FREDERICKSBURG FARM STAY
The Fredericksburg Herb Farm, a gardeners’ destination since 1985, has been lovingly upgraded from earthy to uptown country. Guess we’d been away longer than we realized: We were pleasantly surprised one morning this spring to discover the place utterly transformed and tidied up.
The windmill near the front of the 4-acre property is still there, but the rangey garden that once wrapped around it in a wagonwheel design has given way to a contemporary Hill Country spa building and a couple of rows of one-room cottages in the style of the Sunday houses built in the 19th century by area farmers who visited town weekly for church and provisions.
In its first incarnation, the Fredericksburg Herb Farm was a shop in a historical stone building on the town’s Main Street. There, founders Bill and Sylvia Varney launched a successful line of branded products — herbal vinegars and oils, cooking mixes, hand creams, soaps and such. They relocated six years later to the town’s Lehne-Itz homestead, a spread less than a mile from downtown that’s still a quiet world apart from the tourist hustle-bustle.
Richard and Rosemary Estenson, who also developed Fredericksburg’s upscale, 1940s-themed Hangar Hotel, spent several years rebirthing the farm after buying it in 2007.
The newish Sunday houses, based on three popular historical designs, flounce their period cuteness on the outside, with a rocker on every jasmine-lined porch. Inside, however, each cottage exudes 21st-century comfort — a king-size bed with luxurious sheets, upholstered seating, flat-screen HD TVs, WiFi, fridge, microwave and a bathroom with a shower and a granite vanity.
Not that guests will have a hard time finding it, but paths lead to the 5,000-square-foot Nature’s Spa, a stone building with custom fixtures by local artisans. Among the amenities there: seven massage rooms (including a double-treatment room and a wet room), skin-care and mani-pedi rooms, a relaxation room and “far infrared” saunas that provide detox benefits without searing heat.
The circa 1884 rock house that holds the restaurant has been restored, enlarged and rechristened the Farm Haus Bistro. There’s now a relaxing bar with garden views, too.
Go hungry for breakfast and lunch daily, when sophisticated comfort fare fills the menu. The bistro also serves dinner on Fridays and Saturdays, offering small plates, flatbreads and diverse, rich entrees, so there’s something to satisfy all kinds of eaters.
We tend to stay on the healthier side but watched in awe during brunch as a table of four young women split a massive Leola’s Cinnamon Roll, then devoured full-on egg and waffle dishes. I missed Bill Varney’s famous peppermint brownies, but these gals clearly did not.
From $159 per night; 405 Whitney, Fredericksburg; 844-596-2302; fredericksburgherbfarm.com