Friday, 16 December
Our quest to enjoy the holiday decorations that others have labored to put up continues. This time, we drove north to visit Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
We drove up I-95N to Wilmington, DE and then to Kennett Square, PA via rural routes.
Longwood requires timed admission tickets, so we bought our tickets online last week for the 5:00p entry slot ($18/person non-peak rate; increases to $25 pp for weekends; once inside, you can stay as long as you want.) To ensure that we’d get there with plenty of time to spare, we left the house at 12:30p. Traffic was heavy getting out of DC — no surprise — but at least it flowed at interstate speeds. Past the I-270 cut-off, the number of vehicles dwindled down considerably and we made good time driving the 126 miles (202 km) to Wilmington in 2½ hours.
Why Wilmington, you ask? Because that’s where we booked our overnight hotel. With limited accommodations in Kennett Square, we figured we’d have better luck with Priceline bidding for a hotel in a larger city. We were right; we got the Doubletree for $50/night … a 49% savings. And yes, Priceline came through again with a very nice, clean room with a bonus — scrumptious chocolate chip cookies still warm from the oven when we checked in!
Room 358 — a nice, quiet room for an overnight stay.
And the chocolate chip cookies — well, you had to be there to taste how good they were!
The one mistake we made after checking in was our decision to grab a bite to eat before continuing on to Longwood Gardens. It wasn’t that the restaurant didn’t deliver on a good meal. In fact, the crab cakes we scarfed down at Harry’s Savoy Grill were really good. No, it was that we didn’t have a chance to enjoy a leisurely meal, because I started stressing about the time it would take to get to Longwood for our 5:00p admission. It wouldn’t have been so bad had I not left the pre-printed admission tickets in our hotel room!!! Duh!!!!
A 10-minute detour to pick up the tickets and rush-hour traffic added about 30 minutes to what is usually a 15-minute drive from the Doubletree to Longwood, but we made it just as the clock struck 5:00p. (Yes, Mui, I know you said we’d be OK!) By the time we parked, bundled up in our layers (it was already 41F [5C] and dipping fast), collected our camera gear, and stopped at guest services to drop off the tripod permits we’d pre-completed, it was well past our entry time, but we made it through the doors before 5:30p so we were golden.
Welcome to Longwood Gardens!
This wasn’t our first visit to Longwood Gardens, but it was our first time during the holiday season. All I can say is WOW; the gardens delivered on the holiday spirit in spades. From the twinkling lights … to the dancing water show at the Open Air Theater … to the festive decorations at the Peirce-du Pont House … to the miniature trains … to the yummy gingerbread spice hot chocolate we picked up at the Terrace Restaurant — it was all an “A+” experience. But the Conservatory … well that was the pièce de résistance of the entire evening.
The elegant grandeur of Longwood can’t be described in words, so here are some photos to start out with …
The Holiday Fountain Show from the trail that runs behind the Open Air Theater.
[Sorry about the two spotlights that resemble eyes peering back at us.]
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Left: The Wildlife Tree is decorated with edible icicles, suet bags, and citrus cups
filled with bird-seed, dried flowers, and Indian corn for wildlife winter treats.
right: inside the peirce-du Pont house.
The Conservatory shines like a golden oasis on a cold winter night.
No holiday decorations, but on this very impressive “Green Wall” 47,000 vibrant plants
sprout from floor to ceiling — the largest indoor “Living Wall” in North America.
lights and reflections across from the Music Room in the East Conservatory.
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Trees of Light
I tried to select for this post some of the scenes that are not included in Mui’s video below. If you’d like to see more of my pictures, feel free to browse my online gallery; you can adjust the speed of the slideshow in the top left corner. The tripod was definitely worth its weight in gold.
Now for Mui’s perspective of our visit — complete with Christmas carols and dancing water. Enjoy!
We wandered around the grounds until closing time (9:00p) and took our time walking back to the visitor center to let the traffic dwindle a bit. With the parking lot at near capacity when we arrived, I expected that getting on the road might be a bit of a challenge. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a piece of cake. I guess not everyone stayed until the last minute! The drive back to the hotel took all of 15-20 minutes, with no traffic back ups along the way.
The gardens were certainly crowded; especially the conservatory — and that was on a non-peak evening. Highly recommend an in-week visit. Not only will you save on the admission, but you’ll be able to take your time touring the enclosed spaces. Dress warmly in layers that can be easily removed when inside. The conservatory was comfortably warm without our jackets, but the rooms in which the historic exhibits are displayed at the Peirce-du Pont House were sauna-warm and we didn’t linger long although there was much to see there.
And on that note, time to snuggle under the comfy duvet for a good night’s sleep. We have no set plans for tomorrow, and didn’t see any signs on the drive north to give us any ideas on things to do as we head back home. I guess we’ll just play it by ear.
