Author Edith Wharton’s Restored Estate

One of my favorite signs of spring is the opening of The Mount, author Edith Wharton’s Close Encounters with Music presents Nordic Lights – Grieg Revival, at Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, with special guest Tina Packer as narrator. www.cewm.org

Norman Rockwell Museum’s summer feature is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – The Creation of a Classic, June 8-Oct. 27, celebrating the 75^th anniversary of Disney’s pioneering feature-length animated film. This exhibition offers a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of this classic. The Rockwell is the only other than the Walt Disney Family Museum to present this exhibition. www.nrm.org

The Mahaiwe presents the Paul Taylor Dance Co., featuring the New England premiere of Perpetual Dawn. Memorial Day Weekend, May 24-26. The Mahaiwe presents London’s National Theatre in HD The Audience, starring Helen Mirren, June 13. www.mahaiwe.org

Shakespeare & Co.’s Summer Season opens with Master Class, Terence McNally’s Tony-Award winning play based on the infamous Maria Callas, starring company favorite Annette Miller, May 24-Aug. 18. Heroes takes the stage June 13-Sept.1, winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, and is an irreverent story of three WWI veterans confined to a nursing home in their twilight years. www.shakespeare.org

The Clark focuses this summer on Winslow Homer: Art, Making History and provides an opportunity to appreciate the full range of Homer’s artistry through the lens of the Clark’s more than 200 works by one of America’s most important artists. Opening June 9. Clark Remix immerses you in a gallery filled with paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts objects from the Clark’s permanent collection. It’s both a physical reality and a virtual space, featuring a dynamic salon-style installation and two new digital applications that offer exciting ways to engage with the collection. Now through January 2014. www.clarkart.edu

Berkshire International Film Festival, May 30-June 2. The 8^th annual event brings the best of world’s films to the Berkshires. Four days. 70 films – documentaries, shorts, and features – from 15 countries. It just keeps getting better and better. At Great Barrington’s Triplex and Pittsfield’s Beacon Theaters. www.biffma.com

Memorial Day Marathon Races: May 25-26. www.memorialdaymarathon.com

Rhubarb Festival: Rhubarb Pies, Rhubarb Chili Contest, fun and games for all in Roche Reading Park, next to the Lenox Library. May 25. www.lenox.org

Berkshire Cycling Event: June 9. www.lenox.org

One of our guests found this vintage Austin Healy in her father’s garage,restored it, and drove up to Lenox for the festival.

The Third Annual Lenox British Motor Car Festival: Back by popular demand! June 14-16. Join the hundred of residents and guest ogling (no drooling, please!) the brilliantly polished British cars, old and new, Mini-Cooper to Rolls Royce, lining Lenox, MA’s main streets near our Berkshires bed and breakfast. Last year’s Best in Show was Birchwood Inn guest Dave Hutchinson and his red 1961 Triumph Italia 2000 Coupe. www.lenox.org

And summer is just around the corner:

Tanglewood: www.tanglewood.org

Shakespeare & Co.: www.shakespeare.org

Williamstown Theatre Festival: www.wtfestival.org

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival: www.jacobspillow.org

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: www.mahaiwe.org

MASSMoCA: www.massmoca.org

Berkshire Theatre Group: www.berkshire theatregroup.org

Call us today to reserve your favorite room at our Berkshires Bed and Breakfast. We look forward to seeing you soon!

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Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here The Berkshires are Blooming :: Lenox MA Weekend Getaways.

The most recent issue of Forbes Travel Guide, Discover the Most Outstanding Places, named The Berkshires one of the 10 unexpectedly romantic places. Intimate restaurants. Cozy bed and breakfasts. The Boston Symphony in summer and fireplaces in winter.

The Berkshires love lovers all year round. And of course Valentine’s Day is especially romantic.

This year many of us are celebrating “Chocolate Berkshires,” with chocolate-themed events hosted by local businesses throughout February. Here at Birchwood Inn, February is Chocolate Passion Month, with totally decadent chocolate on every menu.

Since the way to one’s heart is through the stomach, our renown chefs are pulling out all stops to create memorable Valentine menus.

What could be almost as romantic as chocolate? Paris, of course! The Clark Art Institute — admission is free!!! all winter — opens its winter exhibition, Exposition Universelle, this month, focusing on City of Light’s most romantic period, the turn of the century.

Barrington Stage Company hosts 10X10 Upstreet, a new play festival Feb. 14-March 3, with a new play every 10 minutes.

There’s laughter galore at The Colonial Theatre, with The Official Blues Brothers Revue, Feb. 17, and Popvich Comedy Pet Theater (Charley and Quinn are looking forward to this!), Feb. 19.

