Mary Ann Redmond & the Bluemont Summer Concert Series

Do you sing in the shower or belt out tunes in your car?  I do.  Not so much in the shower anymore; our guests would probably (and rightfully so) take offense.  But at times in my daily commute I sing at the top of my lungs and daydream Walter Mitty style about bringing down the house at the Royal Albert Hall.  Eat your heart out, Mick.   Stop lights or heavy traffic usually end such interludes of reverie. Like all wannabe performers I have a great appreciation for the real thing.  I spend a lot of travel time listening to good music and one of my all time favorite musicians is coming to Middleburg! 

  

Nineteen-time Wammies winner Mary Ann Redmond (marb.com) is going to be performing as part of the Bluemont Summer Concert series (Bluemont.org) on July 14, 2012 in our beautiful town.  If you have never seen her perform, you have to come.  If you have, you know what I’m talking about.  I remember reading a reviewer who said  she “can caress a lyric like petting a cat.”   She performed with Eva Cassidy, and Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote her a song.   She is an incredible blues artist and can reach stratospheric heights with her amazing voice.

Come to Middleburg for the concert; I guarantee that you’ll love her.  In fact, come stay with us for that weekend and we’ll give you tickets to her concert, a bottle of wine and a picnic style dinner from the Home Farm Store in Middleburg.  The night of the concert, we’ll start with wine and dinner out on the pergola and then walk over to the Community Center to watch her and her outstanding band perform. 

It will be a great summer getaway and if you’re really lucky, maybe I’ll sing you a song.

Contact us at the Inn for more information. 

Kevin and Jo Ann Hazard, Owners of Middleburg Country Inn

Here Comes Spring!

I drive home every weekday along the Potomac River from Washington DC. For the last week or so, I’ve watched the weeping willows change from forlorn and barren to happy and green. What a lovely sight. Now the trees sway in the river breeze accompanied by trumpet blasts from full beds of bright yellow tulips.

Do I love spring? You betcha. For the next month, Mother Nature will appear almost wobbly drunk in her fever pitch to forget the winter. The days are getting longer, the temperature is close to perfect and I couldn’t be happier.

What to do with all this euphoria? Why not just give us a call and come sit with us on our back deck with a glass of wine and watch the flowers bloom. Now that’s a prescription for ANYTHING that ails you.

I can hear the birds singing. See you soon!

Kevin Hazard, Owner of the Middleburg County Inn

It's Spring!

I love spring.The whole world seems to shake off the winter blahs with a sudden explosion of light and color. It's almost like the moment in the Wizard of Oz when the movie changes from dreary Kansas to the wonderfully technicolor Oz.

At The Inn, our crocuses are up, the forsythias are in full and radiant bloom and our weeping cherry is beginning to flower. Everything is coming alive.

This really should be the time of year when you do your New Years resolutions. Everything just seems a little easier and you have a lot more energy. With that thought in mind, I think that now would be a good time to re do your New Years Resolutions. Take out a fresh pad of paper and write across the top "MY NEW NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS" and then list the three or four main items that you want to accomplish this year. Right underneath them, write call the Middleburg Country Inn for a reservation. It's the perfect time to come see us.

Hope to see you soon

Kevin and Jo Ann

On Monday and Tuesday, February 28 and March 1, the Humane Farm Animal Care, http://www.certifiedhumane.org, held a Board meeting at the Middleburg Country Inn. They were referred to us by Ayrshire Farm, http://www.ayrshirefarm.com, located in the Middleburg area. It was so successful they will be holding their next Board meeting at the Inn in July.

Robinson (Va.) coach Bryan Hazard

It's a Family Affair

Middleburg is just a little sleepier in the winter. We like to curl up by the fire in the parilor some nights, but other nights Jo Ann and I take off our innkeepers hats and follow the exploits of our son Bryan's wrestling team.

Bryan is the very successful coach of the Robinson HS wrestling team in neighboring Fairfax County and this year has been a very special one for them. The team had a great mix of returning state place winners and extremely talented but untested freshman. They got better as the season wore on and this past weekend won the Virginia AAA state championship over a very experienced and nationally ranked team from Virginia Beach, Frank Cox HS. This was the first Virginia state wrestling title for Northern Virginia in 26 years and Robinson won it in their home gym.

I entitiled the post It's a Family Affair because dear old dad was the announcer for the tournament and Melinda James, Bryan's sister, sang the National Anthem before the finals. Jo Ann is an intense fan and attended all of the sessions that she could (someone had to keep the Inn running).

Above is a youtube interview that USA Wrestling did with Bryan after the finals.

Congratulations Bryan

Proud mom and pop Jo Ann and Kevin

Another great writeup by a visitor to the inn, this time Marianne Cushing from Florida, who also included a whole lot of great pictures of the inn. And... another vote for the lemon poundcake!

Marianne is, aside from being fantastic company, a tourism marketer (we didn't bribe her, I swear) who's got great coverage of locations all over the country on her blog, along with general advice about travelling well and other interesting tidbits. She goes to all sorts of amazing places, some of which I've never even heard of, and I'm pretty sorely tempted to take her up on her offer to take over so I can range around the country while she can stay here at the Inn for a while.

Word of my poundcake has spread to Baltimore! I just found out we've been featured in Baltimore Style magazine as an "intimate getaway", along with inns in Delaware and Pennsylvania. It's always exciting to see your name in a paper, especially one outside Virginia, especially in such a positive review along with descriptions like "über-welcoming"!