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By Bob & Tanya Waite
Driving into The Inn at Leola Village’s parking lot, Tanya and I see what first looks like an upscale shopping center that is actually the Inn itself. We check in. Tanya snoops around the lobby as much as possible not only seeing the rustic yet beautifully furnished room but walking around looking at the business center that guests can use to work outside their offices. I wander through the hallway that leads to the restaurant, Osteria Avanti, which wasn’t open yet, and Tanya looks at jewelry in a glass case that guests can buy. On the wall is a photo of an old Amish farm, whose buildings, once renovated are now The Inn at Leola Village.
Our room, the Pool Suite was not ready, so we sit a few minutes in some very comfortable stuffed chairs. Tanya keeps wandering. We casually meet Vice President of Inns of Distinction Randy Howat in the lobby and we make plans with him to tour The Inn At Leola Village. Our room is ready and the front desk manager takes us to the Pool Suite.
We walk to our suite on a cobblestone path past several cottages. Hugging the contour of the buildings are hedges coifed to perfection. On the other side of the path is a landscaped area that has a garden. Several trees meet us as we walk. We then walk through a large open wrought iron gate to the pool area. The ground has a cobblestone surface and the pool area is beautifully landscaped. There are hedges, trees, large standing urns filled with flowers. Tables and chairs and lounge chairs are strategically placed by the pool.
There are actually three pool suites. We enter ours thorough the outside French doors, and I expect to hear oohs and ahhs from Tanya, but all I get is silence. She sighs, “This is beautiful.” Quietly she walks around, looking at the sitting area with two comfortable gray upholstered chairs and a small round table between them. She then turns her attention to the dining area which has a round table with a marble top—overhead is a candelabra chandelier. A print is on the wall of water with reeds and to the side of the dining area is a large window that has distressed wooden moulding around it and wooden inside shutters that can be opened to the amount of light you wish to let in. The French doors that let you into the suite from the pool area also have the shutters and a curtain that can be pulled to darken the room.
The king size bed has a Mediterranean look with a head board that has two posts which have interesting millwork and carving on them. I want to jump into it right away. Tanya stops me. “Not now,” she says. “Move and don’t put anything down on the furniture or floor till I am done taking pictures.” I say, “Come on Hon.” And she says, “Go, go.” Dejectedly I find an area out of the way of her all-seeing iPhone.”
I love the secretary desk that looks like it is made with cherry wood. Tanya loves the wooden closet door that has a distressed appearance. “This room has such a nice rustic feel,” she says. I agree but am enamored by the sheer size of the room. The ceilings are high and it has a European feel like one would get in a cabin owned by a European Count. The stone fireplace with an electric heating element is not only rustic but regal in its appearance, ready to dominate whatever draft dares to make its way through to the center of the room.
Tanya sees a large jacuzzi and exclaims, “I’m getting in that chumpy tonight.” Although the both of us could fit in this large whirlpool, I demur, knowing that Tanya literally boils herself in any kind of bath, and the last time I went in a tub with her, I think I got second degree burns. Next to the jacuzzi is a window overlooking a garden.
The bathroom is the size of a large bedroom. In it are two sinks and two large mirrors. There are two Persian throw rugs—one in front of each sink and a padded stool under the sinks to sit on. The tiles on the floor look like they are made of slate. The shower area is large too with tiles on the wall, again looking like they are stone, but not all gray—streaks of tan and brown are seen on some of them, again adding to its rustic yet chic appearance.
We unpack and it is time to meet with Randy Howat in the lobby. Sitting at a table in LaMattina Caffe, Randy tells us the story behind this gorgeous boutique Inn in Leola, Pennsylvania. Once this Inn was a tobacco farm—yes tobacco grows in Pennsylvania, something I never knew about. By the time Deb Shirk and her husband John bought the farm to convert it into an upscale hotel, spa and event venue, it was in complete disarray. Randy, who is part of the hotel management company and does most of The Inn at Leola Village’s marketing, says, “And You'll see the flying pigs around the property. And that is because when Deb and her husband John told some of their friends that we're going to create a four star hotel in Lancaster, they said, when pigs fly.”
At the time when Randy got the job, The Inn at Leola Village was a Forbes 5-Star hotel and AAA 5-diamond hotel, but that scared off the corporate business travelers, because it just didn’t look good for them to send their people to a 5-star hotel, and there is a lot of expense to involved with keeping a hotel at the 5-star level—a level that only a few hotels in the country have attained. Randy explains, “Everything is taken into account, such as the weight of the silverware, the cushions on the outside chairs, so we are happy with the 4-Star and 4-Diamond rating.” (The Inn at Leola Village is the only hotel in Lancaster County to have attained the coveted Forbes 4-Star and AAA 4-Diamond rating.)
Randy is the president of Historic Hotels of Pennsylvania and on the board of Historic Hotels of America and is proud of the fact that The Inn at Leola Village was recently nominated as one of the Best Historic Hotels in America.
After talking to Randy, he takes us on a whirlwind tour of the property. We first walked through seemingly endless paths through gardens, some of which grew herbs and vegetables that are used in the upscale restaurant Osteria Avanti. Osteria Avanti is an Italian restaurant that offers fine dining for both guests and patrons from the area and visitors. Each dish is crafted with simple and rustic Italian flavors and elevated for an elegant meal.
While walking through the gardens seeing the small statues (the small sized Easter Islands reproductions interested me) we come across the Italian Wedding Garden. Here we see a rose lined wedding arbor on a step up platform, and behind the beautifully designed arbor are trees and paths that lead into the gardens. The suggested maximum capacity is 200 guests.
