Keswick Hall

From the Hideaway Report

October 2012 Hideaway Report

Concerned by reports of wear from readers, we first checked into palatial Keswick Hall, built in 1912 as a residence for Mr. and Mrs. Robert Crawford. Although the property now includes a country club and an unusually scenic golf course, it’s not hard to imagine oneself a houseguest of the Crawfords, especially over a quiet early-morning coffee at the antique dining table in the library.

Keswick Hall impressed from the outset, with an allée of hydrangea bushes leading to the main entrance loggia flanked by spiraling topiary. The lobby-lounge seemed at once luxurious and inviting, with Oriental rugs, wingback chairs and porcelain table lamps. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived, but we passed a pleasant 45 minutes on the patio overlooking the horizon pool, which faces the golf course and the gently rolling mountains beyond. (Later, a complimentary wine tasting in the clubby bar adjacent to the pool was great fun; the bartender alternated Virginia vintages with California wines of the same varieties, making for some enlightening comparisons.)

We had reserved a Deluxe Balcony Room, which would be more accurately described as a junior suite with a terrace. A comfortable seating arrangement cozied up to the decorative fireplace, and a canopied king bed faced an antique armoire (the room’s only storage space). Brass floor lamps with Corinthian capitals illuminated 19th-century-style oil paintings, and a small carved lion’s head glowered from the top of the writing desk. The terrace had a lounger as well as a table with four chairs, and pleasing views over the golf course.

We enjoyed ourselves immensely at Keswick Hall and found the staff to be universally congenial, but regrettably, the reports of wear are not without foundation. In the lobby-lounge, for example, the backs of several of the pink- upholstered chairs had greyish-black tops from people running their hands across them. In our room, several significant dents and cracks marred the bathroom floor tile, and the underside of the canopy over our bed had frayed fabric flourishes held together in places by safety pins. Some freshening of this otherwise commendable property is clearly overdue.

Amenities