Put on your dancing shoes and head to Castle St. Cafe for a Valentine dinner-dance.

There’s a romantic double feature with two of my all-time favorite films at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, An Affair to Remember (watch out for the taxi!) and Sleepless in Seattle.

Of course, you can cuddle up by the fire, snowshoe, or ski. And this is just a sampling. No wonder the Berkshires are in the top 10 of unexpectedly romantic places. Join us in our Berkshires bed and breakfast.

http://www.berkshires.org

http://www.lenox.org

http://www.chocolateberkshires.com/events

http://www.clarkart.edu

http://www.barringtonstageco.org

http://www.thecolonialtheatre.org

http://www.mahaiwe.org

http://www.castlestreetcafe.com

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestravelguide/2013/01/30/10-unexp

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here The Berkshires: One of the Top 10 Unexpectedly Romantic Places.

Governor Patrick’s favorite cider doughnuts.

Quinn woofs that fall is her favorite time of year in the Berkshires. The autumn light. The Berkshire blue sky. The leaves to romp in and especially any Apple Cider Doughnut crumbs that land on the floor!!!

Yes, foliage is the star attraction at this time of year, but there are also a cornucopia of festivals, theater, recreation, and harvest foods to enjoy.

With Quinn’s help, we have put together our TOP 10 LIST OF THINGS TO DO IN THE BERKSHIRES THIS FALL:

1. BRILLIANT FOLIAGE – take a hike or drive up Mt. Greylock, MA’s highest peak. From the summit you can see five states.

2. FESTIVALS GALORE! – Lenox’s 21st Annual Tub Parade, 9/15, the re-enactment of the Gilded Age “cottagers’” farewell to the summer season. Lenox’s 232rd Annual Apple Squeeze Weekend, 9/22-23, celebrating autumn and the harvest. The Berkshire Art Festival, 9/28-30, Lenox.

3. THEATER – Hitchock’s 39 Steps,Shakespeare & Co., Lenox. “The Puppetmaster of Lodz,” 9/13-10/7; Dr. Ruth, All the Way, 9/19-10/7;  and The Lord of the Flies,10/3-21. The Berkshire Theatre Group.

4. SPOOKY! - Melville, Haunted, 10/4-7, Arrowhead, Pittsfield. Friday Fright Tours,” The Mount, Lenox, through 10/26.

5. IN PERSON - Brel in the Berkshires, 9/20-23, Kenny Rogers, 9/27, Sandra Bernhard, Oct. 20. The Berkshire Theatre Group, Pittsfield.

6. FAIRS! - Country Fair at Hancock Shaker Village, 9/29-30, Pittsfield, celebrates the simple things, agricultural demos, local and regional crafts, a harvest of quilts, horse-drawn carriage rides and more.

7. THE ARTS - Museums and galleries abound, including the Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio, Thurs/Fri/Sat through Columbus Day, modernist home of two celebrated abstract artists.

8. APPLE PICKING - Hilltop Orchards and Bartlett’s Orchard, Richmond.

9. APPLE CIDER DOUGHNUTS – MA Gov. Patrick’s favorites at Bartlett’s Orchard, Richmond.

And, we saved the Best for Last….

10. ELLEN”S PRIZE-WINNING APPLE CAKE!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here Top 10 Things To Do in the Berkshires in the Fall!.

Last year's British Motorcar Festival winner and his 1959 Lotus.

Last year’s British Motorcar Festival near our Lenox, MA inn was such an enormously successful event that it calls for an encore! This year’s Berkshire British Motorcar Festival hits the road June 15-17, 2012, in downtown historic Lenox and at Shakespeare & Co. just a couple of blocks from the center of town.

And you don’t have to have a British Motorcar to participate in the weekend events!

Friday:

• Fun Rally, a 30-minute self-guided rally, back (but paved!) roads driving tour of the scenic Berkshire hills.
• Registrants’ Reception, 4-6 pm, for registrants, car owners and vendors on Shakespeare & Co.’s grounds.
• At 6:15 pm, the British Motorcar owners with festival credentials form a procession to downtown Lenox. This is my favorite event of the weekend with the cars all lined up on the village streets. No drooling on the cars permitted! Also you can enjoy the live British Tribute Band, and savor food and drink along the way.

Saturday:

• The Concours d’Elegance, the judged competition.

Sunday:

• And it’s not over yet! Sunday features a 60-minute scenic driving tour, led by a 1947 Bentley, starting at 8:30 am. Be still my heart!
• British-themed Tailgate Picnic Competition.
• British Car Corral so get your checkbooks out as this is an opportunity to buy or sell a British motorcar or motorcycle.

