Front Royal Fun

Front Royal lies alongside the Shenandoah River right where its two branches merge.  The Blue Ridge Mountains rise on one side of the town and the lower Shenandoah valley is on the other side of the river.  It sits along a wide pass to the Virginia Piedmont from the Great Valley and thus has always been an important travel route between the Shenandoah River Valley and the Potomac River drainage.  A Civil War battle was even fought there.

Well Da Urchin lives near Front Royal and Front Royal likes to hold Festivals.  A Scottish Festival, A Craft Festival, An Herb & Spice Festival and a spring Wine & Craft Festival among others.  Last spring at Wine Festival time Da Urchin and I were busy repairing tree-on-house damage so we only went to the festival long enough to locate Horton Winery’s table and buy some wine.  On the way out Da Urchin ended up getting a black & white kitten too.

Wingnut the Wine Fest Kitten

He was a very spunky little kitten.  He didn’t know much about playing with cat toys but he was right on the food bowl. 

Galahad meets Wingnut

Stood his ground well when Galahad came to check him out.  Galahad just wanted to play.

Wingnut the Wine Festival Kitten Now

Well he has grown into a fine Good Ol’ Boy cat.  Big but all muscle and he has definitely learned how to play with cat toys and take care Cat Business.

Fast forward to the 2013 Front Royal Wine Festival.  This year Da Urchin & I decided to make a day of it.  We were joined by two of her friends and the four of us wined our way through the entire festival. 

Da Urchin & Friends

It was cooler than last year and threatened rain all day but the wet stuff held off until the very end.  The Festival features wine, crafts and live music.  We checked out every winery, quite a few craft sites and skipped the music entirely.  Just not enough time for tunes.

My friend from West Virginia was there again, he sells shitake mushroom inoculated oak logs and teaches folks how to grow fresh shitake mushrooms for themselves.  Of course, we ended the day at Horton Winery’s tables where we made the main purchases of the day. 

Da Urchin Enjoying the 1st Ever Firepit Fire

Da Urchin & I ended our day with steaks on the BBQ grill and a fire in the now-fixed firepit.  A lovely end to a grand day.

Front Royal is also in the heart of a fruit growing region.  So once fall was in full swing Da Urchin and I spend an afternoon at a local orchard stocking up on apples.

A View of the Orchard

You could sign out a ladder and pick your own fruit or you could buy ready picked fruit from the wooden sorting bins in front of the sales building.

Another Orchard View

This is the entrance to the Pick-Your-Own part of the orchard.  There is also a picnic area nearby.

Ready Picked Varieties

Da Urchin and I could see no good reason to drag a ladder around and climb them to get our apples.  The Ready Picked bins let us get half a dozen kinds of apples without dragging a ladder to half a dozen different parts of the orchard.

The Sales Building

They also sold various jams and jellies, local deli items and various snacks & drinks for picnics on site.  We were there on a weekend, so there were a lot of families out enjoying the fine fall weather and getting fresh fruit. 

The Oldest Building on Site

The farm had been an orchard for a very long time.  Several building on site are maintained for their historic value.  Since this is still a privately held working farm the buildings are not open to the public.