| Wine Country Farm is the perfect venue for wine connoisseurs.
About a five-minute drive from the little town of Dundee, Oregon, this
beautiful, immaculate white B&B sits on a vine-covered hill overlooking
the Willamette Valley wine country. Nearby lanes invite walks through
adjoining orchards and woods. Owner Joan Davenport somehow finds time
to manage her turn-of-the-century farmhouse inn while maintaining the
surrounding vineyard and conducting free tastings of Wine Country Farm
wines, vinified by the Kristin Hill winery down the road. Joan's generous
(and free) French-American breakfasts are up to Parisian five-star hotel
standards while satisfying the caloric requirements of Oregon lumberjacks.
Except for the intrusion of occasional shrieks from a lovelorn bachelor
peacock, the immaculate smoke-free bedrooms - all with private baths -
are quiet around the clock. After a Davenport breakfast, lunch is out
of the question. Dinners are close at hand in Dundee, at two of the finest
small bistros in the state, Tina's and Red Hill, both specializing in
Northwest cuisine. Note to editor: I was for several years the restaurant columnist for The Japan Times in Tokyo and the lead travel -and restaurant writer fortlie now defunct Business Tokyo magazine. As a travel writer for The Japan Times, I reviewed hotels and restaurants around the world. I mention this to assure you that my wife and I are not easily impressed by inns and eating places. We both are convinced, however, that Wine Country Farm deserves a page in anybody's book of best inns in America |