Throughout the weekend British companies and vendors will be selling all things British at the British Market Place & Auto Jumble.

Come and have a great weekend during your stay at our Lenox, MA Inn!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here The British Are Coming… Again!.

The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) continues to grow in popularity and in the number of films screened.
The 7th annual season is a celebration of the latest in independent feature, documentary, short, and family films. This year’s festival, with more than 70 films, runs from May 31 to June 3 in Great Barrington and Pittsfield.
The festival opens with the screening of the full-length documentary “Ethel” and will be presented by members of the Kennedy family, who will providing a special question and answer session.
Other festival highlights include the exclusive screening of “Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present,” with the producers and director present; and “Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters,” presented by the film’s director and the iconic local artist himself. Enjoy a romantic getaway and a good film during your stay at our Berkshires Bed and Breakfast!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here Berkshire International Film Festival 2012 Showcases 70+ Independent Films.

In Winter, Berkshires Culture Moves Indoors

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

Top: Ventfort Hall in Lenox, Mass., where Anne Undeland performs “Open Marriage” in the library, right. Above: A work by Adrian Paci, left, at Mass MoCA in North Adams.

Original Article By Mark Vanhoenacker

There’s far more to the Berkshire Mountains than Tanglewood, and the arts and culture do continue after Labor Day all around our Lenox Bed and Breakfast. As Mark Vanhoenacker says in The NYT, “even in January, cultural life here thrives, at museums, theaters and music halls. And when it’s time for a little après-edification, you’ll find acres of elbow-room on area slopes.”

Why not start your cultural tour in North Adams, at Mass MoCA, one of the largest museums of contemporary art in the world? There are currently some exciting exhibits. And Mass MoCA’s performance stages are busy as well, such as jazz vocalist Catherine Russell on Feb. 18.

“The grande dame of Berkshire museums, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, just down the roadin Williamstown. The Rembrandt and Degas exhibition runs until February 5. “Clark Remix” opens Feb. 12. Pittsfield, which celebrated its 250th birthday in 2011, Pittsfield host 10×10 on North, the county’s first-ever winter contemporary arts festival, Feb. 16 to 26, featuring “exactly 10 of a number of things, including short pieces by two theatrical groups, Barrington Stage and New Stage; performances by poets, tango dancers and singer-songwriters; and short films.”At the Colonial Theater, a treasure from the Gilded Age, offers a busy winter calendar, including the Turtle Island Quartet (Feb. 17) and the Cajun masters BeauSoleil Avec Michael Ducet (Feb. 24).

In Lenox, Shakespeare & Co., as Vanhoenacker notes, “never lets the floorboards cool.” This season’s winter programming includes Molière’s comedy “The Learned Ladies,” which opens Feb. 3.

We hope you have the opportunity to enjoy some of these fantastic cultural events during your stay at our Berkshires Inn!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here We’ve Got Snow and The Arts.

Shakespeare & Co’s 35th season is one of rebellion and revolution, and features one of Lenox’s favorite visitors, Academy Award-winning Olympia Dukakis (she loves Cafe Lucia!), in “The Tempest” and OBIE Award-winning actor John Douglas Thompson in “Satchmo at the Waldorf.”

“The season is designed to look at who we were, who we are, and where we’re going,” said artistic director Tony Simotes. “Revolution and rebellion, that the energy of the theater. That’s what we do.”

The summer portion of the company’s 35th anniversary season runs from May 25 through Labor Day.

Highlights include “The Tempest,” mid-July-mid-August; “Satchmo at the Waldorf,” mid-August-Labor Day; and “King Lear,” mid-June-mid-August.

The season also features “Endurance,” the story of the unlikely survival of Sir Ernest Shackleton and crew in Antarctica; and “Red,” a play based on painter Mark Rothko.

“Cassandra Speaks,” a play about controversial journalist Dorothy Thompson; “Parasite Drag,” a dark comedy of two estranged brothers; and “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife”; a comedy about a depressed, unfulfilled Upper West Side wife, round out the season.

A star-studded season for a star-studded anniversary! We hope you have the chance to enjoy this exciting season during your stay at our Bed and Breakfast in Lenox!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here Shakespeare & Co. Celebrates 35th Anniversary.

(Illustration above by Jesse Lefkowitz)

They are the first family of folk with deep Berkshire roots. With the

holidays coming, it was not too big of a surprise when the Berkshire

Theatre Group announced Arlo Guthrie and his family had reserved

the Saturday before Thanksgiving for their annual appearance.

The Guthrie Family Rides Again, which has been on the road, is

coming home to The Colonial Theatre on Saturday, November 19 at

8pm.

