With all its old homes and gorgeous countryside, Virginia is a hotbed of country inns and B&Bs. Some have been in business since colonial times; a few are among the best around. Our picks barely touch the surface.
Red Fox Inn (Middleburg): In the center of tiny Middleburg, this rambling inn maintains the romantic charm of early Virginia in its original 1728 stone structure. There's a cozy dining room downstairs.
Hope and Glory Inn (Irvington): The state's most fascinating country inn occupies a converted 1890s schoolhouse, and it has cottages in the garden, but what really sets it apart is an outdoor bathroom complete with claw-foot tub. That's right: It's outdoors, albeit surrounded by a stockade fence.
Inn at Little Washington (Washington): For the best, you need look no further than the Blue Ridge foothill village of Washington, which everyone in Virginia calls "Little Washington." An English decorator designed the rooms here, but it's the romantic restaurant that draws the most raves, as co-owner and chef Patrick O'Connell relies on regional products to create wonderful French cuisine.
Fort Lewis Lodge (Millboro): One of Virginia's most unusual inns, the Fort Lewis Lodge occupies an old mill and rebuilt barn on a farm beside the Cowpasture River, just over the mountain from Warm Springs. A spiral staircase ascends to three rooms inside the old silo, and there are two log cabins with their own fireplaces. It's a great place to show urban kids a bit of farm life in beautiful surroundings.
Martha Washington Inn (Abingdon): Gracing Abingdon's historic district, the center portion of this Greek Revival inn was built as a private home in 1832 -- and as if to prove it, the plank floors creak loudly as you enter the gracious lobby. You can sit in white-wicker rocking chairs on the front porch and watch the traffic on Main Street -- or imagine Daniel Boone's dogs being attacked by wolves nearby.
