Wethersfield Estate & Gardens

I travel to New York every other month, and if I’m lucky enough to squeeze in a respite from the big city I usually go upstate to visit one of my best friends at her barn in Dutchess County.  On a recent long summer weekend, which also happened to be the hottest New York weekend of the season yet, I made my way there and learned of a garden that she had found out about not long ago via Instagram.  We braved the heat and drove to the city of Amenia to visit Wethersfield, and I felt like I was on the set of a romantic Luca Guadagnino film with picturesque vistas and lush landscapes, enhanced by the most sublime floral gardens and greenery.  Owned by the late investor and philanthropist, Chauncey Stillman, the gardens (designed in Italian Renaissance style) cover 10 acres around a Georgian-style house and were designed by Brian Lynch in 1940 and later added upon and maintained by Evelyn Poehler. I savored every moment, from watching the fanciful peacocks to admiring the fuchsia and voluptuous hydrangeas set beneath the weeping beech trees and stone balustrades and obelisks.  My most favorite detail of Wethersfield was the “Grasshopper House”, named for the grasshopper weathervane, with painted murals by American artist Hight Moore.  We spent an hour roaming the grounds of Wethersfield, and I’m already plotting my next trip back in the fall.  https://www.wethersfield.org