Photo Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Keswick Hall, a luxury 48-room inn and Tuscan-style viilla on 600 acres of Virginia countryside, features an 18-hole Arnold Palmer-designed golf course, a spa, pools, tennis and dining facilities.

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• Experience the dining menu

Fun facts about Keswick Hall

• The hotel has a helipad on-site, which is used for the jet set and for launching hot air balloon excursions.
• The jet set probably includes famous regulars including Anthony Hopkins, Paul Newman, Gary Oldman and Michael J. Fox.
• Room No. 12 is featured in a 1981 film, "The Four Seasons," starring Carol Burnett and Alan Alda.
• When Mick Jagger stayed at Keswick Hall, he dined on spinach and goat cheese whipped potatoes with Chesapeake Bay rockfish. Wonder if he remembers it?
• Every evening, guests are treated to a bedside snack prepared by the pastry chef. That might include truffles, shortbread or chocolate-covered strawberries.
• Nearby Blenheim Vineyards is owned by local boy Dave Matthews.
• Keswick Hall’s private golf course is one of nine Audubon-certified courses in the state.
• Keswick Hall’s famous butlery includes a Baby Butler, who will warm baby bottles, provide rocking chairs and even baby-sit; a Love Butler, who will discreetly supply romantic tunes, erotic novellas and aromatherapy; and a Golf Butler, who will do everything from advising you on your next shot to arranging an after-game massage.
• The pet program includes a special pet menu, guided walks and "pet china." Woof.

Source: Keswick Hall

The making of Keswick

• Early 1800s — John Rogers of Keswick Farm builds Broad Oak, a single-story house.
• 1874 — Purchased by Edward Mead, who added a second story.
• 1912 — Robert Crawford and his heiress wife buy Keswick and build Villa Crawford, a two-story, Tuscan-style house that now serves as the backbone of the expanded hotel.
• 1919 — Crawford dies and his wife sells Villa Crawford and moves away to remarry.
• 1947 — "The Keswick Corporation," a group of Albemarle County businessmen, buy the property and turn it into a golf course and country club.
• 1965 — The club is sold at auction to Knox Turnbull, who formed Keswick Estates Inc. Turnbull expands the clubhouse and installs an ice rink and tennis courts.
• 1981 — A Fairfax man’s dreams of having a vineyard at Keswick Estates fail. It is bought by William Burress of the Burress Land and Lumber Co. of Lynchburg.
• 1990 — After Burress and yet another owner fail to make a go of it at Keswick, it is purchased by Lord Bernard Ashley, widower of designer Laura Ashley, for $5.5 million. Architect Bob Paxton expands the house into a large, Italian-style hotel. Arnold Palmer redesigns the 18-hole golf course.
• 1999 — The thriving hotel is purchased by Orient-Express Hotels for $13.5 million.

Source: Keswick Hall

Contact

• Keswick Hall
• Lodging: $295 to $925 per night, depending on season and room
• Phone: (434) 979-3440 or toll free in the U.S. at (800) 274-5391
• Web site: www.keswick.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Keswick Hall is only six miles from Charlottesville, but it might as well be halfway across the world.

That's not just because it's a Tuscan-style resort in a pastoral 600-acre setting.

"I speak to people in Roanoke and Richmond and they go, 'Keswick? Where is that?' " said general manager Anthony McHale.

At present, about 75 percent of the hotel's 19,000 yearly guests are from out-of-state. But McHale and his staff hope Western Virginians are on the cusp of a new traveling trend -- one without airplanes or big gas bills.

They want to lure guests from the hotel's back yard into the heart of horse and wine country, and at two and a half hours from Roanoke, it's not a bad jaunt.

The four-star hotel prides itself on making every guest's stay different. The staff shies away from set packages, instead offering to build a custom getaway to suit your every need.

That custom experience might include a golf game, a massage, a private dinner for two, fishing excursions or a hot air balloon ride across the countryside.

"For a little facility," McHale said, "it's got a surprising number of things that you can do."

At your service

The hotel itself resembles a huge, Italian country home, with butter-colored stucco walls and a red tile roof. It's surrounded by an 18-hole golf course designed by Arnold Palmer and flanked by the Keswick Club, a private spa open to hotel guests.

The entire complex sits on the 600-acre parcel called Keswick Estate, which is also home to a small, exclusive housing development that is only partially completed.

When a sweater-vested young man greets you in the sweeping circular drive, the feeling of being a country house guest begins, and it doesn't end until you drive away.

Impeccable service is one of the hallmarks of Orient-Express Hotels, which acquired the storied Keswick Hall in 1999. It is apparent in the way Keswick's staff is helpful in an unobtrusive way, taking bags and hanging coats and turning down the beds.

It also shines in details such as blazing fires, kettles of hot cocoa and bottles of liqueur in common areas including the Great Hall and the library, which is stocked with more than 400 Virginia-centric volumes.

