′s Cape Cod with a seamless integration of old and new spaces, to a stately 1929 Tudor, one of the first houses built in Windsor Farms. Also featured are a 1935 formal brick Georgian, a former ranch remodeled twice and featuring an extensive art collection, and a stone cottage built as a wedding present in the early 1930′s. Art, antiques, family heirlooms, a mix of old and new, and lush gardens invite visitors to enjoy the best of Richmond’s Windsor Farms neighborhood.  To rest your weary toes, head back to our bed and breakfast for the evening wine and cheese hour and relish in our private urban garden while you plan your dining experience at one of our neighborhood eateries.

Wednesday, April 21st, from 10 AM to 4:30 PM, it’s off to Church Hill!  A rousing reenactment of Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or GIve Me Death” speech at St. John’s Church is free as a special bonus to Garden Week’s Church Hill ticket holders. Plan to be seated by 12:30 PM, reenactment will last about 40 minutes. The Church Hill neighborhood has been undergoing a careful and painstaking restoration movement of its historic properties for at least the past 50 years.  One of Carrington Row’s homes will be featured; as will the Burton Farrar House built between 1818 and 1824. A Greek Revival built in 1861, St John’s Mews (a carefully constructed landscaping project on the site of two demolished buildings), a Federal period “bowfront” residence from about 1810, and an Italianate home built in 1881 are all featured.  Spend the day touring Church Hill and then return to our Greek Revival bed and breakfast built in 1869 for another chance to select from neighborhood dining spots and to enjoy our private urban garden.

After Thursday’s breakfast, a short three block stroll takes you to the West Avenue Plus Two Walking Tour.  Homes and gardens are open between 10 Am and 4:30 PM along one of the prettiest streets in Richmond’s Historic Fan District.  Townhouses open to Historic Garden Week ticket holders are as diverse as their owners: from sophisticated, contemporary, fashionable, eclectic, traditional, to precisely refined. Art ranges from African wildlife to contemporary, from abstract to portraits.  Gardens include a petit jardin Francais, a planted patio created by a garden historian and author, as well as a walled Charleston garden.  This is city-living at its best and a tour not to be missed!

Each tour requires an individual ticket available at the Garden Week website, along with more detailed information, including a special offer for a statewide ticket. So pick your room now, and take advantage of our central location for all three Richmond tours. You won’t be disappointed.