This year’s “Christmas at Hagley” exhibits is inspired by the winter pastimes of the property’s former residents. The exhibit is open Friday, November 26, 2010, through Sunday, January 2, 2011. The museum is open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The holiday display is included in the cost of admission. Hagley is located in the beautiful Brandywine Valley only 25 minutes from Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast and is where the du Pont story begins. It features the original du Pont mills, estate, and gardens.
Picture the du Pont family in the winter sitting together to play backgammon, reading, listening music or drawing. Girls could practice sewing techniques. Children could entertain themselves by layering different colored sands in a glass bottle. In the Terrace Room you will see the ice skates and sled that waited to be used on a snowy slope. Visiting Eleutherian Mills for the “Christmas at Hagley” exhibit provides an intimate look into the common winter activities of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The1803 du Pont ancestral home, Eleutherian Mills, is decorated primarily in Colonial Revival style for the holidays. Dried flowers, greenery, fruits, and other natural materials create a beautiful holiday ambiance accentuated by soft lights and Christmas music. Exhibit included in regular admission.
You will also enjoy the activities on Workers’ Hill. Visitors to the Gibbons House will find recipes for traditional Gibbons’ family desserts. Children will enjoy musical instruments, playing games and making crafts.
To entice you to visit our area during this time Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast will offer a $50.00 gift certificate to everyone who books a multiple night mid-week stay (Sunday through Thursday, excluding Thanksgiving) between now and December 23, 2010. If you have already booked during this time, just mention this blog to receive your gift certificate. This gift certificate may be used by you for a future stay or given as a gift to someone you think will enjoy staying at Hamanassett. It may not be used with any other gift certificates, discounts, or special packages. Just call our toll free number 1-877-836-8212 and tell us you want our Blog Special! In addition to Hagley’s special Christmas exhibit they have many other events at this time. You can also visit Longwood Gardens and Winterthur for wonderful Christmas exhibits. We are only a short 30 minute drive to Philadelphia so extend your stay and enjoy the entire aea. To see all that is going on in the Brandywine Valley during this magical time visit our Activities page on our web site.
Longwood’s managed meadow is full of amazing wildflowers all summer. Sunflowers, goldenrod, aster, and lobelia will all bloom while moths, butterflies and birds fly through the meadow.
Get a special guided tour of this beautiful and serene part of the Gardens. The tour guides who lead you through this dynamic space are a well-informed, lively bunch that conduct in-depth, fun tours of this beautiful area. Meet at the Peirce-du Pont House porch. Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast still has rooms available for all of these dates but they are filling up fast so plan your flower adventure and then give us a call.
Well, this word “culinature” is Longwood’s word. I’m amazed how many new words keep cropping up to define the simple task of eating. But this special event is anything but simple. Take a culinary tour of the Gardens and savor an amazing seasonal feast as you travel to different Garden spots for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, dinner and dessert.
Enjoy dinner music and watch Longwood’s chefs create your meal with local Chester County and Brandywine Valley produce in “field kitchens.” Delight in the flavorful tastes of autumn—fresh from the harvest to your table. The menu includes passed trays of specialty beverages, a bar snack, passed hors d’oeuvres, and the chef’s field kitchen featuring pulled BBQ duck crepes. The first course is an apple and butternut squash bisque. This is followed by a salad and an entree of pumpkin seed French cut chicken breast, celery root, squid ink pasta cake, brussels sprout slaw and roasted carrot with Longwood thyme emulsion. The grand finale is a dessert reception. You will be invited to the main fountain garden for dessert and fountain show where you will be greeted with passed trays of spiced rum apple cider with morello cherry coulis, local wine poached seckel pears stuffed with cinnamon mascarpone, pumpkin gingersnap trifle, and cnocolate pecan tarts. Please note: menu is subject to change based on availability of fresh menu items.
Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast is only a 15 minute drive from Longwood Gardens and we still have a few rooms and the cottages available for that weekend.