“He’s becoming a beloved Thanksgiving tradition,” said Artistic

Director and CEO Kate Maguire. “We are so fortunate to have Arlo

return again to our Colonial, with the whole Guthrie family.”

Like most Americans, the urge to return to their Berkshire farm,

and their family roots, is strong. The family travels much of the year,

and coming home to a dining room table piled high with some of

their own produce makes the week around Thanksgiving especially

nostalgic. Dad and Grandad Arlo had to give up the livestock

when it became too much to properly maintain along with an

intensive concert schedule.

Tickets for the Guthrie concert are $15–$55 and VIP tickets are

$65 (premium seating). Tickets may be purchased in person at the

Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street near our Berkshires Inn or by calling

(413) 997-4444 or online.

The Ticket Office is open Monday–Friday 10am–5pm, Saturdays 

10am–2pm or on any performance day from 10am until intermission.

A Legendary Family

Arlo Guthrie was born with a guitar in one hand and a harmonica in

the other, the eldest son of America’s most beloved singer/writer

Woody Guthrie, Arlo has made sure to pass on this passion for

music to all the generations of Guthries that came after. Arlo Guthrie

carries on the Guthrie Family legacy as he travels to communities

far and wide sharing timeless stories and unforgettable classic tunes.

A celebrated artist in American music, his artistic ventures help bridge

an often-divided world through his powerful spirit of song. With

songs like “Alice’s Restaurant,” “Coming into Los Angeles,” and “City

of New Orleans,” Arlo’s music has proved itself sustainable

throughout the years.

“The Guthrie Family Rides Again” brings his singular voice as both a

singer-songwriter and social commentator to the stage alongside his

beloved children and grandkids.

This Family concert spotlights three generations of Guthries including

Arlo’s son Abe, who has contributed keyboards and backing vocals to his

father’s live shows since the ’80s. His daughters Cathy, Annie and

Sarah Lee Guthrie, all of who have their own bustling music careers,

will support by singing songs and accompanying on acoustic guitars.

Even the youngest generation of Guthrie kids will join in the fun on

select songs.

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here Arlo Is Home in the Berkshires 11/19.

Quinn says: Lenox, MA, in the heart of The Berkshires, has been

compared to a Currier and Ives sketch. This is especially true during

the December holiday period. And there’s nothing that says New

England better than Lenox village dressed in holiday-style.

Catch the spirit on the weekend of December 10 when the village hosts

the Lenox Caroling Festival. The festival is a gala weekend, a

Christmas stocking filled with holiday events. The celebration

of seasonal songs begins on Saturday, December 10. Thirty or more

of the Northeast’s finest choirs and choral groups have been invited

to lift their voices in a day-long songfest and competition, 10 am to

noon and 1:30 pm to 4 pm throughout the village (in case of

inclement weather, the festival will move to indoor venues).

During the weekend you can also tour many of the village’s renown

bed and breakfast inns, including Birchwood Inn (Our Lenox Bed and Breakfast is

offering holiday special rates this weekend — and throughout most

of November and December as well) and sample holiday treats from

our special local restaurants (Quinn notes that this is her favorite event,

ever optimistic that there will be some cookies that drop on the floor!)

Lenox’s unique shops and restaurants will also be featuring festival specials.

On Saturday, from 6 pm to 7 pm, enjoy the Carolers’ Reception,

award presentations, and sing-a-long at Shakespeare & Co. For a

great feel-good experience, moreover, see David Sedaris’ “Santaland

Diaries” 7:30 pm on Saturday as well as two matinee performances,

Friday and Saturday at 2 pm.

Trinity Church invites everyone to its Holiday Fair and Silver Tea

on Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm.

And what are the holidays without a gingerbread house? The Lenox

Library hosts the annual Gingerbread Contest on Sunday, 10 am to

3 pm.

This is a most special weekend, for sure, but everyday is special

in Lenox during the holidays. Come and celebrate the season of

lights with us at our Lenox MA Inn!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here Hot Time in the Old Lenox December 9, 10 & 11.

And there are bears in Beartown State Forest (in the towns of Lee and Monterey). This area is “bear aware” country. Do not feed or provoke the bears.
Bears have acute hearing — seven times more acute than a dog! — and can smell food more than a mile away. They are curious, resourceful, and have one of the best memories of all animals. They can run up to 35 mph and climb a tree faster than some primates.
If you encounter a bear, don’t startle it; make noise, and give the bear plenty of room.
I know about bears from personal experience! We have had bears visit every once in a while. The first time I met up with a bear, I thought it was a big dog and wagged my magnificent tail. I think I should have barked!

Bear Aware

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here Do Bears….?.