This Small City in Virginia Is a U.S. Dupe for the English Countryside

You don’t must be Jane Austen obsessed to be dreaming of the English countryside in 2025. This yr is the 250th anniversary of the Pleasure and Prejudice writer’s delivery and the concept of an idyllic, rose-scented, never-too-hot English countryside has permeated imaginations, bucket lists, and social media feeds seemingly the world over. Whereas we can’t all swing a visit to Austen’s delivery nation this summer season, we can go to someplace a little bit nearer to dwelling—particularly if your private home is on the East Coast.

Middleburg, Virginia, about an hour from Washington, D.C., is the state-side reply to a Cotswold’s craving, and there has by no means been a greater time to go. 

Recognized for its sprawling horse farms, rolling vineyards, historic nation inns, and independently owned boutiques, Middleburg has the kind of streets and surroundings that appear immediately pulled from one in all Austen’s books. But the city has managed to fly underneath the radar for years, regardless of being positioned within the wealthiest county in America (Loudoun County) and regardless of being a favourite vacation spot of quite a few political and Hollywood icons.

Elizabeth Taylor referred to as Middleburg dwelling throughout her marriage to Senator John Warner, and the Kennedys owned a 166-acre farm right here, which they used as a weekend dwelling throughout their time within the White Home. And though JFK famously disliked his weekends right here, Jackie remained a neighborhood fixture on the town even after her husband’s assassination and was an everyday at The Purple Fox Inn and Tavern. 

“The unassuming way of life of the Virginia Piedmont,” is what charmed Jackie, says Matilda Reuter Engle, who runs Purple Fox and whose household has been in Middleburg for seven generations. That way of life—with its tony pursuits of fox searching, horse racing, and polo taking part in—provides to what Engle factors out is Middleburg’s “old-world attraction.”  

The old-world, Austen-esque attraction is palpable within the postcard-sized downtown, with vintage shops and independently owned boutiques like Crème de la Crème, which sells a extremely curated collection of European homewares. Homeowners Tara and Ben Wegdam opened the store 25 years in the past, after efficiently operating an identical enterprise in Holland. Middleburg proved to be a pure place to open their enterprise after they left Europe. Tara Wegdam is fast to level out that it is Middleburg’s “European attraction meets on a regular basis dwelling” that has made the store so successful. They presently have a buyer membership base of greater than 100,000 folks and run a number of different areas of their store in Virginia and Maryland, though the Middleburg spot stays the most important travel-worthy draw.

Many retailers have adopted in Crème de la Crème’s footsteps and have thrived within the city, whose inhabitants is simply 700. Middleburg Books, which opened in 2023 by a neighborhood librarian, credit a lot of its success with those that journey right here. “We have discovered that about 75 % of our prospects are out-of-towners,” says proprietor Mary Beth Morell. “It has been a delight to see our charming little jewel-box of a bookshop turn out to be one thing of a vacation spot in its personal proper.”

Different small retailers, resembling Highcliffe Clothiers, which sells elegant nation put on, Federal and Black, which affords dwelling items and presents, and Knead, which bakes selfmade pizzas, Virginia peanut cookies, and sells sommelier-selected wines, all have devoted fan bases.

Middleburg’s wineries have additionally helped to ascertain the realm as a vacation spot. And whereas the wine produced right here will not be actually outdated world, it’s a factor of magnificence by itself. Virginia’s wine trade has grown considerably lately, and native producers, together with Greenhill, Boxwood, and Cana are the proper spots to take all of it in. 

Outdoors of city, guests will discover two nation inns: Salamander and Goodstone. Each accommodations are tucked away from city and on substantial parcels of land, and it’s simple to think about any Jane Austen heroine wandering their grounds.