Unlike larger luxury resorts, the 48-room Keswick Hall is able to feel intimate. Each room is decorated in a different theme, ranging from wildlife to floral designs. In some cases, the floral decor dates to when Lord Bernard Ashley, widower of designer Laura Ashley, owned the property in the early 1990s.

One room, No. 9, was the master bedroom of Robert Crawford and his wife, who built Villa Crawford, the original wing of Keswick Hall, in 1912. Although Crawford's death was recorded in Baltimore in 1919, local legend has it that he died on the property and has been "around" ever since.

But that hasn't stopped several celebrities from visiting Keswick Hall, including Paul Newman and Anthony Hopkins.

In fact, No. 9 is Newman's favorite room.

Indulge your taste buds

Though the beds are plush and the bathrooms expansive, the number of outings and events that take place in and around Keswick Hall will draw guests out of their rooms.

Food and wine alone can blissfully occupy an entire day.

Executive chef Craig Hartman is at the helm at Keswick Hall's Fossett's Restaurant, a fine dining establishment named after Thomas Jefferson's French-trained chef, Edith Fossett.

Soon after it opened in 2004, Fossett's was named one of the nation's best new restaurants by Esquire magazine. Hartman, a jolly guy who loves to mingle with the guests, tries to use as many fresh, local ingredients as possible but refuses to be limited by location.

He describes his cuisine as "French in foundation but Virginian in inspiration."

The nightly dinner menu at Fossett's includes an $85, six-course tasting menu as well as a la carte entrees such as braised Colorado lamb or pan-seared striped bass.

Fossett's also cranks out breakfast every day, as well as a Sunday brunch that offers six filling courses, including wine, for $42 per person.

On a recent Sunday, the brunch menu started with buttery sweet potato bisque and assorted salads, then got serious with truffled scrambled eggs, beef tenderloin and blueberry pancakes.

The meal finished with a dessert plate featuring creme brulee, pistachio chocolate mousse and an apple dumpling.

Because Hartman likes to get out from behind the stove, he has planned a series of food-related events at the hotel this year. They include cooking classes, afternoon teas and country picnics.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, guests are invited to the bar for "The Chef's Amuse," where Hartman serves up small tastings such as pheasant ballantine or tuna ceviche.

In the summertime, guests can request The Signature Table, a private outdoor dining experience with personal service, champagne and a special view of the estate -- a custom option for the diehard romantic.

Wine away the day

For wine enthusiasts, there are few better settings in Virginia than the countryside around Charlottesville.

Within a short driving distance of Keswick Hall are more than 25 Virginia wineries offering tours and tastings, including Barboursville, Keswick, Horton and Jefferson.

Guests can literally set off after breakfast at the hotel and spend the whole day touring central Virginia wine country, even stopping at Bar-boursville Vineyard's Palladio Restaurant for an Italian lunch to complement its award-winning wines.

"We've got the connections" with wineries, McHale said. "We phone them up and say we've got a bunch of people coming over and they get taken care of."

To finish off the day, wine lovers can attend hotel sommelier Richard Hewitt's in-house tastings at the bar every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.

Of course, some might feel the need to work off all that wine and food, and that's where Keswick Club comes in.

The club's fitness center features Cybex equipment, cardio machines and daily exercise classes such as aerobics and yoga. It is also the site of a jacuzzi and a heated pool, which is one of three pools at the inn.

Keswick Club's spa treatments range from massages and manicures to the "Raindrop Therapy," a combination oil application and technique used by Lakota Indians and purported to bring the body into balance.

If guests have any time left in the day, butlers at Keswick Hall will arrange trips to Charlottesville for shopping and sightseeing or excursions to the nearby countryside for horseback riding, fly fishing or shooting.

'Your estate, your escape'

So what's the price of luxury?

Lodging at Keswick Hall ranges from $295 to $925 per night, depending on the season and the room.

Most outings and events cost extra and vary in price.

The hotel does offer a package called "Sweet Hibernations" that includes a room for one night, breakfast and a three-course dinner starting at $335.

At press time, rooms and dinner reservations were still available for Valentine's Day weekend.

McHale knows the prices might be a bit steep for some, but he says the difference is in the personalized service and attention to detail.

Compared to resorts like The Homestead and The Greenbrier, he said, "we are so small, we know everybody who stays here and we can tailor that stay and create a memorable experience."

McHale also says that while other resorts can be seasonal, there is something to do every day of the year at Keswick Hall.

Alternatively, guests are encouraged to do nothing at all -- that's why McHale likes to call Keswick Hall, "Your estate, your escape."

"To me, there is nothing better than having a glass of champagne and a canape by the fire before going off to dinner," he said. "It's got that homey feel to it, except you don't have to do the washing up."