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The rich farmland and scenic beauty of Fauquier, Loudoun, Clarke and Rappahannock counties.
“As a work of art, 1 know few things more pleasing to the eye, or more capable of affording scope and gratification to the taste for the beautiful, than a well-situated, well-cultivated farm." — Edward Everett
For sheer natural beauty, there are not many corners of the earth that can match Virginia’s Northern Piedmont.
Fertile soil turns the . rolling hills into rolling oceans of lush, green grass every spring. Tidy white board fences and stone walls that were the master works of master craftsman corral handsome thoroughbred mares as they stand watch over foals frolicking in fields, foals that may grow up to make the run for the roses or steeplechasing’s Gold Cup.
In adjoining pastures, giant Angus bulls, ebony against emerald, stare off into the distance.
As spring turns into summer, green sprouts of corn poke their way through the cultivated earth. By July, the stalks have grown crowns of golden tassles.
By October, they’ve dried to brown husks, stark against the bare ground.
All through the growing season, round bales of hay spring up like so many loaves of bread. When the days grow shorter and temperatures drop, snow blankets the fields, covering the hay loaves with white icing.
In Clarke County, huge gray-green boulders push their way up, creating mini-mountain ranges across the pastures.
And in Rappahannock, the Blue Ridge foothills border the pastures and orchards. The scenery is dominated by world’s oldest mountains, their edges have been smoothed by time. Not as imposing as the Rockies, they don’t tower over their domain. They don’t intimidate. Rather, they give those who live in their shadow the illusion of gentle protectiveness.
The hillsides and mountains that overlook the farms add their own splashes of color to the landscape. In spring, the yellow of forsythia turns to the coral of red bud, the pink and white of dogwood. Then comes the purple of wisteria and lilac, the white of mountain laurel.
The green of summer follows, then the explosion of autumn — red, yellow, orange, amber, rust and brown.
And every year, the cycle repeats, creating an order, a visual feast that delights the eye and lifts the spirit.
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