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Visiting the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam is a profoundly moving experience. I first went there as a 19-year-old college student backpacking around Europe. Of course I had read the Diary of Anne Frank as a youngster, when I was probably around the same age as Anne (13) when she began writing her diary. Naturally, I was both captivated by her writing and horrified by what happened to her and her family.
We made a four-day visit to Amsterdam in late May, prompted by my snagging two tickets to the once-in-a-lifetime Vermeer exhibit at the Rijksmuseum. (See my post about the exhibit here.)
by Sandra Hutchinson
I’ve long been a fan of the The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program, which arranges for public visits to some of our country’s most inspired and beautiful private gardens. There are usually a number of great options in New York’s Hudson Valley each spring and summer, as well as in neighboring northwest Connecticut.
Earlier this summer, through the Open Days program, I visited a stunning property near Millbrook, NY, in Dutchess County, that has been transformed by Christopher Spitzmiller and Anthony Bellomo. Called Clove Brook Farm, the current 5.5 acre property was originally part of a 200 acre working farm. The name comes from the stream that runs along the edge of the property, called Clove Brook.
by Sandra Hutchinson
When Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum announced an exhibit of 28 of Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer’s paintings to open in February of this year, the tickets quickly sold out. International newspapers proclaimed this the “exhibit of a lifetime.” Indeed, the headline of the preview in The Guardian was “One of the most thrilling exhibits ever conceived.”
Continue readingby Sandra Hutchinson
We recently had a rare opportunity to visit the Upperville, Virginia home of Paul Mellon (1907-1999) and Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon (1910-2014), two of the most prominent American art collectors and philanthropists of the 20th century. The property, called Little Oak Spring, is part of what was the much larger Rokeby Farm, where Paul Mellon raised many famous thoroughbreds, including Sea Hero, who won the 1993 Kentucky Derby.
by Sandra Hutchinson
While recently enjoying the beautiful Virginia springtime, and touring gardens during the 90th anniversary of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week, we made a short detour to the town of Marshall to have breakfast at the acclaimed Red Truck Rural Bakery.
Continue readingby Sandra Hutchinson
Now that it’s officially spring, I’d like to suggest several upcoming home and garden tours to consider attending. These are my favorites! Please remember that popular tours sell out early so it is always best to try and secure tickets early.
by Mark Frost, Editor and Publisher, The Chronicle Newspaper
We go to Grafton, Vermont to drop out. “Stop the world, I want to get off.”
Last weekend fulfilled it to the best degree ever.
Continue readingby Sandra Hutchinson
The Classical American Homes Preservation Trust owns four historically significant 19th century homes — two in South Carolina, one in North Carolina, and one in New York’s Dutchess County. The trust was founded by the late Wall Street investment banker Richard Hampton Jenrette, who had a passion for 18th and 19th century American architecture, and who had purchased all the properties as homes. They are notable not only for their architecture, but for their impressive collections of fine and decorative arts. Three of the homes are open on a limited basis for public tours. This past fall, I secured tickets to Edgewater, near Barrytown, in New York’s Dutchess County, and toured the property.
Continue readingby Sandra Hutchinson
It’s that time of year when I feel compelled to repost my article about our family’s traditional Thanksgiving dinner menu. So with your forbearance, dear readers, I post it below, complete with my mother’s recipe for her beloved cranberry/pineapple/jello “salad.”
I’d bet that nearly everyone reading this can recite, item by item, every single dish served at their family’s Thanksgiving table while growing up. The Thanksgiving menu is pretty much inviolate. Even the slightest change is noticed by all. I think I still remember the year my mother started adding apples to her stuffing.
Sandra's Town & Country 