Christmas in Middleburg

I just had one of the best weekends ever - it's always good when I can check items off my bucket list!!

Mother and I traveled to Middleburg, VA to visit our friend, Rachel, and also visit the town.  Middleburg is the horseman's (or woman's) paradise.  It is big hunt country, and could give Lexington, KY a run for it's money as being the most horse-centered town in the entire United States.  We visited Middleburg six years ago when we bought Dutch, and have dreamed of going back since then.  When we visited before, it was a horsey winter wonderland - everything was covered in snow, there were HUGE fields contained by stone fences, with fox hunting jumps built into them, amazing barns just barely visible from the road, and every store in the town, selling horse related/inspired items.  It was magical.  And then we ended up with Dutch to boot, cutie pie baby horse that he was back then...

Rachel moved to Middleburg three years ago, and we'd been talking about visiting her for a long time, so finally we worked it out!!  I don't think I can go 6 more months without going back, much less three or six years.  Middleburg is just absolute heaven.

Robert Duval's farm (and above)

Anyways, Mother and I got up to Middleburg midday on Friday, after traveling through some of the most gorgeous scenery just to get into town.  We ate a quick lunch and I could not even contain my excitement.  Everything was as I remembered it, but also better.  After lunch we wandered in and out of their many antique, gift, and clothing stores.  I feel like at this point, its needless to say I wanted nearly everything, because so much of it was horsey, but also so classy.  I can't even put into words how great it was just looking at all of the neat stuff that is in the stores, but it is all catered to the people who are attracted to the town.

The Red Fox Inn 

After we shopped for a few hours, it was time to meet Rachel, who was almost done working at The Tack Box for the day.  From her tack shop, she drove us out to her barn to see her new baby horses, both of which shipped in from Germany this fall.  They were fancy and beautiful.  Then, we went to the Salamander Resort for drinks and appetizers.  Sheila Johnson, who started BET Network is a huge horsewoman, as is the rest of her family.  They've owned a beautiful farm in Middleburg for a while now - we saw it the last time we visited, but Sheila recently built a gorgeous upscale resort that just opened in August.  It was *so* nice - fancy drinks, great food, stunning decor (horsey, of course) and on top of all that, Rachel is friends with Sheila's right hand man, who dreamed up the entire resort.  He and his wife were ridiculously nice people.  We drank and caught up for a while, took pictures in front of the Christmas tree, and admired the beautiful gingerbread barn, made by the Salamander chef.  Have I mentioned on top off all the regular beauty, how special it was to be in Middleburg around Christmastime too!!

Teddy!

Beau!

Beau! 

Myself, my mother, and Rachel

The gingerbread house of the barn at the Salamander Resort

Painting of the Middleburg Christmas Parade, in Salamander Resort

A stunning painting in Salamander Resort

Saturday was an early morning, because we had to go save our seats for the Christmas parade at 9 am!  The horse and hound parade was at 11 AM, and then the regular parade was at 2 PM, but thousands of people come into Middleburg from Washington, DC to watch the parade, so we had to claim our spot at the bar early!  It was great fun - we met Rachel's friends, drank Bailey's & coffee, did some serious people watching, walked around some more, watched the parade - it was like upscale tailgating!  My favorite part, which was on my bucket list, was the horse and hound parade.  The Chronicle of the Horse magazine is headquartered in Middleburg, so they cover the Christmas parade every year, and so it became an item on my bucket list.  While that part of the parade is fast, only a minute or two of about 20-30 huntsman, it was perfect.  We had a great spot to watch the huntsman and hounds go by, and it was just as I imagined!

...drool

I just love it!

The Corgi Corps

Ruby & Rachel with the Corgi Corps

Corgis everywhere - Kyle's heaven!

gal time

So many horses in the parade!

More horses!

and more!

Santa doesn't ride on a traditional parade float in Middleburg!

Hey Sheila!

After the parade we went to one of Rachel's friend's houses to warm up and eat some food, while the traffic died down.  We stayed for a few hours before going home, getting in our PJs, pouring some champagne, and turning on Modern Family in the background while we talked about the fun day, and still caught up more.  It's funny how with good friends, you don't always feel like you need to talk a lot, but it takes days to catch up, because more goes on in your lives than you realize.

Jack the cat, with Rachel's wood stove

Snow 

Rachel's perfect little farmhouse, in the snow that began to fall as we tried to leave

Do we have to go home?

Maybe around midnight we rolled into bed, and then got up early to next day to very sadly leave around 7:30 to beat the snow and ice that was traveling up I-95.  It was a perfect trip in every way, except that it was much much too short.