This past fall, The Inn at Willow Grove in Orange, Virginia (named the top resort hotel in the South based on Travel + Leisure magazine’s reader survey last year), added two luxury cottages, a spa and an azure-tiled saltwater pool to its plantation-meets-urban-chic compound of relaxation. The recently opened cottages each have five luxury rooms or suites. The 40-acre estate’s new Mill House Spa, located in a red barn, is home to tranquil treatment rooms and a fitness and yoga studio.
Each of the inn’s original 14 guest rooms and suites offers unique features, from heated travertine tile floors to a stone clad fireplace and expansive porches that overlook the Blue Ridge Mountains. All accommodations come with amenities you’ll wish you could take home: butler service, morning beignets and locally roasted French press coffee delivered to your door, and an evening turndown service with sweet treats and tea. Two new rooms, each featuring two queen beds and a large bathroom with dual sinks and a soaking tub, give the inn added appeal as a girlfriends’ spa getaway, in addition to romantic retreat.
Willow Grove’s popular Vintage Restaurant serves farm-to-table fare with a Southern influence. Montpelier (President James Madison’s home) and the Monticello Wine Trail are short jaunts from the inn. Rates begin at $275.
The Inn at Willow Grove, 14079 Plantation Way, Orange, Virginia; 540-317-1206; innatwillowgrove.com