MEADOWS OF DAN — A Harley-Davidson rider walked into Nancy’s Homemade Fudge Kitchen here on a recent Sunday afternoon and declared, “Uh-oh, I’m in trouble.”

The sweet smell of chocolate saturates the air in this store just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, about an hour’s drive south of Roanoke.

It’s one of a handful of attractions that makes the community worth a detour off the parkway or part of a day trip to nearby wineries, Mabry Mill, Rock Castle Gorge or Fairystone Park.

Located at 2,964 feet above sea level, where the Blue Ridge Mountains meet the Piedmont plateau, this Patrick County community of rolling green meadows and grazing cattle describes itself as “a simpler place in time.”

It’s located at milepost 171, where the parkway crosses U.S. 58, also known as JEB Stuart Highway. Once off the parkway, there’s a short strip of shops and restaurants. And just in case you miss them, signs posted outside the community read: “You Just Missed Meadows of Dan.”

The community is a popular destination for people coming off the parkway.

“We always stop here,” said Danny Jones of Reidsville, N.C., after he and his wife, his sister and her husband bought chocolate at Nancy’s. “Whenever we’re in the neighborhood.”

The more than 45 kinds of fudge and other sweets at Nancy’s drew a steady stream of customers one recent afternoon. The employees leave fudge out on the counter and allow customers to taste. Flavors change with the seasons. The key lime and pumpkin fudge were particularly good.

Nancy’s makes most of its own candy on-site. Customers are encouraged to watch, but the factory only makes candy from Monday to Thursday, so I was out of luck.

After several tastes of fudge, it probably would have been a good idea to try out one of the many trails at nearby Rock Castle Gorge. But that didn’t happen.

I was disappointed to see that several shops were not open the afternoon I visited. Becky’s Fried Pies had been recommended as a local favorite, but a sign said the owner was away for vacation.

But the community was still busy. Motorcycle riders clustered outside the Poor Farmer’s Market Old Fashion Country Store before heading back out onto the parkway. Other visitors bought lunch at the market deli and ate outside the store at picnic tables.

Driving east on U.S. 58, several antique and collectibles shops also looked interesting. And by midafternoon, the Blue Ridge Passage Resort was also busy.

The resort features a carousel, ice cream shop, pizza place, gift shop and cabins for rent and sale. A bluegrass band drew a small crowd as they played on the front porch of the resort’s gift shop.

Farther along U.S. 58, after passing the “Best Little Hair House in Vesta,” I arrived at Lover’s Leap Bird Houses. Henry and Edna Mickles have been making birdhouses there for the past six years.

Henry Mickles explained that he and his wife began making birdhouses as a hobby. Then they got permission to sell out of the parking lot where their current business is located. (It was a junk store at the time). They wound up buying the building and turned part of the store into a workshop.

Their inventory ranges from simple, one-hole birdhouses to a bird castle.

“I always make them so the eastern bluebird will fit the hole,” Henry Mickles said.

Mickles said they’ve built more than 25,000 birdhouses and sold them to people from all 50 states and 23 countries. They not only design birdhouses, but repair them.

“If they read my name in the obituaries Monday, they’ll know the warranty is dead,” Mickles said. “But other than that, they bring it back, and it’s fixed.”