January/February 2008

Red Hot Road Trips

Heat up your winter with a sexy getaway.

By Mary Burnham

Looking for a sexy getaway to spice up the cold winter? Something more than the Romance Package at the Victorian B&B with the innkeepers sleeping next door? Pack the Kama Sutra and massage oil for these very private locales. After all, Virginia is for Lovers.
 
Hope & Glory Inn
Irvington

“Say yes to something you usually say no to”

“sleep naked”

Small and simple, the black signs with sharp white lettering carry a power of suggestion too strong to deny. It pushes us through the front door of our cozy, two-story cottage and up a short flight of stairs.

Nice, nice, very nice. The king-sized bed is piled with seven—count ’em, seven—plush pillows and a down comforter.

Bill pops open a bottle of Meteor Bright Red (great with chocolate), purchased at the White Fences Vineyard that afternoon. He pours two glasses and draws the curtain across the bedroom’s French doors.

We’d hoped for a sexy getaway, something to spice up the winter routine, and found it at the Hope & Glory, a converted 1890 schoolhouse. Guests will find magical bubble baths in the outdoor bath tub, bicycles to borrow for a ride through the vineyard, and sunset cruises on Carter’s Creek. They’ll also find lots of privacy and discretion.

There are seven delightfully romantic rooms upstairs, and seven cottages in the English gardens, abloom in season with heirloom roses, old-fashioned hollyhocks and walls of lavender wisteria. For real privacy, there are seven more cottages at the White Fences Vineyard, all with gas fireplaces and full kitchens.

The whimsical, cottage-style décor of chintz cushions and folk art throughout is comfortable and unpretentious, despite the glowing accolades on the dining room wall:

“One of the 10 great places to rent a cottage” (USA Today),
“A Top Ten Most Romantic Inn in America” (American Historic Inns)
Countered by The New York Times: “the description hardly does it justice.”

Here in this tiny village on the rural Northern Neck, is a place in the same league as The Inn at Little Washington, but without, shall we say, the formality?

The innkeepers, Dudley and Peggy Patteson, have a lot to do with that. Welcoming, warm and genuine, they’ve set the stage for romance. And they always have something very special planned for Valentine’s Day.

But we all know intimacy is really about being truly present with each other. That said, our sexy getaway really began when we left the cell phones and laptops in the car.
(800-497-8228, www.hopeandglory.com)

For the rest of this article, including more sexy destinations, see the January issue of Hampton Roads Magazine, currently available on newsstands.