To all our friends and guests who helped make 2011 such a success, thank you so much.  We enjoyed having you stay with us and will look forward to seeing you and your friends next year.  I’ve uploaded many pictures of Hamanassett decked out for Christmas on our face book page.  Tried to upload pictures here but word press is acting persnickity.  All the attractions with Christmas decorations such as Longwood Gardens, Winterthur, Hagley Museum, and the Brandywine River Museum keeps their decorations in place through the first week of the New Year so you still have time to visit us.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/Hamanassett.  And while you are there would appreciate your “Liking” us.

Visit Hagley during the holiday season and enjoy a variety of exhibitions, activities, choral performances, crafts, and more!   Children 14 and under are admitted free during December.  You are sure to be inspired by their Christmas and Twelth Night decorations at the first DuPont home in America.  First bus departs from the Visitor Center at 10 AM and the last at 3 PM.  You can get on and off at various sites throughout the estate.  Hamanassett is a short 20-25 minutes drive.

Hours are 9:30-4:30.  For more information call 302-658-2400 or click here for more information.

All year long we consider ourselves so fortunate to live in such a beautiful area.  This is even more true during the holiday season.  Below are just a few of the events going on the Brandywine Valley during November and December.  Hamanassett Bed and Breakfast is within a 10-25 minute drive of all the attractions and we still have availability for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Not to be missed, the always enchanting Longwood Gardens.  See their 52 baskets of poinsettias in the conservatory.  This year they are hanging white poinsettias rather than the traditional red.  For railroad buffs, there is the garden railway display.  As always,  the Brandywine River Museum has an incredible train display.   It is one of my favorite places to go during the holiday season.

 

GARDEN RAILWAY DISPLAY

This event occurs on the following dates:

Daily from Tuesday, September 07, 2010 through Wednesday, November 24, 2010
9:00 AM — 5:00 PM

Daily from Thursday, November 25, 2010 through Saturday, January 09, 2010
9:00 AM — 9:00

 November 20, 2010-January 9, 2011

Experience traditions of the past and dazzling holiday entertaining displays in this special wintertime tour. New this year are vignettes depicting mid-1800s Christmas celebrations at Winterthur and the January 1938 wedding festivities of Pauline Louise du Pont. Garden-inspired trees and the perennial favorite, Winterthur’s magnificent dried-flower tree, will also be on display. A full series of special events, performances, and workshops will help to make your season bright. 
Winterthur is open on Mondays throughout the Yuletide season. Tuesdays, December 7, 14, 21, and 28 feature extended hours with evening tours and shopping and dining opportunities.
Tour reservations are recommended. Purchase tickets there or call 800.448.3883 or 302.888.4600. 

Even Nemours is decorated and open for the holidays.  Their hours for holiday tours are from 11/5/10 through 12/31/10.  Reservations are definitely suggested.

   
A toy monkey found in the attic of the Nemours Mansion sits under a Christmas tree in the main foyer Monday. (The News Journal)

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.

 

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