Latest news with #smalltown
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- Telegraph
This couple believe they've found the recipe for the perfect rural life
Do you live in a small town or village with a great sense of community? Write to us about it money@ or tell us in the comments section Vicky and Tom Horwood arrived in Petersfield, Hampshire, to find the answer to an important question – was this somewhere they could move to? The couple, 34 and 36, had been living in Slough, but during lockdown they decided to sell their flat and moved in with Tom's parents in Sutton, south London, while looking for a new place to live. Their new home had to be close enough to both their parents and within commuting distance of Tom's work, near Heathrow. They wanted a reasonably sized town with a choice of pubs, a cricket club and an arts scene for Vicky – who is a sustainable jewellery maker. But most of all, they were looking for community – a small town with a village feel. They had visited Petersfield by chance the year before, and liked the feel of the place. 'I'd grown up on the south coast in a friendly community – you'd always say good morning to your neighbours. I missed it. I felt I was anonymous living in London,' says Vicky. 'I wanted to move to a place with a creative spirit, an interest in environmental causes, and where there'd be like-minded people… I wanted to feel part of something.' Tom, who has played cricket since childhood, had researched Petersfield's cricket club meticulously. He'd noted that the club's match reports had a warm feel –it was volunteer-run and still provided cricket tea for home games, a tradition other clubs had scrapped. When he emailed for information, the chairman replied in 10 minutes. On the day they were visiting the village, they went to check it out in person. 'It was the middle of January but the flower beds were well-maintained and the [cricket] square had been well-cut and aired for the winter. Being on a heath, it had a rural feel about it. You could tell that it was very well looked after,' says Tom. 'One of the things that really mattered to me when considering whether to move to Petersfield was: does it have a nice, friendly-feeling cricket club? The social part of the sport is as important as the game itself.' Like Vicky and Tom, there are buyers up and down the country looking for lively WhatsApp groups, bustling high streets, local pubs and recreational groups. Richard Speedy, who covers the South West at Strutt & Parker, estimates that around a third of his clients relocate for community. 'It's been a preference for quite some time, pandemic or no pandemic,' he says. 'But it's getting stronger and stronger.' Retirees with new time on their hands, downsizers or people with older children are more likely to relocate for community than those with school-age children, agents agree. In many towns and villages, the pandemic accelerated these kinds of moves, setting up local infrastructure – like WhatsApp groups, mutual aid and meet-ups – and highlighting the importance of community. 'People felt quite isolated over that period,' says Speedy. 'They want to be within walking distance of their community.' 'You feel like you're part of something' Vicky and Tom moved to Petersfield in 2022 and have a busy social calendar. Vicky offers regular jewellery repairs at the town's eco café and attends meet-ups for Petersfield's climate action network, artist networking nights and the local embroidery club. She says that through these groups she has connected with people of different ages. Meanwhile, Tom is heavily involved with the cricket club and coaches on Friday evenings. All of these activities were on offer where they lived before, but Vicky feels more inclined to participate in Petersfield, where events are a 10 to 15 minute walk away. 'In London, there must be similar groups, but I would never have gone to them.' She adds: 'I feel a lot happier, and not so overwhelmed. It's a better work-life balance. It's nice to know that if you leave your house, the neighbours will be looking out. 'I wasn't lonely in London, but I didn't feel that I'd be missed if I wasn't there. Here, you feel like you're part of something.' For Tom, the trade-off to living in Petersfield is a 100-mile round-trip commute. 'It's well worth it to be in such a beautiful place. Heading away from London in glorious countryside, I suddenly get this wonderful feeling of: I'm heading home, I can relax now.' Vicci Johnson and her husband Robin took a similar plunge – albeit at a different stage of their lives – when they moved from Macclesfield to Steyning in 2020. They had lived in the North West, including Manchester, for almost 40 years. 'We're both newly retired, and that sense of community was something we've never really had before,' says Vicci, 62. 