Touring the Berkshires
Hotel: Blantyre – Lennox, MA
Program: Driving and Dining
We arrive at the hotel in mid-Sunday afternoon. My companion has an appointment in the Potting Shed for a “Relaxation Masssage”. I review my choices, should I take this opportunity to walk the grounds? Or perhaps simply relax in the Music Room or on the Terrace with an unfinished NY Times article and a refreshing Chablis. I choose the latter.
At six-thirty we wend our way down to the wine cellar where we meet our friends and are greeted by sommelier Luc Chevalier. He introduces us to his latest purchases from California and Bordeaux and perhaps some of the “not so” latest. It is almost eight when we sit down to dinner. The dining room is exquisite, as is the food and the suggested wine . The conversation? Our cars, of course, and where to go tomorrow.
These are the Berkshires at their best we have much from which to chose. A light desert, an excellent Cognac and we are off to our room for a relatively early night.
We have decided on an early nine holes of golf. We are through by 10:30 and on the road by twelve. We drive south to see what is happening at Lime Rock Park. Perhaps it is a school day or someone is testing. We are not in a hurry and the weather is very pleasant so we open the sunroof and breathe in the fresh mountain air.
By the time we arrive, the lunchtime crowd at The Boathouse in Lakeville has thinned out and we find a pleasant table. A small salad, poached salmon and a glass of white wine and then off to nearby Lime Rock Park. We are in luck! It is a track day and all manner of cars, some accompanied by old friends are being exercised.
We stay for a while, but not too long. We have our own driving to do and the quiet Monday roads of Connecticut and Western Mass beckon. It’s a spirited drive taking the back way through the woods to Blantyre. We arrive at 5:00 o’clock and relax for an hour before meeting the group in the lobby and heading to downtown Lennox for dinner. We dine at a small restaurant we have been told by the hotel has excellent food and service. Our companions also had a good day. They drove north to Williamstown and visited the Clark Institute, the roads are beautiful and so is quaint Williamstown. We will go tomorrow.
After dinner we walk back to Blantyre, looking in the shop windows and talking about yesterday, today and tomorrow. Blantyre, the roads, the weather and the Ferrari have all made for a wonderful adventure. A hour later we are tucked in to fresh, cool sheets and the Berkshires has worked its magic again.
A late breakfast and we are on the road. This time we are with friends. They have a Jaguar coupe, about the same vintage as our Ferrari and he is an excellent driver. We met at a 6th Gear track day and became fast friends.
The drive to Williamstown is well suited to both cars. The long sweepers are made for these engines and we cruise comfortably to the Clark where we enjoy a late light lunch. The Clark has recently been endowed with a wonderful private collection and some of the new pieces have been installed. The new expansion and the existing exhibits are reason enough to take a relaxing stroll through this most remarkable building. A very pleasant change and we are back in out vehicle and finding new ways back to Blantyre.
We arrive just after 4:00 o’clock, freshen up and relax a little before dinner. Perhaps a walk along the grounds of this very special hotel?
Tonight we celebrate the day and our trip with a sumptous meal in the main dining room. A fine meal, beautifully presented and an excellent bottle Bordeaux. What better way to spend our final evening in the Berksires?
We joined friends for an after-dinner cordial and reminisced about our adventures. Time flew and we finally hit those lovely fresh sheets in our beautiful room at 11:30. Not to worry, today is an easy day drive back along Route 2 to Northampton, lunch at the Inn, a little shopping on the main street and some exercise to the car on the winding Route #2 back to Boston.
A wonderful plan.
