At Brook Farm Inn, we know that  Church Street Cafe, in Lenox Massachusetts,  is among our guests’ favorite restaurants.  Tonight it will open for the season.  So check out the menu at www.churchstreetcafe.biz.   And when you stay with us, we’ll be glad to arrange dinner reservations for you at the restaurant.

At Brook Farm Inn, Lenox Massachusetts, we’re offering a special golf package.  The weather is gorgeous, and the golf course has beautiful Berkshires scenery to enjoy.  Here’s the deal:

 

We were delighted to be mentioned in this past Sunday’s Boston Globe, in Jan Gardner’s “Shelf Life” column.  See http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/04/26/a_fighting_chance/

We’ve long been fans of Ms. Gardner’s column, where she mentions book picks and literary events that you otherwise might not know about.  She has mentioned the poetry event, “The Four Seasons of Edna St. Vincent Millay,” which will take place at 3:00 on Saturday, May 16th, at Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts.  For more information, go to www.brookfarm.com.

This weekend is going to be warm and sunny in the Berkshires, and there’s lots to do.  Here are some theater performances, all of which are just minutes from Brook Farm Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts:

“Moonchildren” at Simon’s Rock College, Great Barrington, 413-644-4235

“Doubt” at Barrington Stage Co.’s Stage 2, Pittsfield, 413-443-9279

“A Tennessee Williams Menagerie,” Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge.  Presented by Aglet Theatre Co., 860-435-6928.

We look forward to our special event at Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts on May 16th, featuring Peter Bergman, director of the Millay Society.  We hope you can come.  But if not, you can catch Peter at the Stockbridge Library on Sunday, April 19th at 4:00. 

At Brook Farm Inn, Lenox Massachusetts, we’re pleased to say “There is poetry here.” It’s not just a phrase, because we share our library of poetry books with our guests, and have readings sometimes — there’s one coming up on May 16th.  Since April is National Poetry Month, here’s a poem about the Inn:

Feeling At Home in the Library at Brook Farm Inn

I think I could happily live in this one room,

high-ceilinged enough to let my thoughts soar.

This space has the most important things–

walls full of books to explore, comfortable seats,

a solid old piano of some dark wood whose keys

invite fingers to roam, warm board flooring

and homey rugs.  A frieze of books

marches around the ceiling, setting the theme.

There is a serenity here you can feel,

and warmth…Ah, yes, I can tell

I could be content to live in a room like this.

Guests of Brook Farm Inn can enjoy the beauty of the Berkshires this spring with our new special, “Take A Hike.”  We’ve hiked many of the local trails, and can offer suggestions and advice. In addition, the special includes a trail map and discount coupon for  Pleasant Valley, which is right in Lenox Massachusetts. It’s a Mass Audubon wildlife refuge, unsurpassed for groomed wooded trails and a superb view at the top of Lenox Mountain.  We’ll also include water bottles and healthy snacks.  See our Packages page at www.brookfarm.com/packages.html.

Here’s our recommendation for enjoying the Tanglewood concerts twice as much — sign up for Jeremy Yudkin’s  Summer Music Seminars!  Even though we still have snow on the ground, it’s not too early to register.  We’ve attended his lectures, and we agree with these testimonials:

“The best teacher on any subject I’ve ever had!”

“I’ll never listen to music the same way again.”

“He makes the Tanglewood concerts truly come alive!”

Jeremy Yudkin, Professor of Music at Boston and Oxford Universities, and Lecturer at Tanglewood since 1983, is a brilliant and entertaining presenter. Lectures are given on Friday and Saturday afternoons, in anticipation of the weekend’s concerts.

All lectures take place in the Welles Gallery of the Lenox Library, situated in the middle of Lenox, Massachusetts, at 18 Main Street.  It’s a five-minute walk from Brook Farm Inn. Musical expertise is definitely not required, and registration entitles you to discounts on Tanglewood tickets.

More information is at Jeremy’s website www.summermusicseminars.org. Please tell him you were referred by Brook Farm Inn!

Tea and Talk, a program at Close Encounters With Music is one we don’t intend to miss.  It’s on Sunday, March 15 in Lenox, within walking distance of Brook Farm Inn.  Award-winning composer Judith Lang Zaimont, recipient of National Endowments and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, mixes piano performance with her skills as a raconteuse at the Lenox Athenaeum, Winthrop Estate, 101 Yokun Avenue, Lenox, Massachusetts.  $25 admission includes light refreshments.

This installment of Conversations With… is timed to celebrate International Womens Day and Festival of the Arts 2009, which we’ve mentioned in earlier blog posts. and will touch on the phenomenon of the Salon and how the women who ran them opened up the possibility of intellectual discourse during an otherwise repressive era in Prussia. It features demonstrations on the piano of Zaimont’s own works and those of Fanny Mendelssohn, composed in spite of the discouragement she received from her family and society.
For reservations, call 800/843-0778 or www.cewm.org