'I did a lot of online research trying to find places where there was a lot going on: different groups, exercise opportunities – things that made me feel that I would be part of a community.' It was the Steyning website – advertising Pilates, yoga, walking, film, music and University of the Third Age (U3A) groups– that drew her to the West Sussex town. When she visited in 2019, she was struck by the high street. Thanks to Steyning's bypass, it's not dissected by a busy road and it's packed with independent shops – including two grocers, coffee shops and a bookshop, which hosts regular events and is well-known for its connection with children's author (and Steyning resident) Julia Donaldson. That the town was walkable was a big plus. Since moving there – on the first day of lockdown in 2020 – Johnson has joined a gym, walking group, local environmental organisation Greening Steyning, and started sea swimming with a group of women nearby. Robin runs the town's repair café, volunteers for Steyning Good Neighbours, and is involved with the community fridge, which prevents food going to waste. 'It's the sort of community where you can start something, and you get enough people involved. It's intellectually stimulating, but I've also got a good social network. It spreads from the grassroots,' says Vicci. 'My daughter's disappointed, because she wants us to move back to Manchester. But she can also see how happy we are here. I feel I'll be supported even if I'm 95 years old. I never wanted to grow old in Manchester. I knew I needed somewhere where I felt more held by the local community.' For Andrew Openshaw, 56, it was also a prominent community website that put Haddenham, Buckinghamshire, on his radar. It 'punched above its weight' with its calendar of local events, electric car hire scheme for residents and community orchard and apple press, run by the group 'Zero-Carbon Haddenham'. Unlike Vicci and the Horwoods, he felt he was leaving a strong community in Frinton, Essex, where he had lived for four-and-a-half years. He, his wife Kate and their oldest child, were moving to Buckinghamshire for Andrew's work at a faith-based charity, and could be anywhere within the county. When they first viewed their house, their first impression was the traffic outside. 'Some people might think it was terrible, but the reason it was rammed was because of the football pitches, which were being used for junior football. We thought it was fantastic, because it showed how many people were engaging in an activity and using the new facility.' Andrew also scouted out the local electric car scheme and the village hall, which showed that there was more going on than he'd been able to glean online. 'There was an ethos that it was a genuine community that you could contribute to as well as taking something away from. We felt that this was a place we could be part of,' he says. 'There's even more going on when you scratch the surface.' '[Community] is not about money at all,' says Speedy. 'There is something for everybody in every different area. You've just got to dig it out and find it. A lot of the time, it won't be on Facebook pages or noticeboards.' Since moving in 2023, Kate has found work at the garden centre and the couple have joined a string of local societies: rotary groups, running, church, German conversation classes, golf, U3A. They have used the community apple press and volunteered at the biannual beer festivals. The village has formed a community interest company to save its local greengrocer from closure, in which the couple have invested shares. Saving the local pub, the Rose &Thistle, is next. 'When you move, it's not just 'What will this place give to me' but 'What are my opportunities to give to this place?' If you take, take, take, you're going to find yourself isolated. You don't build relationships in that way,' says Andrew. 'That's been my experience of life in general: you participate, then you receive.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
My Son Tried Out the New Kindle Colorsoft Kids—It Was a Hit
Fact checked by Sarah Scott I was an omnivorous reader as a child. I learned to read early and kept our small-town library busy by requesting book after book. I dove into series like Betsy-Tacy, Anne of Green Gables, and Alanna the Lioness. I read at the breakfast table, on the bus, in the bathtub, in my backyard. If I was in the room, there was a book nearby. I would have loved a Kindle to keep up with my 'more is more' reading habits and give my library a break, but they didn't exist in the '90s. Luckily for me, however, my 4-year-old son appears to be following in my little-reader footsteps; he can confidently read most picture books and astounds me with his skills every day. That's why I was thrilled to hear about the latest and greatest Kindle, Colorsoft Kids. It's an all-new addition to the lineup with a few very exciting upgrades, most notably the full-color capability that makes picture books and graphic novels truly come alive on the screen, as well as thousands of books for every kind of reader at every age. The sad truth is that children are simply not reading as much or as well as they should be, and the stats are concerning. Literacy expert Molly Ness, PhD, who was interviewed as part of her partnership with Amazon, notes that 65 percent of fourth graders aren't reading at a proficient level. Kids are more apt to play video games, watch TV, or swipe around on an iPad than they are to pick up a book. And according to a study from Kindle of 2,000 parents of children ages seven to 12, researchers found that while 95 percent of parents 'attempt to motivate their child to read more,' 46 percent say their child is 'distracted easily' while reading. 