Mother’s Day is just around the corner and so is all the dreaded planning that goes with it. For me, it starts every year with the family discussion of whose turn it is to take charge, the inevitable passionate debate (thats a kind way to call it) of where everyone should meet and who has to travel the farthest. All this results in a family gathering at some all-you-can-eat brunch joint, usually 2 hours from where we live, where everyone overeats and hands out the same Mothers Day cards every year.
As a mom, I would be happy to just get breakfast in bed and have my girls not fight with each other for a few hours.
The wanderlust traveler in me though couldn’t help but breathe a big wistful sigh when I saw that Blantyre – that gorgeous 1902 Relais & Chateaux mansion resting on 117 acres in the heart of the Berkshires – was offering what they call a Mother’s Day Takeover. What this means is you get 10 rooms (which is almost half of the mansion’s accommodations of 21 rooms, 10 suites and 3 cottages) from Friday night through Sunday brunch. Everyone meets on equal terms and gets pampered properly. No worry about food as it is all included – every delicious meal. And it’s only a 3-hour drive from the City.
I conjure up images in my head about luxurious spa treatments, antiquing, maybe a round of golf at Cranwall’s 18-hole golf course, taking long walks and picnic lunches – its all a very serene scene right out of a Edith Wharton novel (fittingly, Edith Wharton’s home, The Mount, is only 1 mile up the way). Except I forgot there are young kids involved. Lots of them. Still…I’d take it over another Mother’s Day brunch buffet any day.
All this luxuriousness for a 2-night stay comes at a price of course – after all this is a property that has received almost every accolade you can think of and is on most Top 10 lists (just check out the hotel’s home page). But if you split the bill 20 ways, it’s really not so bad. A Mom can dream.
To find out more about this and other specials at Blantyre, click here .
Images courtesy of Blantyre.
