DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710040028

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Travel 

SOURCE: BY STEPHEN HARRIMAN, TRAVEL EDITOR 
                                            LENGTH:  140 lines

SUCCUMBING TO THE LURE OF RAPPAHANNOCK COUNTY

HORSES AND I don't get on that well together so I don't ride, but I like to be around them, and, generally speaking, around people who do. So I figured, when I saw the English tack hanging on racks on the porch at the Conyers House, that this would be my sort of place.

I couldn't have been more right. Or happier.

This was Rappahannock County's first B&B. Now it's, officially, Conyers House Country Inn and Stable - a country inn being, basically, a B&B with more than five rooms.

The oldest portion of the main structure, closest to the country road, was built about 1790, and by 1815, it was known as Conyers' Old Store. By 1850, it was Fink's General Store, and by the 1970s, it had become . . . a hippie commune.

Sandra and Norman Cartwright-Brown bought the primitive old building in 1979 to resurrect it as a weekend retreat from their home in Chevy Chase, Md. The 13-hour run to their old place on Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H., had become too much of a grind.

Before long it was more than a weekend place. Soon they just stayed. Full time. Rappahannock County will do that to you.

``We didn't start to do a B&B,'' says Sandra, ``but it was so tempting we decided to try it.''

Two years later, with plumbing added and various other amenities brought up to modern standards, they welcomed their first guests.

They've added on to the original building in a virtually seamless blend of old and new, restored an outbuilding, moved the spring house up the hill and made it into another cottage, and recently built a separate state-of-the-art kitchen.

Filled with antiques and an eclectic clutter - I say that with utmost respect because I love the ``homey'' look - of various other, well, stuff, the place is one of unpretentious, casual elegance and warm hospitality.

There are four rooms and a suite in the main house, each with a fireplace or wood-burning stove; the Hill House has a small sitting room-bedroom and a Franklin fireplace, and the Spring House has two bedrooms, a Franklin fireplace and an old spinet piano that belonged to Sandra's Auntie Grace.

Room rates range from $150 to $250 a night for two; extra guests are $25 per person.

Breakfasts are wonderful. They also offer guests an elegant six-course dinner by advance reservations ($60 per person) with a choice of these entrees: local rainbow trout, medallion of beef, tenderloin of pork, breast of duck, Cornish game hen, Rappahannock venison or ostrich.

Sandra is a dedicated fox hunter. You might try that - the season is September through March, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays - at $100 a person, or you might want to take one of their nine horses out for one of three levels of trail rides. These begin at $40 a person for about a two-hour ride through the countryside.

Advance reservations for accommodations or any of the horse activities are essential. It doesn't even matter if you're, say, Bill Gates. If they're full, they're full.

The Cartwright-Browns also book the secluded Schoolhouse at Crawford Notch, a 19th century schoolhouse, amid magnolias and boxwoods, converted into an antique-filled cottage with fireplace and sleeping up to five. It has two box stalls if you bring your own horses. It's about 2 miles beyond the Conyers House on Slate Mills Road, and it has a great view of Old Rag Mountain.

Contact Conyers House Country Inn and Stable, 3131 Slate Mills Road (Va. 707), about 8 miles south of Sperryville, off the F.T. Valley Road (Virginia Route 231). Phone (540) 987-8025.

Other overnight accommodations in the Sperryville area (all phone numbers are area code 540):

Belle Meade B&B, 353 F.T. Valley Road (Virginia Route 231), south of Sperryville. Renovated, turn-of-the-century Victorian farmhouse (four rooms) and cottage on 137 acres with wonderful views of the mountains. Phone 987-9748.

Bleu Rock Inn and Restaurant, U.S. 211 and 522 a couple of miles north of Sperryville. Five guest rooms; the specialty is country French-American dining in three rooms with fireplaces and an outdoor with grand Blue Ridge vista. Open Wednesday-Sunday. Phone 987-3190.

Apple Hill Farm B&B, 117 Old Hollow Road, Sperryville, on 20 acres bordering the Thornton River. Phone 987-9454.

Sharp Rock Farm, 5 Sharp Rock Road (Virginia 707), off Virginia 231 south of Sperryville. A two-bedroom cottage and a carriage house near Old Rag Mountain. Phone 987-8020.

Washington area

Inn at Little Washington, Middle St., Washington. World class. The ne plus ultra of American country inns. A dozen elegant rooms rated five stars by Mobil, five diamonds by AAA. The restaurant gets similar ratings. Closed Tuesdays. Phone 675-3800.

Fairlea Farm B&B, Mt. Salem Ave., Washington. A fieldstone manor house on a 40-acre sheep and cattle farm at the edge of town with four rooms. Phone 675-3679.

The Foster-Harris House, Main St., Washington. Three rooms and a suite in a quiet, turn-of-the-century frame house the heart of town. Phone (800) 666-0153.

The Gay Street Inn, Gay St., Washington. In a quiet corner of a quiet village, the 1860 farmhouse has three comfortably furnished rooms and a suite. Phone 675-3288.

Heritage House, Main St., Washington. The 1837 while-columned home, used as a headquarters by Confederate General Jubel Early, has three rooms and a suite. Rated three diamonds by AAA, two stars by Mobil. Closed Tuesdays. Phone 675-3207.

Middleton Inn, 176 Main St., Washington. An elegant, Federal-style brick manor house in the south end of town, built in 1850. Four rooms with working fireplaces and marble baths plus a guest cottage with working fireplace and a jacuzzi for two overlooking the mountains. Rated three stars by Mobil. Phone 675-2020.

Sunset Hills Farm, 105 Christmas Tree Lane, Washington. Actually located off U.S. 211-522 on the side of Jenkins Mountain overlooking Sperryville. A sprawling, contemporary home with three elegant rooms offering spectacular panoramas. Beautiful garden; mums are a specialty. Host Betty Hutcheson told me she saw a little bear in a tree a couple of hours before I visited. Phone (800) 980-2580.

Sycamore Hill House, 110 Menefee Mountain Lane, Washington. Three rooms in a secluded contemporary home with a broad veranda on 52 acres 1,043 feet up a mountain road. The property is a sanctuary certified by the National Wildlife Federation. Phone 675-3046.

Flint Hill area

Caledonia Farm - 1812, 47 Dearing Road, Flint Hill. A Federal-style National Historic Register home built of native field stone (its walls are 2 feet thick), and a working cattle farm, run by retired international broadcaster and raconteur Phil Irwin. It offers two rooms in the main house and a ``honeymoon suite'' (218 honeymooners have used it) in the adjacent summer kitchen. Phone (800) BNB-1812.

Flint Hill Public House, 605 Zachery Taylor Highway (U.S. 522), Flint Hill. A restored 1903 public school offering two upstairs suites and a large public dining area below, plus an outdoor terrace. Closed Wednesdays. Phone 675-1700.

Castleton-Boston area

Blue Knoll Farm, 110 Gore Road, Castleton. Four rooms in a 19th century farmhouse on 5 1/2 acres. Phone 937-5234.

Laurel Mills Farm, 435 Laurel Mills Road, Castleton. Four rooms in a striking four-story Victorian on a knoll overlooking the village of Laurel Mills and the Thornton River. Phone 937-3600.

Thistle Hill, 5541 Sperryville Pike (U.S. 522), Boston. Country house on a hillside with two rooms and three cottages on 10 acres. Phone (800) 469-0467. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

STEPHEN HARRIMAN

Riding tack hangs on the porch of the Conyers House Country Inn and

Stable, ready for use by guests.

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