'We're seeing both the decline in skills as well as a decline in reading engagement and motivation,' says Dr. Ness, citing a survey from the National Literacy Trust that found only 32 percent of children ages 8 to 18 choose to read for pleasure in their spare time. The Kindle Colorsoft Kids device hopes to help make reading more immersive and exciting for young readers of all ages. Ahead, learn more about the new device and my honest review. How Was the Kindle Colorsoft Kids Developed? The first kid-centric Kindle hit the shelves in 2019, but there was one thing missing: color. In fact, color was the biggest wishlist item for parents and kids, given that much of their reading material is accompanied by drawings or art. 'Color exists in the world. It's something kids interact with,' explains Keeley Boehmer, Kindle Kids Product Manager. 'Color is something that really helps to engage kids and engage the really get to make it a more immersive experience for kids.' According to Boehmer, the device was tested by real-life kids, including children of Amazon employees; she mentions a coworker with eight-year-old twins 'having to pry' the device out of their hands because they'd been staying up too late reading—a treasured childhood rite of passage, now with no flashlight required. Aside from the new color interface, Kindle Colorsoft Kids also allows users to highlight sections in different colors and includes the Word Wise program, which is great for earlier readers or those learning to read in a different language; it can break down more complicated words into shorter, easier-to-understand words, which helps build vocabulary. The Parent Dashboard lets parents manage and keep an eye on content and reading activity, as well as set a 'device bedtime.' How Does the Kindle Colorsoft Kids Promote a Love of Reading? Ask any parent to share their feelings on screen time and you'll probably get an earful, both positive and negative. When it comes to children's learning and development, screens are controversial, to say the very least. But as Dr. Ness says, the Kindle Colorsoft Kids is a device with just one purpose: reading. You cannot toggle to different apps, watch movies, or play games on it. It is designed for reading and reading only. 'It really feels just like a book,' says Boehmer. 'It's a paper-like display: no apps, no games, no distractions, [and] a long battery life. You can do all of the things you like would with a pile of books.' Because the Kindle Colorsoft Kids is so lightweight and portable, you can 'make reading a much bigger part of your daily routine.' Reading is so important to a child's growth and development, whether they're being read to as an infant or toddler, learning to sound out words on their own, or reading solo. When kids read, they develop empathy and can learn to see perspectives other than their own and often have better self-esteem and better self-efficacy. 'When kids are read to, we start to see significant academic achievement gains,' says Dr. Ness. Dr. Ness adds that the 'ARC' system can help increase reading time for kids: access, relevancy, and choice. 'It is incredibly empowering for kids to have a choice in where they read and how they read,' she says. What We Thought of Kindle Colorsoft Kids Like I said, my son can generally pick up a picture book and read through it, so I was confident that he'd be able to find lots of reading material in the vast Kindle library. The device was incredibly easy to set up, though my son's young age meant he wasn't as comfortable swiping and navigating around. Parents will likely have to help younger children find and download books, though the interface is extremely intuitive for older kids. Julian is currently very into character books, including Spider-Man, Hot Wheels, and Star Wars, and while I sometimes wish he'd opt for more traditional stories that don't belong to the Marvel universe, Dr. Ness stresses that when it comes to children's reading, all reading is good reading. With that, Julian read through a few 'early reader' titles, dabbled in a comic-style picture book about a school bully, and checked out a National Geographic science book—and was engaged and excited the entire time. 'I like that it has books on it like Star Wars and The Incredibles,' he told me. 'It's easy to use. We can take it with us when we go to a cabin.' The color is bright but not overpowering, adding more visual interest to graphic novels, comics, and picture books and making covers pop. The device is lightweight, waterproof, and can hold thousands of books, which makes it a great option for everyday or family vacations; we're headed out for a weeklong trip and will be packing the Kindle with books for Julian to read solo and with us at bedtime to save packing space. How Can Parents and Caregivers Use Kindle Colorsoft Kids? Dr. Ness advises looking at the device not as another screen for your kids to stare at, but as an interactive activity. 'Sit down and explore it together and talk through, 'Are you more interested in this book or that book? What makes you think this would be an interesting book to read? Let's read a few of the pages together,'' she says. 