It’s time for picking your own apples in the Berkshires!  At Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts, we’re recommending Windy Hill Farm in Great Barrington, where the orchard offers a beautiful mountain view.  This weekend, Bartlett’s Orchard in Richmond will also be open for “pick your own.” 

At Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts, we’re recommending that our guests see these wonderful exhibits at the Berkshire Museum.

Look at Us: Portraits from the Berkshire Museum
The Berkshire Museum showcases a diverse collection of art from the 17th century to the present. Look at Us, on view July 1 through October 26, 2008, will feature approximately 40 paintings,  drawings, photographs, and prints, by artists over the centuries. Featured artists include: Ammi Phillips, Rembrandt Peale, Asher B. Durand, Erastus Salisbury Field, John Singer Sargent, J.M. Whistler Edouard Vuillard, Norman Rockwell, Kaethe Kollwitz, Alfred Stieglitz, and more. Plus, a selection of portraits on loan from the Whitney Museum of American art will include works by Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, Ann Hamilton, and others. Explore how Facebook and other technologies change the way we think of identity and portraiture. Take your picture in the photo booth or get creative at the mobile art studio (Saturdays). July 1-September 1, 2008
Full Moon at Night: Monoprints by Betsy Dovydenas
Eight works by the Lenox, Mass., artist explore the natural world at night.  In-kind sponsor: Curtis Publishing and The Saturday Evening Post

Lenox, Massachusetts is a prime destination for September and October.  The Lenox Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring these great events, and we’re telling all our guests at Brook Farm Inn about them.  Call us for more information. 

Sept. 12-14 — A Weekend of the Gilded Age

Sept. 19-21 — The Autumn Art Festival

Sept. 26-28 — Apple Squeeze and Folk Art Festival

Oct. 11-13 — A Coaching Weekend and America’s Harvest

Oct. 18 — Scenic Fall Foliage Train Ride

Golf in the Berkshires in September is incomparable. Link to the “Packages” page for Brook Farm Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts.  There you’ll find our newest package…

September Midweek  Golf Special! 

When you stay at Brook Farm Inn at least  2  midweek nights in September, you’ll receive 2 gift certificates for 9 holes at nearby Greenock Country Club.   Stay must include 2 weekday nights Monday thru Thursday.  (Tee times are subject to availability, cart fees are extra.)

“Waiting for Godot” has been called “Beckett’s first and funniest dramatic masterpiece.” We had the pleasure of seeing it performed at Berkshire Theatre Festival, and we recommend it to all guests of Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts.  It was acted superbly; everyone still leaves the theater talking about its meaning, although the program notes remind us that this play is really just about waiting.  Whatever meaning you take from it, you’ll be glad you went.

Today was the opening of the Berkshire Open Market, a covered market of small stalls at the Aspinwell complex in Lenox, Massachusetts.  Artists, crafters, and dealers of all types of handmade items have space in this open air market.  In August, it will be open Saturdays from noon to 6 PM, and there are plans to extend to Sunday as well.  Although today the number of stalls was limited because it was a “soft opening,” the offerings all were quality items, especially some wonderful pottery. We at Brook Farm Inn look forward to seeing the market grow.

The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center  in Great Barrington, Massachusetts will have a Summer Chocolate Celebration this Saturday, August 2nd beginning at 6:30 PM.  The featured speaker is Francine Segan, a food historian and author whose lectures are very entertaining. Francine has written an article about Brook Farm Inn, in Lenox Massachusetts, for the Berkshire Eagle, calling our breakfast one of the best in the Berkshires.  This Saturday, the program will also include a screening of the movie “Chocolat” and a tasting, of course! Call the box office for more info:  413-528-0100.

There’s a great new place for lunch in Lenox Massachusetts.  It’s called The Haven, and it’s on Franklin Street, in the heart of the historic district.  It’s centrally located for your visit to the Berkshires. The food is fresh and the presentation is appealing.  The decor is minimal, filled with natural light.  There’s something for everyone on the menu, including dishes with meat, or chicken, or vegetarian.  Luscious baked goods are available with a big mug of delicious coffee or tea. We had a great lunch there yesterday, and we’ll be recommending it to the guests of Brook Farm Inn.

SECRETS OF THE SKY & SEA will be performed on Thursday, July 24, 2008; 8pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. Berkshire Opera leaps out of the box for this presentation, an extraordinary cultural collaborative featuring music by composers ranging from Reynaldo Hahn, W.A. Mozart, and Giacomo Puccini to Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Weill and Irving Berlin. The program traces the universal appeal and immediacy of water and the heavens in an imaginative and entertaining survey of childlike dreams, romantic desires, and untold mysteries. Guests of Brook Farm Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts will enjoy this  unique performance.

Now through August 31st the Cranwell Resort in Lenox Massachusetts Presents the Capitol Steps.  The Capitol Steps was created by a former group of Senate staffers who set out to satirize the very people and places that employed them.   For more than twenty-five years, the Capitol Steps have recorded albums and appeared on “Good Morning America,” the “Today Show,” “20/20,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “Nightline,” CNN’s “Inside Politics,” and dozens of times on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”

 Many of the the guests at Brook Farm Inn have already seen it and loved it.  Even Republicans from Oklahoma liked it!  We have our tickets for this coming Wednesday.  Performances are at 8:00pm Nightly, except Tuesday.  Call the box office  at (413) 881-1636 or email capstep@cranwell.com.