$175 per person
Garden Pass Members receive a 15% discount ($149 per person)
Prices include Garden Admission. Buy tickets online or by calling 610-3885
This blog is for all you foodies out there looking for your next cooking vacation. Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast offers 5-6 hands on cooking classes with themes each year. Our classes are geared for the person who enjoys food, cooking and entertaining so you don’t need any special skills or cooking background to enjoy these classes. And I promise our chef, Anne-Michelle, will never yell at you or harrass you like Chef Gordon Ramsay!
We just completed our Brandywine Bounty class this week. (Because it sold out so quickly we have added a second bounty class this September 19 and 20 and still have space available. This class, which emphasizes locatarian cooking, has proven to be one of our most popular so we repeat it each year. The Oxford American dictionary announced it’s 2007 word of the year is locavore. Hard to believe this is such a new word because it has become such a popular concept. This is one of the numerous terms used to describe the movement towards local sustainable and organic food stuffs. This year our class visited Thornbury Farm CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) (www.thornburyfarmcsa.org.ag) in West Chester, Pa. Thornbury Farm is a 250 year old farm located on the grounds of the Battle of Brandywine which was fought on September 11, 1777 during the American Revolution. From there they went to Penns Woods Winery to learn about growing, harvesting, and making wine. The owner of Penns Woods, Gino Razzi is an Italian immigrant from Abruzzo in southern Italy. Participants in this year’s class raved about Gino’s knowledge and willingness to share information with them as well as how much they enjoyed his wine. For more information on Gino and Penns Woods Vineyard and Winery visit www.pennswoodswinery.com.
In the past our Brandywine Bounty class has been one full day which includes going out into the countryside to a local farm, picking vegetables, and then coming back to the bed and breakfast and preparing the evening’s feast. Next year we are trying a two day class so that one full day can be devoted to going to farms, wineries, and whatever else we find interesting. The second day will be cooking lunch and dinner. For those who can’t get away for three days, we will also do the two day class. We are also going to repeat our ever popular Last Dinner on the Titanic and new for 2011 for all you train enthusiasts, Dinner on the Orient Express.
The rest of the story of the class is best told by a professional writer. Below is the article written by Stephanie Citron that was printed in the Baltimore Style magazine last year. For more information on our cooking classes, click on the “Activities” button on the left.
Farm To Table – Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast
Cooking school at this Brandywine Valley country inn is a fantasy camp for foodies interested in a truly locatarian experience.
By Stephanie Citron
My fellow student chefs and I were contemplating the antique bone china toast rack during breakfast when chef Ann-Michelle Albertson entered the dining room to deliver an announcement.
“In advance to cooking today, our morning will be spent foraging fresh ingredients for our recipes at two different farms and a winery,” she told us. “For our dinner tonight, we’ll be picking fresh corn, tomatoes to make a tomato-water soup, peppers, watermelon to grill for a salad, greens and herbs, peaches for a soufflé and picking up some freshly procured Amish chickens for our main course. Though I’ve pre-planned our dinner menu, it will be flexible, depending upon the fresh bounty we happen upon in our travels today.”
Just listening to Chef Albertson was heaven. Some people fantasize about sports camp; I’ve always dreamed of attending cooking classes at a country inn. I’d spent months researching itineraries, looking for a hands-on cooking program that integrated slow food principles and techniques with local, seasonal ingredients. When I discovered the “Brandywine Bounty” class at Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast, I knew I’d hit the jackpot. Chef Albertson’s credentials sealed the deal: professional training at LaVarenne in Paris, the Culinary Institute of America and many others.
Hamanassett is an elegantly restored, 19th-century mansion on a secluded bluff amid endless meadows and gardens, high above Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Valley. My room featured wide-planked, honey oak floors, antique furnishings and a window overlooking the horse meadow. Awaiting me there when I arrived the previous evening was a tote bag stocked with cooking school supplies: a recipe book, itinerary and an apron. At the welcome reception for cooking students, I’d met my seven fellow classmates, self-taught cooking enthusiasts with varying levels of experience. We all agreed we had much to learn about sustainable agriculture and incorporating fresher food into our diets.