'That is what builds literacy. Parents can find out a lot about who their child is as a reader in the sit-down around the device.' Just like I lost myself in new worlds and experiences as a young reader devouring everything at my rural library, the Kindle Colorsoft Kids device helps children discover what they love and enjoy more of it. 'Finding the content that resonates with you is the biggest thing that helps reluctant readers and kids develop a love of reading,' says Boehmer, 'Being able to find the thing that grabs your attention and your imagination really makes you love the experience.' The Kindle Colorsoft Kids is best for children ages 3 to 13 and retails for $269.99; purchase includes one year of Amazon Kids+, a subscription service that unlocks access to thousands of age-appropriate Kindle the original article on Parents Solve the daily Crossword
Washington Post
6 hours ago
- General
- Washington Post
A farmer traveled the world by foot, collecting 60,000 autographs in a book
Viktor Šimunić snapped the metal latches on the security case shut to keep the precious book safe. It takes two people to carry it. About a foot thick, the book is leatherbound and worn. The pages crackle, and it looks like a magical book of spells from a fairy tale. It weighs about 60 pounds and cost the small town that purchased it nearly a quarter-million dollars.
WIRED
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- WIRED
'Eddington' Director Ari Aster Couldn't Stand ‘Living in the Internet.' So He Made a Movie About It
Jul 18, 2025 7:00 AM Ari Aster tells WIRED he wrote Eddington during the height of the pandemic and BLM protests. The Western depicts the explosive consequences of his characters' conspiracy-fueled social media diets. Still from Eddington. Photograph: Richard Foreman/A24 Like a lot of us, Ari Aster spent the summer of 2020 trapped inside and scrolling on social media. Also like a lot of us, the experience left him feeling pretty bad. 'I was living on Twitter,' Aster tells WIRED, 'and it was really agitating me.' But unlike most people, the director of Hereditary , Midsommar , and Beau is Afraid wasn't just doomscrolling on Twitter to pass the time. He was doing research. That summer, Aster wrote the script for his latest film, Eddington , a modern western set in a small southwest American town during the height of both the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. In theaters on July 18, the film deftly explores how social media and the internet in general have fractured modern society, placing us all in our own personally tailored worlds—and then descends into violence when those worlds collide. Aster depicts this twisted vision of modern society by regularly pointing his camera straight at the Facebook and Twitter feeds of his main characters, giving the audience a look into the conspiracy theories and memes influencing their every decision. To create a realistic approximation of social media, Aster went straight to the source. 'I started making a collection of things from my timeline to remember when I made the film,' he says. 'I also cultivated different algorithms to see what somebody else might be receiving. I started different accounts and created an archive. That was very helpful in making the film, even in post, when we were deciding what tweets to show on certain phones.' These glimpses into the interior lives of Eddington 's characters—the movie stars Joaquin Phoenix as a populist sheriff who runs for mayor against a corrupt, liberal incumbent played by Pedro Pascal—help ground a story that pivots wildly at times from cryptic political commentary to heightened carnage. Aster takes the classic American western and transforms it into something new: a messy thriller on the frontier of technological progress. In an interview with WIRED, the director unpacks the many meanings and inspirations behind his provocative new project. The Tech Revolution Is 'Dehumanizing' Aster traces our current dystopian moment back to the rise of the smartphone. 'Society has been atomized and fractured over the last however many years,' he says. 'I guess this all began once we started living in the internet—when we could carry the internet on our person.' Eddington takes this theory and makes it a baseline reality, exploring a world where no two characters seem to be living in the same reality or even speaking the same language, whether that divide is political or generational. In one scene, a teenage boy sits at the dinner table and explains why he needs to reject his own whiteness. His parents' response is a mix of shock and confusion. 'This is a movie about people living in different realities who are unreachable to each other,' Aster says, musing that the modern internet has changed humanity in ways we likely still don't fully understand. 'I do think the technological revolution is a mostly dehumanizing one,' he adds. Eddington also explores conspiracy theories and the podcasters and YouTubers who spread them online in exchange for influence and profit. Phoenix's character will often return home to hear some disembodied voice spouting baseless claims through the speakers of an abandoned laptop. Later, his wife (Emma Stone) or mother-in-law (Deirdre O'Connell) will regurgitate those fringe theories over breakfast. Again, Aster built this dark corner of his world out of real-life source material. 