After walking along the paths, Randy takes us to the largest indoor wedding venue on the property, the Casa di Fiori. In front of the building is running water that sounds like a waterfall. This gives all who enter a feeling of peace and well-being. This building has high open-beam ceilings, large retractable window walls, artistic etched floors, a crafted stone wall and a stunning fireplace. Tanya swooned as we walked through it.
We walked by buildings, some that were cottages and others houses, barns and various farm buildings. On our tour we see several rooms—the Bridal Suite took Tanya’s breath away, as did one of the Signature Suites that was once a wine cellar.
We go to the last stop on our tour—The Spa at Leola Village, which also has a Forbes 4-Star rating and is the only spa to achieve that rating in Lancaster. The inside is beautiful. In the relaxation room is a fieldstone wall, expertly pointed, a fireplace and very plush comfortable chairs where massage patrons can sit, sipping wine or lemonade. The full service salon offers a complete range of services for both men and women. This includes hair cutting, styling, coloring, tanning, make-up services and nails. But it is not simply a hair salon. They offer massage, couples’ massages, facials and HydraFacial, Aromatherapy Oil Wrap Body Treatment, hand and foot treatment, body scrubs and they even have tea rooms.
After the tour we go back to our room and Tanya takes a whirlpool bath while I sit at the desk checking my email and reading on my Kindle. Tired from the excitement, I run out for takeout and Tanya, who is by now thoroughly cooked in the whirlpool, gets into her evening clothes and turns on the fireplace and the TV. She is luxuriating in our luxurious suite. I bring back some sandwiches, chips and cola and we both spend the evening in our beautiful surroundings.
Waking up I go to the La Mattina Caffe and grab us each some coffee and biscotti. The biscotti is delicious. We then leisurely shower and get ready to spend a day driving around the Lancaster County and visiting interesting shops. Right in Leola we see Riehl’s Quilts and Crafts. Riehl’s has a large selection of handmade quilts. The store also sells pillows, quillows (a pillow that opens to a blanket), baskets, soaps, homemade jams, jellies and canned goods.
We drive on country roads, stop to get ice cream for lunch, make a quick stop at the outlets on Rt. 30 and drive back toward Strasburg to go to The Amish Village. Before coming I looked at their website and they described the Village as being dedicated “...to creating authentic encounters with the Amish culture through our tours and educational stories about Amish traditions.”
We first go on the tour of an authentic Amish home. The guide shows us examples of Amish clothing. The plain clothing and the aversion to buttons, zippers and belts are the identifying traits we think of when we see Amish people, even though Mennonites and other Anabaptists dress “plain.” In many ingenious ways the Amish were able to light their homes with kerosene and propane lamps, use gas powered engines to operate appliances and use air power to operate power tools.
After the house tour, we walked around the Amish Village that sits on 12 acres of farmland. We walked through barns with lambs, goats, donkeys and beautiful horses. We saw chickens walking around us as we went back outside to cross the miniature covered bridge to see the blacksmith shop, the working windmill and water wheel, a buggy and a garage with several buggies and various farm implements and my favorite—the Amish schoolhouse. Then we went into the gift shop where we bought a plaque as a souvenir.
At the petting zoo we meet a goat. Tanya says, “He’s cute, and look, he wants something.” “I said, “Go ahead, pet him.” Her look revealed that she was a city girl. She said, “That’s ok.” Realizing that there were little gum machines that dispensed corn and food pellets, I put a quarter in each one and held at the palm of my hand and fed the goats that began making their way to the fence. Tanya stands behind me. I offer her some corn and pellets and say, “Go ahead, feed them.” She says again, “That’s ok.” Then as we are leaving she looks at me with a very stern look and says, “Make sure you wash your hands after having those goats lick you.” I laugh and act like I am going to stroke her face.” She says, “No, not until you wash those hands.”
Now we are on our way to Miller’s with gift certificates from Discover Lancaster, an amazing visitor’s bureau, whose mission is to promote tourism in Lancaster County. Miller’s has an interesting history. On their website is a brief history about Anna Miller, who served chicken & waffles to truckers as her husband repaired their rigs. This, over the years, became a major destination for people visiting Lancaster. The buffet, smorgasbord style or soup & salad style, uses farm fresh foods. They say, “At Miller’s, we cook from scratch and prepare meals that you want to tell your friends about. We get supplies like sweet corn, tomatoes, watermelon, cabbage, broccoli, squash, peppers and onions from Amos, Ben, Manny and Elmer, our Amish neighbors, whose farms surround our restaurants.” Miller’s is huge and there is more than one building that makes up this destination
I am hungry. Tanya, who is not a fan of buffets, and always says, “it is not good to mix all these different foods together in one meal,” is hungry too. I violate Tanya’s rule. I start with fried chicken, biscuits, mixed vegetable dishes, all kinds of meats, including sliced ham at the carving station. My food is piled up and enough to keep me fed for the rest of the day and probably half of the next. Looking disdainfully at my obvious gluttony, Tanya puts some chicken, a seafood salad and shrimp on her plate, which looks too much like normal portions and, in my view, totally neglectful of the feast put before us. To each his own.
Miller’s is not only a place to eat. There is a large gift shop, a locally made food shop, a quilt shop, Ruthies, a shop that specializes in beautiful clothing, fun jewelry and unique handbags, and a Bible History Exhibit. Miller’s is huge and there is more than one building that makes up this destination.
Tired and full we return to The Inn at Leola Village. We are both a little sad. Our visit to this enchanting hotel is over. Tomorrow we hit the Turnpike and return home. Two nights is not long enough for a stay at this inn or this county.
Bob Waite is the editor of Bucks County Magazine and Tanya is his wife, travel companion and the co-writer of this department.