The Fearrington

We started the trip off with Starbuck, because who in their right mind would start off any long drive without it. My choice… the standard Iced-Venti-Soy-Chai Tea- Latte. After the quickest (ever) drive thru line, we started the 2+ hour trip up to Pittsboro, North Carolina (about 30 minutes outside of Raleigh.)

I had never been to the Fearrington Inn before, but I had it on good authority that I would fall in love with it, the moment I pulled into the drive.

Fast forward through the driving now… and we arrive in Fearrington Village where we could enjoy interesting cuisine, daily tea time, Belties (belted cows,) a good book and a special holiday centric spa treatment.

Jealous yet?

Well, by the time we arrived I was starving. So there was only one thing on my mind. Food. So, we headed over to ‘The Granary’ where we at 1pm brunch reservations. (Note: As I’m sure you could tell by the name, ‘The Granary’ used to be a Grain Barn.)

I went with the Eggs Benedict as you can see. It was fairly good, but the chef put a little too much vinegar in the water. (There’s a fine line, and I’m not being too picky here… I’m a just a foodie.) Mum went with the goat cheese omelet.

This was our fall trip, the first annual, so I tried to capture as many changing leaves as I could.

Next, it was time to head over to McIntyre’s books,an absolute book haven. In this day and age when it’s so hard to find private/small bookstores, it’s so refreshing when you find a little gem like this.

I loved the reviews popping out of books.

I bet you want to know what book I walked away with. One of the most daunting in the place. ‘Just One Evil Act’ by Elizabeth George. What’s the perk of a 700+ page book? It’s signed by the author, and it didn’t lose me in the first chapter. My expectations of any novel are high, so if you have me in the first chapter, you’ll probably keep me through the last. Another little quirk of mine that I abstained from… reading the last page first. It’s a bad habit. I know.

Moving on… to ultimate relaxation at the Haven Spa. We were booked for the Apple Cinnamon Pedicure and I have to say this was one of the most beautiful spas that I’ve ever been to. It had a real California feel to it, and you could almost imagine that the ocean wasn’t very far away.

What to do after a pedicure? Why, go to tea of course. I was very excited to find out that each day from 4-5 inn guests are treated to tea at the Fearrington House Restaurant. They had to scramble around a bit for me with the whole dairy intolerance thing… but I got to enjoy my chamomile and watch the flames licking at the wood in the fireplace.

What did they come up? crab salad, proscuitto with fig jam, sausage pate, smoke salmon and a fruit salad. I enjoyed the crab, and proscuitto, nibbled at the pate and devoured the fruit salad… Well, mostly anyway.

Now that we were all nice and relaxed it was time to head over to the room…