'One thing was inspired by somebody I heard on the street in New York with a microphone,' he says. 'I wrote that down for later. Others were pulled from different corners of the internet.' Aster's overall goal with Eddington was to convey the overwhelming feeling of being online today, while still making a compelling movie. 'It was important to get as many voices in the cacophony and represent as many corners of the internet as possible—to make a coherent story about the incoherent miasma we are living in,' he says. 'I wish we could have shown more, but we did as much as we could without it becoming distracting or no longer supporting the story.' AI Is Creating An 'Era of Total Distrust' Eddington may primarily be a movie about how social media is breaking our brains, but there's another technological innovation Aster was careful to represent in his movie: artificial intelligence. The film begins with a plan to build an AI-training data center on the edge of town, a plot point that resurfaces several times throughout the story (including in the election plotline, with Phoenix's character campaigning against the shady business interests behind the new facility). 'It is mostly peripheral,' Aster says, 'but for me, it's the heart of the film. This is a movie about people living through Covid, navigating a crisis. Meanwhile, just outside of town, another crisis is being cooked up.' In a recent interview with Letterboxd, the director opined that it's 'obviously already too late' to stop AI. But when pressed about the pros and cons of artificial intelligence, Aster describes it with a mix of wonder and fear. 'I'm in awe of what it can do, but I'm also very disturbed by it,' he tells me. 'We're living in an era of total distrust. This kind of imagery could lead to the end of video or audio evidence.' As a director, he worries the ability to create transcendent art is being 'flattened' by generative AI tools, while at the same time admitting that it's opening up the film industry to more people than ever. 'It's been democratized in an exciting way,' he says. 'There are more possibilities now, but something's also going away.' In his own very Ari Aster way, the twisted mind behind some of the most disturbing visuals of the 21st Century (from the unexpected decapitation that kicks off Hereditary to the literal penis monster in Beau Is Afraid ) already misses the era of more uncanny AI imagery. 'In the beginning, when these systems were hallucinating and creating weird imagery — 12 fingers, bizarre stuff—that was more interesting to me,' he says. 'The more polished it gets, the less exciting and more alarming it becomes.' About That Ending … Warning: Spoilers ahead for the end of Eddington. Despite sometimes feeling like a Coen Brothers western on amphetamines, Eddington is impressively grounded throughout its nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime—until the final act. After Phoenix's character kills Pascal's and then frames the local BLM protesters for the murder, a plane full of actual anti-fascist terrorists flies into town and starts blowing everything up. Reality quickly gives way to video game logic as Phoenix sprints through the town under the cover of darkness, firing machine guns into the night as he's pursued by faceless Antifa soldiers. 'At the end, he gets to live in his own action movie,' Aster says. 'I definitely wanted the movie to start feeling like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto.' While Aster leaves the meaning of this sequence up for interpretation, there's one clear way to understand Eddington 's finale. The film is taking those unhinged conspiracy theories and Facebook posts and transforming them into reality. The result feels like watching an alt-right fever dream in which the woke terrorists we all know never existed suddenly show up on your doorstep with guns and explosives. 'The film is about paranoid people,' Aster concurs, 'and by the end, it becomes paranoid. It becomes gripped by their worldview. Depending on your beliefs or your algorithm, that's where it becomes either satire or a movie about what was really happening.' That's about as far as the director will get to explaining the ultimate meaning behind his movie. While he admits to having a 'very strong political stance' that he hopes is obvious by the time the credits roll, he's wary of making a film that intentionally alienates anyone. After all, the point of Eddington isn't that one side is necessarily right while the other is wrong, it's that social media has broken all of our brains. The only way to repair our shattered worldview is to come together across the divisions the internet and its algorithms are only making more pronounced. 'I wanted to give as broad a picture of the environment as I could without being dismissive or condescending,' Aster says. 'I see all these characters as people who care about the world and know something's wrong. They're just seeing it through different, distorted windows.'
