Our Second Middleburg Getaway
John and I first went to Middleburg, Virginia back in May 2017—just a few months after we moved from NYC to DC. We really loved staying at Salamander Resort, and would totally stay there again. But when we began to plan another getaway in Middleburg, the rooms at the Red Fox Inn & Tavern were more affordable, so we booked a room there. This past Monday afternoon, we made the hour and fifteen minute drive out to Middleburg.
Arriving in Middleburg
The Red Fox Inn is a super cute historic inn located on Middleburg’s main drag. The original building, established in 1728, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Jackie O stayed at the inn, and JFK held a press conference there! Apparently Tom Cruise has entertained guests there as well (blerg). Because the inn has so much history I’m guessing the place is haunted, but we didn’t have any paranormal experiences there.
The inn has a cozy gallery next to the registration desk:
And a beautiful dining room on the middle level:
We arrived before check-in time, so we killed some time exploring while we waited. Fortunately the weather was really nice for December, so it was a great day to wander. First, we stopped at Middleburg Common Ground for coffee and a snack.
We also checked out a couple stores, including one antique shop with a metric shit ton of browsing fodder. I could have spent hours in there.
Monday Evening
After checking into our room, I rested and showered, and then we drove about 20 minutes to visit Stone Tower Winery before dinner. I’ve heard about this place from several people, so we wanted to see it for ourselves. And we were treated to this gorgeous sunset on the drive there:
We didn’t have a lot of time before our dinner reservation, so we stayed for just one glass of wine at Stone Tower (we got there not long before last call so we couldn’t have stayed long anyway). Their Tower View Tasting Room is a beautiful space with lofty ceilings:
The wines we tried were pretty good. I had a glass of a red varietal I hadn’t heard of before, but I can’t find the name of it on the winery’s website. The wines were nothing spectacular, but the setting is beautiful and I’d like to go back and spend a more leisurely time there tasting more wines. The winery was pretty empty when we went because it was near closing time, but I can imagine the place being totally packed on a nice spring day.
For dinner we ate at Tuscarora Mill in Leesburg, recommended by a co-worker of John’s. It was a good thing I made reservations in advance, because the place really filled up while we were there. I got the pumpkin ravioli and it was delicious!
Tuesday (Christmas Eve)
On Tuesday morning we enjoyed a lovely complimentary breakfast at the Red Fox Tavern. They offer about six hearty breakfast items, coffee, tea, and juice. I had a tasty and filling vegetarian omelet, which I forgot to photograph. Oopsie!
After breakfast we chilled in the room for awhile; it was so nice to be able to just veg out. The weather was sunny and warm-ish again so we took another walk around town and went back to the antique shop to explore some more. We didn’t buy anything, but I was very tempted by some of the jewelry.
Christmas Eve Dinner
At 5pm we headed downstairs for our dinner reservation at Red Fox Tavern. We had decided to treat ourselves to their five-course Christmas Eve dinner (I made sure there were vegetarian options beforehand). Honestly, I’ve never had the appetite for multi-course meals so they really don’t appeal to me. But I managed to not overeat or to waste a ton of food, either.
Everything we had was good, though the meal felt overpriced, especially considering I don’t eat meat or seafood. However, we were treating ourselves while on a mini vacation and we don’t buy each other holiday gifts, so I guess an occasional meal splurge is okay.
We were having such a nice time that I forgot to take pics of everything, but I did photograph a couple dishes. Here’s my yummy beets with goat cheese salad course:
And here’s my Mushroom Wellington main, which I really enjoyed. And I appreciated that the kitchen came up with a vegetarian entree that wasn’t just roasted vegetables.
After dinner, we headed up to our room to play some games that I had brought. We scoped out the Christmas movies on TV—we ended up putting on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation— and played a couple games of Farkle before going to bed.
Wednesday (Christmas Day)
The Red Fox and almost everything around in town was closed on Christmas Day, but the inn was kind enough to deliver a small breakfast to our room in the morning. And of course, I put A Christmas Story on because if you don’t watch at least one of TBS’s 24-hour airings on Christmas, what are you even doing with your life.
Because nothing was open we chilled in the room again. I played some Zelda: Breath of the Wild on our Nintendo Switch and we napped. We had bought tickets to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker at a theater about 20 minutes from Middleburg, so our afternoon activity was set. Of course, I wore my Stranger Things holiday sweater again, even though it’s the wrong fandom! Though I’m sure the ST characters would appreciate me wearing their sweater to go see a Star War.
Christmas Evening
We had no idea where we could eat dinner after the movie; most suburban restaurants are closed on Christmas Day. In NYC (also in DC), we never had to worry about that because plenty of places remain open on Christmas in big cities. We figured there would be at least one Chinese restaurant open, though that didn’t appeal to me because I’m not a fan of Chinese food (I know, I’m a weirdo). Fortunately, John discovered a nearby Indian restaurant named Saffron that was open.
We ordered vegetable korma, paneer makhani, naan, and rice to share. Everything was so good, but I especially loved the paneer because CHEESE.
After dinner we went back to the inn and shared a bottle of grenache (thanks to the front desk staffer who opened the bar to get it for us and brought a slice of chocolate tart along with it!) while we played Farkle and watched Elf on TV. I had somehow never seen Elf before! We went to bed before the movie was over, so I’ll have to watch it for real another time.
The next morning we ate our final breakfast in the tavern, then packed up and hit the road back to DC. We were excited to return to Cheddar and Linus! This was the first time we had traveled together since we adopted the kitties.
Our trip was short but sweet, and it was wonderful to get some quality time together over the holidays. The Red Fox Inn was a great place with excellent service and I would stay there again. We came away from this trip ready to plan another mini getaway in the next couple of months. We’ll go somewhere other than Middleburg next time, but we also both want to go back because we’ve really enjoyed both of our trips there.
I hope you’ve been enjoying the holidays with your loved ones!