With Chef Albertson and innkeeper Glenn Mon in the lead, we traipsed outside, where we divided into three carloads and set out for Wynnorr Farm, eight miles away through the rolling farmland.
When we arrived, farmer Joe Stratton, whose family had bought the 25-acre property in 1924, herded us aboard a hay wagon hitched to his green John Deere and off we bounced into the fields. My scent detector perked up, drawing in hay, freshly cut silage and corn.
When the wagon rolled to a stop, Stratton hopped down to deliver a mini-dissertation on corn growing. In order for corn to grow from seeds, he explained, pollen must drop from the top, or tassel, of the husk onto the silk. The silk then attaches inside the husk and each thread creates a kernel. “Press in the center… you want a bit of firmness,” he said, advising us how to choose the perfect ear of corn. “Perfectly ripe, farm fresh corn can be eaten right off the husk.” Stratton offered up a nibble to Chef Albertson while the rest of us scampered into the field. Then it was on to the next pasture where Stratton plucked a pepper from the vine, explaining, “Peppers should be dark green and perhaps slightly reddening at their peak.” We wandered the rows, filling our baskets.
When we drove away two hours later, our cars were packed with our harvest, including beets, peaches, a watermelon, rosemary and thyme— and the fresh chickens Stratton had procured from a local Amish farmer.
Half an hour later, we were slogging through reeking, runny manure-hay compost at Joseph Silvestri & Son’s mushroom farm. Compost is the key ingredient for a successful mushroom soil, the essential first step to producing pristine white mushrooms. As I gulped air through my mouth to avoid breathing in the stench through my nose, our guide Donna Silvestri-Fecondo described the 10-week mushroom-growing process, which involves producing spores in sterile, climate-controlled chambers and planting them in compost-filled beds. The harvesting room was spellbinding— thousands of mushrooms, in all stages of maturation, poking up from the soil.
“Mushrooms never have to be washed,” Silvestri-Fecondo told us emphatically. The brown “dirt” is peat moss— we should “just brush it off.” But the germaphobe in me had to ask, “How can we trust the hygiene of the handlers at the market?” She shrugged, saying, “Wipe them with a damp cloth.”
See, mushrooms are like sponges, and retain water, so they should never be soaked or scrubbed. Silvestri-Fecondo told us to peek underneath the caps. A closed veil indicates delicate flavor; an open veil signifies richer flavor. We departed with 30 pounds of mushrooms and a few insider tips (including the advice to store mushrooms in the refrigerator in an open bowl or in a porous paper bag, never plastic).
Next, we drove 10 miles over the rolling hills to Penns Woods Winery, where vintner Gino Abruzzo guided us through his 11 acres of prized grapes. New vines take three years to fruit, he told us, and if the elements don’t get the fledgling fruit, predators often do. “It looks beautiful, sounds fantastic and romantic, but really, it’s a lot of hard work,” Abruzzo said with a sigh, quelling our nascent winemaker aspirations.
Chef Albertson had prepared box lunches of freshly grilled tuna with ripe tomatoes on focaccia, fresh corn and edamame salad, doughnut peaches and a piece of handmade chocolate-covered brickle. We sat on the winery porch, munching away and sipping on several Penns Woods wines: a dry 2008 Traminette, a crisp, fruity 2005 Chardonnay Reserve and a rich, plumy blush wine, yet to be named.
Back at the inn, we stationed ourselves at the cutting boards set on the spacious countertop. “Today you are locatarians,” pronounced Chef Albertson, “part of a growing movement who have chosen to eat provisions from within a short radius of where you live.” Based on our morning trip— specifically the bounty of mushrooms and beets we’d collected— Chef Albertson announced several additions to the evening meal: a sautéed beets side dish, a mushroom bruschetta topping and mushroom sauce for the chicken.