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Rolling Hills And Charming Inns Are The Calling Cards Of This Quaint Virginia Town
Orange is a small town with so much personality. There's a lot of history behind the town of Orange, Virginia, which celebrated its 150th birthday in 2022. Nestled in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, as part of Virginia's Piedmont region, Orange is a quiet hamlet of around 5,000 folks that's within easy driving distance of more populated locales like Charlottesville (20 miles), Richmond (60 miles), and Washington, D.C. (70 miles). If you take a trip to this lesser-known destination, expect small town charm from shops and restaurants in its Main Street district, hospitable hosts at local bed and breakfasts, and a lesson in history thanks to the town's proximity to U.S. president and Founding Father James Madison's Montpelier. Here are the 10 best things to do in Orange, Virginia. What To Do In Orange, Virginia Learn The Town History There are several spots around town where you can get a glimpse into what Orange was like during its early days. The historic Orange County Courthouse, built in 1859 at the center of downtown, is a good place to start. A short walk away, you can learn all about the town's history at the James Madison Museum of Orange County Heritage. Finally, stop into the Historic Orange Train Station, which was built in 1909 and now hosts the county's visitor's center, to get more general information about the town and its railroad past. 129 Caroline Street, Orange, VA 22960; 540-672-1776 Visit James Madison's Montpelier The big attraction near Orange is the historic plantation and lifelong home of James Madison known as Montpelier. Visitors to the national landmark have an opportunity to not only see the place that one of our Founding Fathers called home, but to learn about his impact—both good and bad—on the country. The site serves as a memorial to both James Madison and enslaved people. It's also a museum of American history and a place to learn about the Constitution. Exhibits and galleries like 'Color Through A Child's Eyes', 'The Mere Distinction of Colour,' and 'Mysteries of Montpelier' aim to tell a more complete story of the historic site and the time in which it was built. Visit the site on the first weekend in November to attend the Montpelier Hunt Races, a steeplechase horse race that's taken place here for almost 90 years. 1350 Constitution Highway, Montpelier Station, VA 22957; 540-672-2728 Get Inspired At The Arts Center For more than three decades, The Arts Center has been a hub for Orange's creative community and appreciators of the arts. Visitors can check out two gallery spaces: the storefront Morrin Gallery, which features 6 to 8 curated exhibitions annually, and the Community Gallery, which hosts artist-led projects, residencies, and other community programming. The center also offers regular ceramic studio time, classes, workshops, camps, and more. 129 E. Main Street, Orange, VA 22960; 540-672-7311 Go Skydiving If you want to take a walk—or should we say jump—on the wild side, book a session with Skydive Orange, which has been taking folks high into the sky since 1977. As one of the most established skydiving centers in the country, this is a great place to finally check off that bucket list item. You'll free fall from a height of 13,500 feet in the air, leaving plenty of time to soak in the surrounding sights of rolling hills, dramatic mountains, and all-around stunning scenery. 