Idyll hours

Author: By Karen Avenoso, Globe Staff

Date: SUNDAY, September 1, 1996

Page: M1

Section: Travel

When I stopped, I was just a half-hour drive from Tanglewood, Jacob's Pillow and all the other lures of the Berkshires. But the patch of upstate New York where I ended up -- and met up with my fiance, Jonathan -- is far quieter and less touristed than the Massachusetts mecca. In northern Columbia County, more folks spend Sunday mornings milking cows -- or hunting fox -- than brunching with the book review and Keith Lockhart.

For Jonathan and me, the area offered the best of both worlds: winding rural roads for mountain biking, sheep bleating in our back yard, plus plenty of Mozart and gourmet food to keep our urban appetites sated. And for us, a commuter couple for the last nine months, this corner of the map is also perfectly located: three hours from my new home in Boston and 2 1/2 from Jonathan's apartment in New York City.

In part because our time together is limited to weekends, we chose to make our stay in Columbia County lavish, splurging on lodgings, meals and tickets to a dance concert.

Our hotel, it turned out, was perfect for two weary lovers. When we arrived, both of us were exahusted from hectic work weeks and late-night drives. Staff at the Old Chatham Sheepherding Company Inn, a late 18th-century manor situated on 500 acres of sheep farm, greeted us with snifters of brandy at the door.

We lolled for a while in the main lounge, where jigsaw puzzles and magazines are spread out for guests. Then, we retired to our luxurious quarters, where chocolates and the next day's weather report were waiting on our pillows.

All of the inn's rooms are elegant, decorated with an eclectic mix of early-American antiques -- from oak sleigh beds to children's cross-stitch samplers -- and priced between $150 and $325 a night. Ours, at $250 a night, was housed in a cottage just steps from the main hotel and filled with colorful quilts and furnishings in goldenrod yellow and robin's egg blue. We also enjoyed a whirlpool tub and a private porch jutting out over the sheep fields.

It didn't take us long to figure out that the inn is designed for romantic, relaxing time. We slept late without any alarm clock in sight. And without a TV, we could not click on ESPN or C-Span before bed each evening.

``It's an escape, a step back in time,'' said innkeeper George H. Shattuck 3d. ``I call this place Brigadoon because no one knows this little valley even exists.''

On Saturday, we woke to the baying of sheep and enjoyed a late breakfast in the inn's formal dining room. Apart from its beauty, the inn's other pleasure is its celebrated food -- prepared by chef Melissa Kelly, trained by Larry Forgione of Manhattan's American Place and Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley.

Our continental breakfast, included in our rate, was an enticing introduction to her cooking: home-baked buns, rolls and muffins, with yogurt from the farm's flock of 1,000 sheep.

We spent our first day exploring Old Chatham on mountain bikes owned by the inn. Up a stretch is A Country Garden at Antinore. An eclectic collection of gardens, it is open daily for strolling, picnicking and comparing notes on composting and pest control. (Admission is $4.) Frequently, owners Pete and Carol Cox are host to gardening lectures and wreath-making classes over tea and baked goods in their home.

Neither of us being avid gardeners, we enjoyed Antinore for its beauty. And as well as being fragrant and colorful, the gardens are also amusing.

The 19th-century kitchen garden contains ``howling mob sweet corn'' (circa 1905), ``king of the early pole lima beans'' (1883) and Thomas Jefferson's favorite leafy green, ``tennis ball lettuce'' (pre-1804). One garden, called ``shoo fly,'' has herbs that colonial housewives used to keep away insects. In the apothecary's garden bloom potential remedies for sniffles and sores.

Before hopping on our bikes again, we browsed in a gift shop that features gardening books and fresh and dried herbs.

Hungry and hot from cycling, Jonathan and I stopped for lunch at the Old Chatham General Store. Here, in this rickety, old shop, Cheese Whiz, work gloves and penny candy share the shelves with homemade toffee-bars and organic lamb. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America prepares the innovative deli sandwiches -- including blackbean hummus and hickory smoked chicken breast.

We ate our lunch in the small attached dining room, a jumble of picnic benches, surrounding a potbelly stove. Other people perched with their lunch, like some Norman Rockwell painting, on the store's front stoop. Or they brought their dogs into the dining area for a free biscuit from a bin on the stove.

The Shaker Museum and Library, where we headed after lunch, is worth several hours of exploring. While never an actual working Shaker community, the village (which has a $6 entry fee) contains the nation's largest collection of Shaker furniture and artifacts. Visitors can walk through the museum for a Shaker history lesson, then see craftsmen carving, weaving and hammering at various workhouses. Call before planning your visit; the Shaker village frequently sponsors outdoor concerts, period festivals and antique fairs.

