Dec 08/Jan 09 | 

Middleburg, Virginia

The horse and hunt capital of America is a great escape from Washington. You can even ride into town

Less than an hour's drive from the nation’s capital, past the gridlock of Beltway traffic, past a smattering of tract housing, office parks, and strip malls, lies the heart of Virginia horse country. Just when you least expect it, the landscape unfurls, and you feel as if you’ve been parachute-dropped into the middle of the English countryside, only these are the lush foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The sight of rolling pastureland, clapboard farmhouses, and stone fences slows your pulse to a resting rate. “Relax,” reads a sign with a sleeping fox at the entrance to Middleburg, and so you do.

Everybody wants a piece of this thirty-seven-acre town’s brand of rustic chic. To prove it, there’s a waiting list for post-office boxes with a prestigious Middleburg address. That’s probably why most of the 650 official residents are fiercely protective of their land and the town’s history, which extends back to pre-Revolutionary days when a young George Washington spent the night at the Red Fox Inn, an establishment that still anchors the main street. Locals may have deep pockets, but they shun glitz and relish living in a place where you can walk into restaurants in breeches and riding boots. For these reasons, rumors that Middleburg is on the verge of becoming the next Greenwich, Connecticut, send them running for cover.

Even if you’re not the scion of an old Virginia family, a privacy-seeking Washington powerhouse, or the owner of a farm with its own name, it’s easy to derive pleasure from a weekend visit to Middleburg. The antiques shops, vineyards, and horse stables have year-round allure, but the headline events are the spring and fall races and the annual Christmas in Middleburg celebration, which kicks off with a hunt parade down Washington Street.

Where to Stay
Book a room at the Goodstone Inn, a former estate and dairy farm a few miles from historic downtown. The Middleburg Hunt proceeds directly through the grounds, and there are stables for guests’ horses. The carriage house, built in the early 1900s, is the hotel’s hub and has been refurbished in true Middleburg style (read: English and French country plus antique flourishes), as have the guest cottages that dot the 265-acre property. The carriage house’s one-room restaurant, Hilltoppers, with its heart-pine floors, Palladian windows overlooking the woods, and seasonal menu, is a destination in itself.

Down the road, in Upperville, one of the many hamlets along John S. Mosby Highway, a charming Irish family has infused the Blackthorne Inn, once owned by George Washington, with a Gaelic flair. There’s a casual pub as well as an upscale restaurant, which is packed in the evenings.