11269 Hangar Road, Orange, VA 22960; 703-SKY-DIVE Shop Downtown Strolling and shopping along Orange's Main Street is the perfect afternoon activity. Restaurants, boutiques, and locally owned specialty stores line the cheery streets, so there's plenty to pique everyone's interest. A couple of extra-special spots include Grelen Downtown and Objects on Main. Grelen Downtown is a well-curated gift shop and sister store to The Market at Grelen, a European-style garden shop and café located on a 1,000-acre nursery just down the road from Orange. If you love Grelen's downtown outpost, take the quick drive to its flagship, where you'll also find six miles of hiking trails and u-pick fruit in certain seasons. Objects on Main is your go-to shop for eclectic home décor, art, furniture, apparel, and more. Where To Eat & Drink In Orange, Virginia Try The Quail Lewis At Spoon & Spindle Celebrated chef Edna Lewis, who's often referred to as the Mother of Soul Food or the Grand Dame of Southern Cooking, was born and raised in Orange County. Her style of cooking contributed greatly to the world's understanding of Southern cuisine. At Spoon & Spindle, Chef Lewis is honored with a dish called Quail Lewis (quail stuffed with wild rice and white grapes). Open for lunch and dinner, as well as brunch on Sunday, Spoon & Spindle offers an elevated Southern fusion menu where dishes like Boudin Spring Rolls, Bourbon Glazed Pork Loin, and Po'Mi (a po'boy-banh mi mashup) all share space on the same menu. 323 North Madison Road, Suite H, Orange, VA 2290; 540-360-3004 Enjoy A Farm To Table Dinner At Forked on Main As a 'farm to fork' restaurant, this downtown eatery is committed to creating tantalizing dishes using locally sourced meats, produce, and ingredients whenever possible. The dinner menu offers a little of everything, from Shrimp Scampi Risotto to Grilled Chicken Skewers to Steak & Frites. Come early to catch happy hour (Wednesday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.). For dinner and a show, make a Thursday reservation; there's live music from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. 124 West Main Street Orange, VA 22960; 540-308-7660 Get A Classic Meal At Main Street Tavern If you've got a hankering for a traditional meal, whether that be a hamburger with fries or meatloaf and mashed potatoes, Main Street Tavern is the place to satisfy your cravings. Snag a seat on its charming alley patio, or in the cozy dining room, order a craft cocktail or beer, and get ready to be impressed. 110 E Main St., Orange, VA 22960; 540-661-0004 Grab A Pint And Slice At Iron Pipe Alewerks The father-son duo behind Iron Pipe Alewerks started their business in their family garage. Over a decade later, they've upgraded their operation to a brewpub inside the 1929 American Silk Mill Factory building downtown. Several of Iron Pipe's brews have won awards, like their OC Light, which won the 2023 gold medal in the U.S. Beer Open, and the Gandalf the Haze, which won bronze in the same competition. Since nothing goes with beer like pizza, Iron Pipe also makes an awesome brick-oven pizza. 323 N Madison Road Orange, VA 22960; 540-522-0673 Where To Stay In Orange, Virginia Choose a Charming Inn Hotels and home rentals are both great depending on the vacation vibes you're hoping to achieve, but in Orange, the undisputed best place to stay is an inn. Though the town is small, its selection of inviting inns is large. The Inn at Willow Grove is the ultimate in elegance and luxury with a 3,000-square-foot spa, full-service restaurant, and spacious suites. For a touch of romance, check into the 1895 restored plantation home known as the Mayhurst Inn. Its rooms feature period décor, Italian marble fireplaces, and whirlpool tubs. The Holladay House's six guest rooms are situated conveniently in the heart of downtown. For an extra- special experience, make a reservation for high tea complete with porcelain teapots, finger sandwiches, and pretty pastries. Read the original article on Southern Living Solve the daily Crossword
