Play...
WINERIES AND BREWERIES
Explore some of the area wineries! Fauquier County alone has 26! The Fauquier County Wine Ap provides information about 25 county wineries and their events, along with maps and recommendations for restaurants... or check them out here!
Loudoun County (just north of us) has even more. So many choices but here are some of the prettiest!
To list a few nearby wineries and breweries...
The Winery at The Grange (14 minutes away)
Pearmund Cellars (15 minutes away)
Barrel Oak Winery (11 minutes away)
Blue Valley Vineyard and Winery (13 minutes away)
Mediterranean Cellars (15 minutes away)
Chrysalis Vineyards (21 minutes away)
The Farm Brewery At Broad Run This places some amazing home-brewed beers! Our favorites are Tangerine IPA and Broad Run Blonde. (12 minutes down the road with no turns)
Old Ox Brewery (14 minutes up beautiful Zulla Road to Middleburg)
Old Bust Head Brewing Company (22 minutes away)
HISTORIC TOWNS
Aside from the lovely main streets of The Plains and Marshall (pictured at left), most of the towns in this neck of the woods have lovely, historic downtowns. Middleburg (eight miles north) and Warrenton (about ten miles south) both have lovely old town centers with lovely restaurants and shops.
GREAT MEADOWS
This large outdoor venue is home to Virginia's Gold cup, The Scottish Games, and other events, as well as Twilight Polo almost every Saturday night from spring to fall where you pay per carload, pack a picnic basket and blanket (which we provide) and a bottle of wine and sit up close to the polo ponies from 6 to 8 pm. And if you are up for it, join in the dancing afterward in the pavilion! Check their website for their events calendar.
MIDDLEBURG ACTIVITIES
Every fall, The Middleburg Film Festival takes place in various venues throughout the town. Join this growing celebration of new movies!
The National Sporting Library is wonderful for those who appreciate art and anything equestrian! Check out their current exhibition!
PICK YOUR OWN
Northern Fauquier country is home to at least three orchards where you can pick your own apples, pumpkins, berries, and other fruit. They are all within 20 minutes. Great photo-op, by the way --especially when the fall colors are out!
MULTI-COLORED FRESH EGGS, ANYONE?
Visit Horns and Hens Farm (five minutes from the house) to purchase gorgeous multi-colored eggs for $5 a dozen, Scottish Highland beef, pear, and apple butter, and fresh fruit when in season. Kimberly may just take you on a tour to see their amazing livestock and chickens. Please contact them first to arrange a visit.
FARMERS MARKET
Also for over 20 years, Arches Green Barns in The Plains hosts a lovely farmers market with vendors selling local produce, brick oven pizza, multi-color eggs, homemade soaps, and arts and crafts. Farmer's Market!! Sundays 10-2, May through September. Turn right in The Plains and you'll see the green barns a mile or so up on the left.
RIDING LESSONS/HORSE BOARDING
The view from the master bedroom looks out onto Madcap Farm. Book riding lessons with our neighbor Jeanne, or book overnight self-care horse boarding ahead of your stay! Contact us and we'll forward the information.
TENNIS
We love playing tennis (outside of school hours) at an outdoor court just a few minutes away at Marshall Middle School oat 4048 Zulla Rd. It is a nice court and we almost always have both courts to ourselves. Unfortunately, no lights for night tennis.
NEED A WORKOUT?
Try the Fitness Center at the Marshall Community Center. Daily passes $5 adults/$4 youth. Close by at 4133-A Rectortown Road, Marshall, VA 20115, PHONE: 540-422-8580, Mon-Thurs, 10am to 8pm; Fri-Sat 10am to 5pm
SHOPPING IN THE PLAINS AND MARSHALL
Farmers Market Sundays (warmer months) in The Plains at Archwood Green Barns For local fresh produce and handcrafted goods, visit our local farmer's market in The Plains, open Sundays through the warm months. Drive to The Plains first intersection, turn right and you'll see the green barns a mile or so up on the left.
Baileywyck Antiques This is a lovely antique shop stocked full of European and American treasures and art. It is voted the best in Virginia! They even carry some of Lina's little shoe sculptures, some little mice inside.
Peyton's Place is stocked full of great gifts and antiques. She's in the middle of The Plains so don't blink! Tell her Lina said hello!
The Middleburg Humane Foundation Resale Boutique is a lovely thrift shop with upscale clothes, equestrian gear, and odds and ends on Main Street in Marshall. Proceeds benefit Middleburg Humane.
NORTHERN VIRGINIA FESTIVITIES
NorthernVirginia online magazine gives a nice rundown of weekly activities in the area.
