The four rooms and five kitchenette suites in the mansion are furnished with some remarkable antiques. Set on a hill overlooking the valley of Warm Springs, the three-story gray mansion is now an elegant inn with formal gardens and seven guest cottages. THREE HILLS INN This magnificent Bath County, Virginia, mansion was built in 1913 by novelist Mary Johnston, author of To Have and to Hold. Offers guests 20 percent discount on Wintergreen lift tickets and use of spa. Five guest rooms, three with private bath, two with shared, $65-$75. After a day on the slopes, you can gather around the player piano and pedal your way through old show tunes - including "Some Enchanted Evening." - Candyce Stapen MEANDER INN AT PENNY LANE FARM - Routes 612 and 613, Box 443, Nellysford VA 22958. Old dolls line a hall display, and a wedding-ring quilt hangs over the banister. The lilac room has the lightness of white wicker and a rocking chair fashioned from a spinning wheel. The former chicken coop has a pine four-poster bed and a Victorian tub. The rooms, decorated with a mix of Victorian antiques and comfortable pieces, are friendly, not grand. With advance notice, owners Kathy and Rick Cornelius can arrange horseback trail rides through the woods. Some of the fun available nearby includes bicycling around Lake Monocan and hiking along the bridle paths. In the valley just three miles down from Virginia's sprawling Wintergreen resort, Meander Inn opened in October, good news for those who like their daytime skiing and swimming to end with some small-inn, country-cousin friendliness at night. It even sits just beyond an iron bridge, high atop a hill, with the Rockfish River (complete with beaver dam) beside it. MEANDER INN With a player piano in the hall, paddocks outside, hot tub on the deck and baled hay in the far field, Meander Inn at Penny Lane Farm is your quintessential country-farmhouse-turned-bed-and-breakfast. The farm is about a half-hour north of Philadelphia, about 180 miles from Washington. Rates are $60 to $100 a night, including breakfast there is a two-night minimum on weekends. Box 239, 5090 Durham Road, Gardenville PA 18926. Nearby attractions include the antique shops and craft galleries of New Hope and Doylestown and the beautiful countryside of Bucks County. Guests can participate in the making of this feast by joining in the collection of eggs at 9 each morning. Omelettes, quiches, baked apples, wonderful breads and cakes, fresh juices and fruit turn the meal more into a brunch. The house's living room and fireplace are the center of afternoon tea and brownies, but the breakfasts prepared by Linda Psulkowski, a dietitian, are the highlight of a stay here. It sleeps four, two in the bed in the loft, two in a foldout sofa downstairs. The best room is at the top of the house - a loft suite. All have private baths and a mixture of country crafts and furniture and contemporary accessories. Linda and Ray Psulkowski rent the guest rooms in the white main house on their five-acre farm. What you have is Maplewood Farm, a pleasant change from the decorator-perfect elegance of many country inns. Then rent out five rooms in the farmhouse and pamper the guests with afternoon brownies and cookies and a bountiful breakfast. Throw in countless barnyard cats, two large, friendly dogs and a score or so of chickens. Add some sheep, name them something cute (say, Peaches, Cream, Olivia and Freckie). MAPLEWOOD FARM Take one 163-year-old plastered field-stone farmhouse in scenic Bucks County, Pennsylvania. So should this complementary sampling of nearby inns that are especially nice in winter. YES, IT'S COLD outside, but the proximity of Valentine's Day should help keep those inner fires burning.
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