- Summer … Sonoma Wine Country
- Vintners Inn – Summer Scene (Alice Joyce photo)
In the mood for a much-needed getaway?
- Vintners Inn (Alice Joyce photo)
Lodgings at the Vintners Inn offer a luxurious retreat set within a 92-acre vineyard landscape.
- Vintners Inn – Balcony to Balcony (Alice Joyce photo)
The Inn’s 3 separate buildings comprise 44 rooms and suites featuring French country decor, each with a private patio, or a balcony with lovely views. Book a room with a fireplace and Jacuzzi for a particularly heavenly respite from the workaday world.
- Vintners Inn Wedding Pavilion (Alice Joyce photo)
We enjoyed drinks and a light meal in the Front Room Bar & Lounge adjacent to the famed John Ash & Co. restaurant. John Ash is known for having introduced the ‘locavore‘ approach to Sonoma County, with the creation of seasonal cuisine sourcing local ingredients.
- John Ash & Co. (Alice Joyce photo)
Vintners Inn
John Ash & Co.
We strolled around the new jogging path through the vineyards, with T. doing a bit of bird-watching while I enjoyed the scenery. And when morning dawned, we traveled no further than the Inn’s breakfast room, where the complimentary buffet allowed for a perfect start to another day of wine tasting amid Northern California’s myriad wineries.
Gardens of the World .. Amazon.com
The owners of Vintners Inn, Don and Rhonda Carano created a Sonoma destination garden in Healdsburg that I’ve written about many times, at Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery … included in my book, Gardenwalks in California. Stay tuned for an update on the Ferrari-Carano gardens!
Fairmont Waterfront Hotel – Vancouver, British Columbia
Fairmont Waterfront, Vancouver - In the Garden Facing Hotel
On a long-awaited visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, I reveled in a blissful stay at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. The room’s comfortable, contemporary decor and great views were a welcome prequel to my tour of the Fairmont’s rooftop culinary garden. Installed around 1991, the hotel’s rooftop array had been on my radar for some time. At 2,100 square feet, the 3rd floor green oasis holds a place as one of the first living roofs in a city that now boasts the largest green roof in Canada, the nearby 6-acre Vancouver Convention Centre.
Executive Chef Patrick Dore at the Herb Garden Gates Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, Vancouver, B.C.
The plantings were refreshed in 2006, and fifteen cubic yards of compost later, the garden layout boasts box hedging that effectively defines the planting beds. Espaliered apples and bay trees add beauty and structure to the design. Not surprisingly, organic gardening practices are employed in these productive gardens, where the Fairmont chefs harvest such delicacies as alpine strawberries, rose blossoms, lovage and calendulas, for the tasty fare at
Herons Restaurant. May through September you can tour the garden, or book to see Bee Hive demonstrations: the honeybees are the latest addition to the gardens. Phone or check the web site for tour times. Tours of the Herb Garden can also be arranged along with a lunch reservation in Herons.
Garden Plan - Fairmont Waterfront Hotel Roof Garden Vancouver, B.C.
As you might imagine, these organic gardens are a haven for many species of birds. Here’s a gardening tip revealed on my tour of the garden: Orange pekoe tea with a little bit of soap added is used at times for aphid control.
A Birds Eye View .. Fairmont Waterfront Hotel Roof Garden Plan: The hotel offers guest rooms with views of the garden’s herbs and flowers; also Terrace Rooms featuring private patios that lead to the garden.
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