We divided into cooking groups and I joined forces with my classmate Denise to prepare the main course, the watermelon salad and a baguette for bruschetta. During the next three hours, we sliced and toasted a baguette, plucked thyme, sage, oregano and rosemary from their stems and minced them finely and pressed the herbs into unsalted butter. I stuffed the goopy mixture under the skin of our fresh chickens and Denise stuffed the cavities with fragrant herb sprigs and garlic cloves. Finally, we coated the birds with olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
Chef Albertson advised us to crisp the skin first, then tent the chickens and reduce the heat for roasting, which would seal in the juices and prevent overcooking. While the chicken roasted, I lined the rim of eight salad plates with endive, scattered in pine nuts and feta and drizzled balsamic syrup over everything. I left the center free for the watermelon, which would be seared on a Panini grill just before serving. I beamed when Chef Albertson glanced at my plates and sang, “Bee-uu-tii-ful!”
By early evening, the kitchen smelled glorious. Chef Albertson shooed us out with orders to rest and return for dinner at 7 p.m.
At dinner, a formal seated affair served by the inn staff, we chatted about our kitchen adventures and proclaimed our dishes extraordinary. Highlights were the grilled watermelon salad, the tomato-water soup served with a seared scallop and the roasted corn. The fresh chicken was also delicious: tangy, mildly gamey and juicy.
After a good night’s sleep and another delicious breakfast, I returned home vowing to purchase regional, seasonal produce and avoid processed foods and chain restaurants. And I vowed to cook slowly and thoughtfully. Eagerly, I began with dinner that night: steaks in a mushroom wine sauce and grilled corn-on-the-cob with herb butter.
Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast is in the Brandywine Valley, just across the Delaware/Pennsylvania border. Cooking class package includes two nights’ accommodation, breakfast each morning, a welcome reception, lunch and dinner prepared during the cooking class and class materials. $650 per couple, double occupancy; $575, single. 725 Darlington Road, Chester Heights, Pa. 610-459-3000. http://www.hamanassett.com .
What a great way to ease into fall. Get ready for an evening of oohs and aahs as Longwood Gardens presents spectacular fireworks and fountains shows guaranteed to make your summer memorable. There are only two left this season so don’t wait. Come for a visit at Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast which is only a 15-20 minute drive from the gardens. The last two shows promise to be memorable. Ausut 14, 2010 will feature The Beatles. Relive the British Invation and celebrate one of the most popular groups of all time.
September 5 is the Gershwin Gala. Enjoy the unforgettable works of George Gershwin come to life including selections from An American in Paris, Porgy & Bess, and Rhapsody in Blue. If you haven’t been to the Brandywine Valley or haven’t been recently, there are a multitude of attractions for you to enjoy in addition to Longwood Gardens. There is Winterthur, a DuPont Country Estate, the Brandywine River Museum (home of 3 generations of Wyeths plus other celebrated Brandywine Valley artists) the Barnes Museum, Hagley and lots of antique shops. All are within a 15-40 minute drive from Hamanassett.
Our wineries are only a short distance apart in Brandywine Country. Spend a day, or a week, visiting them and getting a taste of our countryside. All are within a 30 minute drive of Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast.
Great Pennsylvania Wine Toast
August 14, 4:00 p.m. Official Toast
On Saturday, August 14, thousands of people will gather at wineries throughout Pennsylvania to participate in The Great Pennsylvania Wine Toast and attempt to set a Guiness World Record.
Harvest Festival*
Saturday & Sunday September 25; 26; October 2; 3, from 11 am– 6pm
Join the winemakers in celebrating the 2010 harvest September 25 & 26 and October 3 & 4! Enjoy music, art shows, and more! Purchase a Passport at Hamanassett to take part in this fun annual event! Passports allow for tastings at all 8 member wineries and are valid September 25 through December 30, 2010.