From the museum, we pushed our bikes back across the street to the inn and read and lounged in the wicker chairs on our private porch, reading old New Yorkers and chatting till the early evening. Though we opted to skip the sheep-milking display, it is held daily at 6:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the inn's long, red sheep barns. In March and April, prime lambing season, visitors can watch as fleecy, newborn lambs take their first wobbly steps on the straw.

On Saturday, we dined at the inn's restaurant, and it turned out to be as fine a meal as we could have found at Boston or New York's best restaurants. The menu changes daily, typically planned around local produce, herbs from the inn's greenhouse and the farm's sheep products (sausage, lamb shanks, cheeses and ice cream).

Our selections included, for appetizers, a wild nettle soup with truffles, potatoes and bacon and a grilled hunk of sheep's cheese wrapped in grape leaves and served with homemade Tuscan bread. For entrees, Jonathan had the local grilled lamb with a bean salad and garlic mashed potatoes, and I, the rosemary and anise-flavored roast poussin with beets, sugar peas and mashed potatoes. And who could resist dessert when the offerings included a tarte tatin with cinnamon sheep's milk ice cream and chocolate-banana bread pudding?

The accompanying wine list proved just as inviting, with bottles to match every budget and taste bud.

We drove back to Massachusetts that night for a tap-dance extravaganza at Jacob's Pillow. But it would have been as pleasant to stargaze from our porch or to have fallen into bed after a steamy Jacuzzi.

There was more exploring to do on Sunday, so after brunch -- frittata with leeks and sheep cheese; buttermilk pancakes with figs, honey and mascarpone -- we headed out again. Though neither Jonathan nor I is an antiquer, Old Chatham and the main thoroughfares nearby boast many dusty, but presumably treasure-packed, antiques shops. We opted instead to browse in downtown Chatham, a sleepy country town where farmers in search of steel-toed boots mingle with vacationing professors hunting for first-edition Victorian classics.

A one-stoplight town that has sprouted several boutiques and a gourmet ice cream parlor in recent years, Chatham offers hours of activity. We easily could have spent half the day at the Chatham Bookstore, a literature-lover's paradise with its soft, floral armchairs, poetry nooks and chatty clerks who look fondly upon browsing. And while I drooled over the Deruta pottery, Venetian glass earrings and embossed leather notebooks at Italian Accent, Jonathan tried on work boots and ``massage'' clogs at Brown's Emporium, a shoe store that has been on Main Street since 1920.

The Main Street Grainery is a good, old-style health food store -- its windows covered with ads for fiber-dyeing workshops and herbal studies programs and its shelves well-stocked with beans, bulgur and fragrant coffee beans.

We could have dined on health food, too, and sat down for sprout-filled sandwiches at Filbert & Bean's Cafe or fresh bagels at the Bagel Cafe. Instead, we lunched on overflowing ice cream cones from the Summit, a gourmet parlor where you can choose from flavors like raspberry chip and creme brulee. With a few more hours, we could have ended our hedonistic weekend with a movie at the Crandell Theater. (Tickets for first-run flicks at this sagging cinema are $3 apiece.)

But alas, it was time to return to our homes in two cities for another week filled with long-distance phone calls. Before parting, we stopped off at the Berry Farm, a stand located on Route 203 between Chatham and Valatie, and filled up with fruits, vegetables and homemade jams.

Sampling the treats on our trips back to Boston and New York, each of us schemed about our next Columbia County vacation. Jonathan said he dreamed about cross-country skiing into town. But I'm ready for a return trip even sooner -- to walk in the sheep fields under fiery, fall leaves.

The Inn at Silver Maple Farm, Route 295, Canaan, NY 12029; (518) 781-3600. A dairy farm for the last four decades, this place was turned into an inn by Meg and Bill Stratton last year. Understated but charming, the inn is based in a converted barn, with 10 bedrooms and a lounge and breakfast area. Prices: $90-145.

Locust Tree House, Old Chatham Square, Old Chatham, NY 12136; (518) 794-8651. This creaky old boarding school for boys is slightly faded but still graceful. The B & B's two rooms are priced at $75 per night, including a hot breakfast.

Jackson's Old Chatham House, Village Square, Old Chatham; (518) 794-7373. Sandwiches, burgers and salads for lunch; steaks and pork chop platters for dinner. The atmosphere is pub-like. Dinner prices range from $8 to $20.

Old Chatham Country Store, Village Square, Old Chatham; (518) 794-7151. A casual place to sit down for lunch or get fixings for a picnic. Try the soups, casseroles and sandwiches made by the cooking school-trained chef.

Filbert & Bean's Cafe, 9 Main St., Chatham; (518) 392-7366: Vegetarian pastas, bean soups and hummus sandwiches. Lunch served daily. Pasta night on Friday, 5 to 8.

The Clock Cafe, 1 Main St., Chatham; (518) 392-5818: Sandwiches, soups and quiches for lunch and homemade baked goods (pies, tortes, scones, cookies) all day long.