A Couples Getaway to the Berkshires

Dinner doesn’t get any more romantic than by candlelight, except when the entire room is lighted by them. That’s what we found when we stepped into the dining room at The Old Inn on the Green, in New Marlborough, Massachusetts.

The inn dates from the 1760s, when it was a coaching stop, and has retained that warmth and charm, while adding the modern amenities today’s travelers expect. Our room, for example, had a giant Jacuzzi tub and a superbly comfortable king-sized bed, along with its original fireplace (and a box of wood so we could enjoy its cozy warm glow after dinner). The room featured many other antique touches, including wide-board floors and a wall paneled in old boards nearly two feet wide.

Our room was on the first floor of Thayer House, the inn’s second — and only slightly newer, built in the 1840s — building, and overlooked the garden, which we could access directly from our room. Inside a fence entwined with espaliered fruit trees was a swimming pool for guests. Rooms in the main inn are restored and furnished with antiques and country pieces, with comfortable seating areas. Some have access to the double-decked front porch that covers the entire front of the inn and overlooks the tree-shaded green.

Although it is in a tiny village surrounded by farms and forest, The Old Inn on the Green proved a good base for exploring, with the towns of Great Barrington, Stockbridge, Lee and Lenox all within a short drive.

Our plan for the weekend was to explore the southern Berkshires at a leisurely pace. The Berkshires are filled with attractions, including several historic homes and museums, but we visited only one of these, the Norman Rockwell Museum. Along with the illustrator’s most famous works, such as the Four Freedoms posters done during World War II and the original paintings that became popular magazine covers, the museum displays the artist’s detailed photos of models, his charcoal sketches and preliminary drawings. It was interesting to see how he worked and to see the process that went into creating these iconic views of life in mid-century America.

Just a few minutes’ drive from the inn put us on Route 7, known as Antiques Alley. Some of the shops specialize in one type or style — The Corner House Antiques in antique wicker; Cupboards and Roses in folk art and Swedish painted furniture; Painted Porch in country French and English antiques. Asia Barong is filled with everything Asian that spills out into an outdoor display area of yard filled with larger-than-life Buddhas and sculptures. Between these specialty shops are group shops and co-operatives that are like museums of Americana.

Schantz Galleries. Photo: Stillman Rogers

Another place more like a museum was Schantz Galleries on Elm Street in Stockbridge, where we saw works of art in glass by some of the world’s finest artists in all glass techniques. Perhaps best known among the artists whose works we saw here is Dale Chihuly, but the gallery introduced us to several other internationally known glass artists, whose works are beautifully displayed. Lighting and exhibit spaces that highlight the vivid colors and shapes make the small gallery into a glass museum.

Back home at the inn we devoted our evening to enjoying the dinners the Old Inn on the Common is famous for — it’s often named as one of New England’s best, and we can’t disagree. We were charmed before we even read the menu, by the real candles that lit the table and flickered in the iron wall sconces and chandeliers above. A fire in the large fireplace added to the warm glow, and softly colored murals on the walls brought images of the village green inside.

For all the dining room’s 18^th-century atmosphere, there’s nothing ye-olde-New-England about the menu, which we read as we nibbled on the amuse bouche of roasted beet tarte tatin with chevre. From first courses of roasted butternut-ginger bisque and lobster risotto, we savored entrees of roasted duck breast with duck fat-roasted fingerling potatoes, and braised lamb shank with polenta. We chose light desserts, a trio of sorbets (raspberry, Concord grape and pear) and  house-made biscotti before a glass of after-dinner port in the adjoining candlelit taproom.

Breakfast the next morning was certainly not an anti-climax, with cooked-to-order entrees, a sparling assortment of juicy fresh berries, the inn’s own granola and a basket of fresh-baked croissants and pastries from the Southfield Store, a bakery just down the road.