Wishing all our past, current, future guests,  friends and family all the best in 2010 and beyond…

Lots of 2010 news to share with you – Rock Hall is featured in the Winter Editon of Passport Magazine as well as in the Winter Edition of Edible Nutmeg where Michael’s recipe for his amazing Gravlax is revealed!!

2010 is off to a promising start on many fronts and we are excited to report that Michael has been doing more than CURLING!! in his spare time – He can’t wait for the Winter Olympics to begin -  Michael was just sworn in as Colebrook’s Representative to the Board of the Northwest Connecticut Convention and Vistors Bureau and will to do his utmost to be an advocate for and to promote the Northwest Corner for the benefit of all our fellow business owners, neighbors, and guests…

February is Romance Month at Rock Hall so if you can’t make it up for Valentine’s Day - TAKE HEART – we are making romance a top priority the entire month of February so make your reservations NOW and we will treat you to a split of premium French Champagne! Romantic movies will be playing continuously in our private screening room with complimentary popcorn… If flowers and handmade chocolates figure in your romantic fantasies – No Worries – give us a bit of advance notice and for and additional charge we will deliver the most beautiful flowers and the most scrumptious, beautiful chocolates right to your Master Bedroom Door! Interested in Couples or Individual Massage ???  A complete menu of SPA SERVICES will be available soon and we are happy to check our schedule for current service  availability

Looking forward to your visit,

Stella

Visions of sugarplums danced in their heads at Rock Hall this Xmas Eve where a full house brought guests from all over the U.S.  As nearby as Massachusetts and as far flung as San Fransisco!! The Northwest Corner is blanketed in snow and winter arrived just in time to celebrate the holidays with us.  Rock Hall has been decked in Holly and Pine Roping and Hannukah Menorahs continue to blaze. 

Were you lucky enough to indulge in Michael’s extraordinary mini potato pancakes and velvety applesauce made right here at Rock Hall from our heirloom apple trees???  If not, there’s always next year….Cocktails on the 23rd brought friends, family and guests together for a festive prelude to Christmas visits.  After an inasuspicious beginning ….

All right it was staged – our 11 foot Blue Spruce –  Colebrook grown and cut at Up Country Farm on Colebrook River Road –  feels right at home tucked into the dining room and decorated with antique German glass pinecones and birds…

Butternut, Catamount, Ski Sundown and Mohawk ski areas are enjoying a strong beginning to this year’s ski season and guests are booking their ski vacations at Rock Hall for January and February. Sabrina spent Christmas day giving  the world’s most terrific twins a full day private ski lesson and by day’s end they were carving their turns and racing down the slopes!

We’re offering special mid week stay and ski rates at Ski Butternut so don’t let the season pass you by… After my ski accident a few years ago in Vail my  ”need for speed” has been squelched and I’ve happily embraced snow shoeing - there’s little that can beat a trek thru the snow on a crisp winter day with blue birds and cardinals sweeping past you  – We’ve got 5 pairs of snowshoes here with your name on them and over 22 acres to explore - come join us – we’re looking forward to your visit!  

Best Always,

Stella

It looks like we might be in store for a spectacular White Christmas and certainly a White Hanukkah up in the Northwest Corner.  There’ll be Latkes Roasting on an Open Fire here at Rock Hall and Jack Frost Nipping at Your Nose. Snow Shoers rejoice! Animal Trackers be on the alert – there are paw prints everywhere!!

 

 

The Where, How and Why of Turkish Knots!

Last summer when Sabrina and I were travelling thru Central Turkey we met a fantastic Hotelier/Rug Merchant/Midnight Soccer Player.  We bought an amazing hand embroidered silk textile from him and when he heard that Sabrina was obsessed with Knefe a scrumptious Turkish dessert he insisted on driving us to nearby Avanos for the “real” thing!

We were thrilled to learn his brother would be coming  to visit us with a caravan filled with the most delicious Turkish Carpets When we heard he was doing a Marco Polo around the US with these beauties we quickly invited a few friends over to Rock Hall for an overview of the Turkish Carpet and a brief history of its origin and the stories and symbolism woven into each piece.  Everyone went home a little wiser and with a woven masterpiece of Turkish Craftsmanship!

Nick Lowe - The British Rocker who rocked the BillBoard Charts with Top 40 ”Cruel To Be Kind”  and went on to produce several of Elvis Costello’s albums, rocked Infinity Hall before tucking into Chamber 2 at Rock Hall for the night.  The amazing Bill Kirchen former lead guitarist for Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen opened for Nick and dreamt the night away in Chamber 1.   The conversation around the dining room table the following morning was a whirlwind tour of Rock History.  One never knows who will be passing you the jam, or perhaps the marmite, when you’re having breakfast at Rock Hall, luv.

Daily Candy, Daily Candy, Daily Candy, 40000 hits later!!!!!!!!! If you tried to make a reservation and we’ve been unable to accomodate you now you know why – Daily Candy, Daily Candy, Daily Candy. Do try us again when you make your future travel plans and mention Daily Candy.  We’ll give you a sweet treat  and our thanks for not giving up….Still some room over the holidays – think December ….Come cut your own Xmas tree at nearby Up Country Farm, it’s our gift to you and enjoy some super crispy mini potato latkes and light a candle for Hannukah   Hope to see you then!