Holiday Open House*
December 4 & 5, 2010
Complete all of your holiday shopping as you relax at one of our wineries in December! Wineries along the Brandywine Valley Trail and Hamanassett will be decorated in their holiday finery and will be hosting carolers, holiday musicians, free tastings, and special holiday sale pricing! Forget fighting the crowds at the malls. Wine always fits!
Although most famous for Longwood Gardens near Kennett Square, Pa. the Brandywine Valley is lucky to have so many beautiful gardens, all within a 30 minute drive of Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast. May and June are two of the most beautiful months to visit.
TYLER ARBORETUM
515 Painter Road
Media, PA 19063
610-566-9134One of the oldest arboreta in the northeastern United States, Tyler Arboretum encompasses 650 acres of renowned plant collections, champion trees, historic buildings, and 20 miles of hiking trails through woodlands, wetlands, and meadows. The Arboretum offers workshops, classes, and tours for adults and children throughout the year. Tyler Arboretum is a short 10 minute drive Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast, one of the premier lodging establishments in the Brandywine Valley.www.tylerarboretum.org
500 College Ave
Swarthmore, PA 19081
(610) 328-8025
On the campus of Swarthmore College is a lush oasis of lilacs, magnolias, and azaleas. The Scott Arboretum encompasses over 300 acres, each bursting with color from nearly 3,000 varieties of plants. For the aspiring gardener, there is a horticultural reference library with information about how the Arboretum’s plants are grown and nurtured. Visit their website for a complete listing of workshops, guided tours, lectures and more. Scott Arboretum and Swarthmore College is only 15 minutes from Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast.
A 35-acre pleasure garden featuring courtyards of tropicals and perennials, vegetable garden, woodlands, water garden and ruin garden. Tens of thousands of bulbs clothe the ground in the spring, followed by orchards of flowering trees with native wildflowers blooming in the woods.
Chanticleer was the estate of Christine and Adolph Rosengarten, Sr. and opened as a public garden in 1993. Only a short 20 minute drive from Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast.
In 1906, Pierre S. du Pont purchased the Peirce Arboretum to save its trees from being cut for lumber. Over the next nearly half century, Mr. du Pont developed Longwood Gardens into what it is today, a magnificent horticultural showplace.
We invite you to visit Longwood Gardens, which now encompasses 1,050 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows. Enjoy over 11,000 types of plants, more fountains than any other garden in the US, educational and visitor programming, and over 400 performances a year. 15 minutes from Hamanassett.
Set among spectacular French formal gardens, this is the 300-acre estate of Alfred I. duPont. One of the finest examples of French-style gardens in America exquisitely landscaped with fountains, pools, and statuary surrounded by natural woodlands. They cover 222 acres and closely follow the model of Petit Trianon at Versailles. Reservations are highly recommended. 25 minutes from Hamanassett.
1810 N. Dupont Street
Wilmington, DE 19806
Phone (302) 658-6262
Fax (302) 658-6267
The georgeous gardens at DCH are an oasis in the city. Free and open to the public, the grounds overlook Brandywine Park.
The Delaware Center for Horticulture (DCH) is a non-profit community resource organization dedicated to promoting knowledge and appreciation of gardening, horticulture, and conservation. DCH’s two community program areas–Educational Programs and Greening Initiatives– focus on the greening of our urban environment and include educational programs for children, teens, and adults. Our work includes community gardens, public landscaping, roadside beautification, tree programs, and community events.
3120 Barley Mill Road
Hockessin, DE 19707
(302) 239-4244
Mt. Cuba Center is recognized as having the region’s finest woodland wildflower gardens. Guided garden tours provide an excellent overview of our naturalistic gardens. Learn about the history, design, and plant diversity that make Mt. Cuba Center a unique regional treasure. Each tour is conducted by a knowledgeable docent and includes a group of approximately 10-15 people.
