Journal

Of love in bloom...

04/09/2015
Year-long we discuss "doing this" and "doing that" at Orchard Hill knowing full well that the launching date is always after the Inn’s New Year’s celebration. Come the first, we hit the road running (Darrell’s term). It was a bit difficult this year with a foot of snow remaining on the road from the night before and then came the people...OMG!

Projects = Dangerous Territory

03/05/2015
It began smoothly. We were having our morning coffee discussing what, if anything, we were each thinking regarding upgrades to the Inn. The lack of rainfall and the migration of deer onto our grounds mandated that planting a less appetizing groundcover was a good place to begin. Easy enough. Agreeably, on we went...

A Major Change at Orchard Hill

01/28/2015
We have taken a recent event to effect a major change at Orchard Hill and wish to share it with you. I’ll admit that the outgrowth of the change appears to be far more ambitious than first anticipated but as ideas are pulled together, we find that this is perhaps the most exciting plan we have undertaken in some while...

Orchard Hill Country Inn Celebrates 20 Years

11/15/2014
Orchard Hill Country Inn in Julian has turned 20. With its special brand of sophisticated country charm, the 22-room, Craftsman-style inn presents itself as the place “where San Diego goes to say ‘I love you.’”...

Thunder Showers

08/13/2014
Last week, an expecting young guest called inquiring if the forecasted thunder shower was anything he should be concerned about? His visit to Orchard Hill was to be a post honeymoon romantic getaway. It didn’t take long to know that this devoted new husband was a meticulous planner and that my making light of the pending weather event was not going to satisfy his sense of obligation to care for his bride...

Summer Solstice

06/21/2014
For me there is a sense of mythos associated with the calendar event called Summer Solstice. Stonehenge and Camelot come to mind as do long haired maidens dressed in flowing robes that dance under moonlit skies hoping to lure the Gods who rule nature’s bounty to be generous...

The Christmas Tree

05/24/2014
When guests walk into our lodge, they often wonder why we have a Christmas tree displayed all year long in our Great Room. Well, we'd wonder the same thing. The following is an article published in 1972 about this iconic Orchard Hill tree. - Pat and Darrell

Welcome to Notes from Darrell and Pat

04/01/2014
From Darrell… The above picture was taken on my annual pilgrimage to the EAA Air Show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. If it looks like Pat and I could be flying first class with all that leg room and the big eye level curtained window, you’re right. What you can’t see is that we’re traveling in a 70-year-old Douglas DC-3 passenger airliner. All this comfort — plus I get a couple of flight time hours as co-pilot... From Pat… This may be a good time (the launching of our fourth website) to tell our story. I could be shooting myself in the foot as we usually respond to inquiring guests that they would have to return many times for this chapter to be revealed...

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