Best,

Stella

My brother-in-law Abe has admonished me - YOUR BLOG IS STALE says he!  Well, now is the time to freshen it right up.  This has been an incredible month – we have had sooooo many amazing guests and so many requests for reservations!!  Loon Meadow’s horse drawn door to door carriage ride has been an over whelming success!  Thanx again to Steve and Beth for making the rides memorable and discounting them for our guests   Nothing beats leaf-peeping with two incredible Percherons trotting thru the Connecticut countryside.

ROCK HALL IN THE NEWS - Our carriage ride was a hit on NYI  – many thanx to Valarie D’Elia  and Travels With Val - Daily Candy featured us this week as the lead in a piece on the Gilded Age – Thank You Daily Candy and  writer and travelista Courtney Maum…

On October 14th Rock Hall was honored to host a pre-concert cocktail for the United Way.  Michael and I were thrilled to donate our home and provide the lite bites for such a worthwhile organization.  We couldn’t have done it without the help of all the United Way volunteers who donated their time and energy – many, many thanks!  A special thank you to Frank Gugliamino and “the other guy” whose music set a fantastic backdrop for the cocktail party.

UP NEXT - a benefit  holiday cocktail in December at Rock Hall for the Colebrook First Responders  –  more details after a meeting this coming weekend…

Promise to post sooner next time – thanx for all your emails and for taking the time to post  those glowing reviews of Rock Hall –  we loved being with you too!

Best,

Stella

Well, here we are just post Labor Day Weekend – was summer ever really here this year?  It’s the unofficial start of fall up in the Litchfield Hills/Southern Berkshires and the first shots of vibrant color are beginning to appear here and there. The nights are crisp and star studded; the gardens are waking up to a blanket of lacy frost and the days are sundrenched.

The change of season has brought with it an amazing week for Rock Hall.  French Filmmaker/Director and Sandisfield resident Diego Ongaro, whose short film Rice and Meat 2008 was shown at this summer’s Cannes Film Festival, made the quick trip over to Colebrook with his father Gianni who is visiting this week from Paris. 

As a “souvenir” for his very charming “pere,”  Diego shot Gianni and I enjoying an autumnal horse drawn carriage ride through the Norfolk/Colebrook countryside in a fantastic antique carriage owned and driven by Loon Meadow Farm’s own Beth Podhajecki, while her magnificent Percheron Sara, led the way.  

Loon Meadow Farm has arranged to give Rock Hall guests an incredibly reduced rate on door to door carriage rides for two persons up until the end of 2009.  Michael and I are so excited we are throwing in a split of premium French Champagne or our signature Valrhona steaming hot chocolate.  As an added bonus, the ever-delicious Pastorale in Lakeville, CT has offered to give Rock Hall guests a 25% discount on the dining portion of their bill if they book our “Road Show” package so take a peak at our Specials Page and get all the details.  You will be transported both literally and figuratively so don’t miss this opportunity to romance the one your with and treat your taste buds. 

Speaking of things “Literal” grab a copy of September 2009 Berkshire Living and immediately turn to page 50 to read Gladys Montgomery’s “Rock On,” a wonderful piece that describes Rock Hall’s roots and renowned Palm Beach Architect Addison Mizner’s vision for Rock Hall - our own amazing Mediterranean Revival Manse  – which he originally  built for Jerome Alexandre right here in Colebrook CT.  High Praise for Gladys’ success in writing about the social/political/economic context within which Rock Hall was created and kudos to Jane Feldman on her fantastic photography…FYI the  “family retainer” Michael most resembles would be – say – Al Pacino – if  Mr. Pacino ever were to  portray an incredibly debonair innkeeper……..wow!

Gladys was not the only person surprised to find a Mizner property in Litchfield County…The National Register of Historic Places was flabergasted!  Upon learning of the existance of our architectural gem they sent over a delegation from Hartford to see it with their own eyes.  We are delighted to report that with the assistance of Steve Bedford, a New Hartford resident and highly respected Architect/Consultant/Architectural Historian, we are anticipating being a member of the Historic Register perhaps as early as mid-October…

More media – Did you catch my interview this past Tuesday with the incomparable Joan Hamburg and her terrific daughter Liz on WOR710 Talk Radio?  Joan and Liz, who describes herself as a serial entrepreneur, spoke with me during the “Launch Pad” segment of the show.  It’s available on podcast if you’d like to hear about our decision to change career paths and turn Rock Hall into an award winning resort style B and B…

How excited are we to hear that Edible Nutmeg may be sharing a story soon on Michael’s mouth-water gravlax???  That is music to our foodie ears.  When one of the publisher’s dropped by the other day I suggested they do a piece on Infinity Bistro – so thankful to have a terrific dining spot just down the road, and the music isn’t bad either – HA!  Speaking of Infinity Hall, if you haven’t checked out their fall line up  – you must.  They have some great performers coming up – you may even get a glimpse of them at breakfast here at Rock Hall if you reserve your rooms soon….

Cannot sign off before giving a quick, but heartfelt shout-out to Photographers Dorota Kaminska of NYC  via Warsaw and Edward Acker, Lenox MA based photographer extraodinaire, for the beautiful images they created on our website…. What can we say about Larry Black of Colorway Design in NYC???  We can say Web Wizard/Graphics Great/all around incredibe human being – many thanx – as always!!!!!!!!!!!

Have to run. More soon.

To all our previous guests – we were delighted you shared your good company with us and the pleasure was ours.

To our future guests – we are the friends with the ten thousand square foot, impeccably restored Manor House we want to share with you that you just haven’t met yet!

Best,

Stella