Horticultural research at Mt. Cuba Center seeks to evaluate, introduce, distribute, and promote plants of the Appalachian Piedmont worthy of wider use in gardening. This is accomplished through plant exploration, propagation, evaluation, and collaborative research activities that benefit the gardening public, horticultural industry, landscape designers and architects, and conservation community.
Sophie, daughter of E. I. du Pont, was raised at Hagley and wrote and sketched about her life there from 1823, when she was thirteen years old, to 1833, when she was a woman of twenty-three. What is known of her comes from her writings and her childhood collections, which share young Sophie’s love of the natural world around her. Sophie, along with her brothers and her sisters, was encouraged to appreciate the world of nature around her and to seize every opportunity to increase her knowledge of it. From this passion, instilled in the children by their father, the entire du Pont family started the tradition of the May Day walk.
“On those rare afternoons when her Papa was home and had finished work for the day, he and her Mama took the children to walk by the riverbank – identifying and talking about the plants, rocks, and trees as they went. The first of May was one of the most exciting days of the year, when family tradition decreed a search for the flowers of spring, and all the inhabitants took part in the expedition,” notes Hagley Director Geoff Halfpenny.
In keeping with this tradion, members and visitors are invited to join them on the first Hagley May Day Walk to celebrate spring. The walk is free to members, $5 for not-yet members. Hagley is a short 25 minute drive from Hamanassett, our Brandywine Valley Bed and Breakfast. For more information call 302-658-2400
Dining Out for Life 2010 – Make a difference by going out to eat!
Nearly 200 participating restaurants across the Delaware Valley will donate 33% of your food bill to the fight against AIDS on Thursday, April 29th. Enjoy a great meal and impact your community in an amazing way. You’ll have an opportunity to win an all-inclusive Apple Vacation for two to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic! If you make an additional donation of $25 or more, you’ll score a 20% Off Tuesday card that entitles you to 20% off your table’s food bill on Tuesday evenings all year long! Click here for participating restaurants: http://www.diningoutforlife.com/philadelphia/participating
All tickets sold through Winterthur. Advance tickets, call 302.888.4600. On-site sales on a space-available basis. $25; $20 Members and seniors; $15 students. Click here for details.Before or after the concert, enjoy Winterthur’s new spring exhibition Lost Gardens of the Brandywine. This stunning exhibition takes a look back at the glorious gardens this area was known for in the 1920s. Ticket cost does not include general admission to Winterthur.
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When the wagon rolled to a stop, Stratton hopped down to deliver a mini-dissertation on corn growing. In order for corn to grow from seeds, he explained, pollen must drop from the top, or tassel, of the husk onto the silk. The silk then attaches inside the husk and each thread creates a kernel. “Press in the center… you want a bit of firmness,” he said, advising us how to choose the perfect ear of corn. “Perfectly ripe, farm fresh corn can be eaten right off the husk.” Stratton offered up a nibble to Chef Albertson while the rest of us scampered into the field. Then it was on to the next pasture where Stratton plucked a pepper from the vine, explaining, “Peppers should be dark green and perhaps slightly reddening at their peak.” We wandered the rows, filling our baskets.
Next, we drove 10 miles over the rolling hills to Penns Woods Winery, where vintner Gino Abruzzo guided us through his 11 acres of prized grapes. New vines take three years to fruit, he told us, and if the elements don’t get the fledgling fruit, predators often do. “It looks beautiful, sounds fantastic and romantic, but really, it’s a lot of hard work,” Abruzzo said with a sigh, quelling our nascent winemaker aspirations.
By early evening, the kitchen smelled glorious. Chef Albertson shooed us out with orders to rest and return for dinner at 7 p.m.
Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast is in the Brandywine Valley, just across the Delaware/Pennsylvania border. Cooking class package includes two nights’ accommodation, breakfast each morning, a welcome reception, lunch and dinner prepared during the cooking class and class materials. $650 per couple, double occupancy; $575, single. 725 Darlington Road, Chester Heights, Pa. 610-459-3000. 
