Williamsburg Winery

This morning I caught the early shuttle bus to Williamsburg to visit the DeWitt Wallace Collection at the Fine Arts Museum.

Firstly though, a Southern speciality for breakfast.  This is poached eggs with grits!

Back at the museum I visited a small exhibition of Chinese Export porcelain where they seemed to have some very nice 18th century items.

There was also an exhibit depicting life in the public hospital which had been on this site in the 18th century.

This is a hospital bed from that time.

By the mid 19th century things were a little better.

This afternoon we drove to Williamsburg Winery for a wine tasting with some of the people that David had been meeting with.  We started our tour under a very clear sky by the side of the vines where we were shown how they are pruned each year and the nets which protect the ripening fruit from deer, Canada geese and even hailstorms.

We visited the much cooler cellars where the wines mature in wooden barrels.

In the tasting room everything was ready for us and as the tasting went on the conversation was more and more animated!

After the tasting we checked in to our hotel - Wedmore Place - which is on the vineyard.  It is a modern hotel but built and furnished as a French chateau.

In our room is a tiled open fireplace which would I am sure be very cosy in winter.