MOVIES AT FOX CROSS COTTAGE
(for DVD players in living room and master bedroom):
Almost Famous
Amelia
Apollo 13
Arrested Development Season 1, 3
Atonement
Batman Begins
A Beautiful Mind
Becoming Jane
Bend it Like Beckham
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Beyond the Splendor
The Big Lebowski
The Blair Witch Project
Blazing Saddles
Blood Diamond
Blue Crush
The Book of Eli
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
Braveheart
The Breakfast Club
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Il Caravaggio
Catch and Release
Chicago
Chocolate
Cider House Rules
Cinderella Man
The Civil War, Ken Burns
Closer
Cloverfield
Crazy Stupid Love
Crash
Clueless
Collateral
Dan in Real Live
Dances with Wolves
The Date Night
The Dark Knight
Deadwood, first season
Death at a Funeral
Definitely, Maybe
Departed
Dirty Dancing
District 9
Doc Martin, The Movie
Downton Abbey, Seasons 1, 2, 3
Dracula
Earth
Edward Scissorhands
Elizabeth
Emma
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Failure to Launch
The Family Stone
The Fault in Our Stars
Far from the Madding Crowd
Fargo
500 Days of Summer
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Finding Neverland
Freaky Friday
Jim Gaffigan, Beyond the Pale
Game of Thrones, first season
Gentleman Prefer Blondes
Ghost
Glee, first season
Gone with the Wind
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Grease
The Hangover
Hamlet
Hancock
The Help
Hitch
The Holiday
Hope Springs
The Horse, Eyewitness DVD
How to Marry a Millionaire
The Hunger Games
Identity Thief
In America
Independence Day
Intolerable Cruelty
Jerry Maguire
Juno
Jurassic Park
King Kong
L.A. Confidential
Lady in the Water
Lars and the Real Girl
The Last of the Mohicans
Legends of the Fall
Les Miserables
Liar Liar
Lord of the rings
Little Miss Sunshine
Lost in Translation
Marie Antoinette
The Martian
Master and Commander
The Martian
Matrix
Meet the Parents
Mean Girls
Memento
Men who Stare at Goats
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Milk
Million Dollar Baby
Mirror Mirror
Modern Family, Seasons 1,2,3,4
Moonstruck
Mona Lisa Smile
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
My Life So Far
Mystic River
The New World
The Notebook
Notting Hill
Ocean’s Eleven
The Office (US version, first season)
The Office (British version, first season)
An Officer and a Gentleman
Out of Africa
The Perfect Storm
Persuasion
The Piano
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean 2
The Phantom of the Opera
A Place in the Sun
Planet Earth
Pretty in Pink
Pride and Prejudice (BBC and 2005 versions)
The Princess Bride
Psycho
The Pursuit of Happiness
The 300
The Queen
Quills
Ray
Return to Me
Risky Business
Sabrina
Save the Last Dance
Saving Private Ryan
Say Anything
Seabiscuit
Seinfeld season 1
Sense and Sensibility
Seventeen Again
Shakespeare in Love
The Shining
Sideways
Silence of the Lambs
Sixteen Candles
The Sixth Sense
Something’s Gotta Give
Spiderman
A Star is Born (Lady GaGa version)
Sunshine Cleaning
Sweet Home Alabama
Taxi Driver
The Thornburgs
13 going on 30
28 Days
Through the Lens, National Geographic
Titanic
Time Travelers Wife
To Kill a Mockingbird
Truly, Madly, Deeply
Unforgiven
Valentines Day
Vanity Fair
A Very Long Engagement
The Visitor
The Vow
War of the Worlds
Wedding Planner/My Best Friend’s Wedding
West Side Story
Whale Rider
When Harry Met Sally
Winged Migration
The World According to Garp
Young Frankenstein
Young Victoria
Zombieland
CHILDREN’S DVDs (in the cabinet under tv)
Babe
The Book of Dragons
Cinderella III
Chicken Run
Daddy Daycare
Elf
Enchanted
Escape to Witch Mountain
Finding Nemo
Fly Away Home
Frozen
The Golden Compass
High School Musical
High School Musical II
Ice Age
The Little Mermaid
March of the Penguins
Monsters, Inc.
Monsters and Aliens
Night of the Museum
Night of the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian
The Parent Trap
Peter Pan
The Polar Express
Puss in Boots
Ratatouille
Shrek
Shrek 2
Tangled
Underdog
Up
Wall.E
The Wizard of Oz
MISCELLANEOUS DVDs
Bodyworlds, The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies
Hip Hop Abs
Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa: London, English Countryside
Robert Liberace DVD art tutorials:
Anatomy: The Torso
The Figure Sketch in Oil
The Portrait Sketch in Terra Cotta
The Watercolor Portrait