COUNTRY OAKS

I am a gardener and while I am obsessed with the uniqueness and jaw dropping beauty of flowers, I am most appreciative of natural settings, splashed with color. Colorful displays of flowers stimulate me while woodland settings calm. There is no right or wrong here, just different reactions. Since woodland settings have to occur naturally, I, like most gardeners go for the quicker growing forms of beauty in our own settings . The lucky ones have property that are all ready dressed in natural as was the first place on the garden tour Saturday.

This place blew me away with it's manicured look carved out of a natural setting. It has a long driveway leading into an oak grove. I have lived here for 5 years and did not know this place existed.

The main house is stately three story building. I have all ready picked out my room. Third floor, balcony.

The converted carriage house sits away from the main building and has its own charm. I would not feel too slighted being placed there.

The real draw though is the wooded vistas. There is a hush here that groups of people could not disturb.

Another draw for me was the 7 acre lake. Not huge but big enough. It is stocked with fish that you can only catch and release. I really wished I didn't have the rest of the tour to do. I could have spent the day there.

The clouds were threatening but never produced any more than a few drops. The next day it rained the entire day so we were lucky.

If I didn't have Mighty I would definitely spend my stimulus check here for a couple days of peace and exploration. They do not take pets though so I will find another way to spend the check and just be content with taking Mighty to the National Forest for my woodland fix.