Brandywine Valley

The Brandywine Valley is an area along the Brandywine River in Northern Delaware and Southern Pennsylvania. It's about an hour from Center City Philadelphia and 45 minutes from the airport. It's a great day trip or would be a great place to stay if you have the extra time.

You can check out thebrandywine.com for great information on the adorable bed and breakfasts, quaint restaurants and neat attractions in the Brandywine Valley.

But we'd also like to recommend a few:

~ Longwood Gardens ~

I've never been here! But Matt has. And so have my parents. And everyone says it's absolute must.

Longwood, like a lot of the attractions in Brandywine Valley, is a former property of the Du Pont family. You can also visit their former residences at Winterthur & Nemours Mansion.

~ The Brandywine Museum ~

The other famous family of the Brandywine Valley is the Wyeth family of artists. And this museum showcases their work.

I went here several years ago with my family. And anyone who ever visited our Weymouth house and used our downstairs bathroom will almost certainly never forget that print of the fat hairy pig with all the utters. Well, you can see where Mom bought that! The Brandywine Museum!

~ Faunbrook B&B ~

There are many very cute B&B's in the area, and you can read about them on thebrandywine.com, but Matt & I stayed at Faunbrook and it was super lovely. Lori and Steve are super nice and accommodating. Steve makes breakfast in the morning and I still remember the cheese and onion quiche we had, it was really good.

~ Simon Pearce ~

I had never even heard of Simon Pearce before last year, but Mom and Dad had been to their flagship store and restaurant in Vermont and so we stopped off here when we were in town. The minute we walked in I was in love. They have all handmade glass and pottery. But they also have a restaurant that is super super yummy. I can still remember the polenta fries that came with my chicken. And warm apple cider. Yum. It's a pretty swanky restaurant but they recently instituted a new less expensive bistro menu. They also occasionally have glassblowing demonstrations.