A spring escape in the Brandywine Valley with wine, art, and gardens | Field Trip

Sometimes, a place is so close to home, we don’t even consider it as somewhere worth an overnight, let alone a full weekend. Depending on where you live in the metro region, the Brandywine Valley — an undulating swath of hills, horse farms, and vineyards — might even be your backyard. But no matter how near this part of Chester County is, it’s worth a longer visit than an out-and-back to Longwood Gardens.

Sleep on the grounds of a winery. Hike along Brandywine Creek. Follow the footsteps of the famous artists who gave the area 19th-century notoriety.

Spring is the moment: irises pushing through thawed earth, cherry blossoms blooming into cotton-candy clouds, Riesling grapes just beginning to appear on the vines. Immerse yourself in nature, just over an hour from Center City. Start the car.

Fringed in the forests and lavender fields of Nottingham, just across the western border of the valley, Laura DeFrancesco and James Wilson run Ethereal Farm. Check into one of their two ag-chic Airbnbs, the Loft or the Mill, each with two bedrooms, a library, and a fire pit stocked for s’mores. Wilson is also one of the brothers behind Wayvine, the low-intervention winery that shares the idyllic property, making it easy to swing through for live music, food trucks and tastings of Gruner Veltlier and Barbera rose during your stay.

📍 5150 Forge Rd., Nottingham, Pa. 19362

One of the most celebrated illustrators of the 20th century, N.C. Wyeth lived in the Brandywine, helping cement its identity as an artists’ haven. His Chadds Ford home and studio, open to visitors, is part of the Brandywine Museum of Art and linked to the main museum by shuttle. The museum itself, housed in an old mill with a sleek modern addition, hosts a comprehensive collection of works by Wyeth, his son, Andrew, and grandson, Jamie, along with many other American artists. With its floor-to-ceiling windows facing the creek, the museum’s Millstone Cafe makes a nice stop for a coffee or pear-and-fig grilled cheese.

📍 1 Hoffman’s Mill Rd., Chadds Ford, Pa. 19317

Before jetting off to Kennett Square, take some time to absorb the museum and Brandywine Conservancy’s beautiful campus on one of six trails woven through the estate. Start on the mile-long Harvey Run, where fairytale bridges cross the creek, then connect to the Artist Studio Loop — a longer route through meadow and forest leading to the Wyeth House and Studio.

📍 Access via museum or Chadds Ford Township Building, 10 Ring Rd., Chadds Ford, Pa. 19317

Chester County’s Hispanic community has long supported the region’s agricultural backbone — and enriched its food scene. La Michoacana has been scooping helados and pushing paletas for 23 years in its corner storefront on State Street, Kennett Square’s charming main drag. They’re just coming out of their annual winter hibernation this month, and along with the usuals like pistachio and peanut butter, are spinning Latin flavors like flan, arroz con leche, and soursoup sorbet.

📍 231 E. State St., Kennett Square, Pa. 19348

The heat-gathering soils, humidity-dispersing hillsides, and proximity to water create strong conditions for growing Old World grapes, and nobody does it like Anthony Vietri at Va La Vineyards in Avondale. His family has farmed this land for nearly a century, and some of the vines lacing the slope up to the stone-walled tasting room, where the tasting of four estate wines comes with thoughtfully paired snacks, are more than 20 years old. His “Cedar,” blended from nine Nebbiolo clones mist-shrouded by the mushroom composter from the neighboring farm, is unforgettable.

📍 8822 Gap Newport Pike #41, Avondale, Pa. 19311

Even if you’ve never spent much time in the Brandywine Valley, Longwood Gardens is likely the one landmark you’ve been to or at least heard of. The DuPont-founded botanical extravaganza is fresh off a $250 million renovation, including the magnificent new West Conservatory, a glass cathedral inhabited by spiky palms, fine-tipped cypress, and other Mediterranean species. Could this be Corsica? Capri? Maybe, until you spy a dude in a Phanatic T-shirt over by the sweet-smelling bay laurels.

📍 1001 Longwood Rd., Kennett Square, Pa. 19348

Another major piece of the Longwood reno is 1906 Restaurant. Visitors have always been able to eat at the gardens, but never like this. A swanky bar and lounge flows into the dining room, where clamshell banquettes face a window-wall overlooking the Main Fountain Garden, whose jets start spraying again on May 8. On the menu: za’atar-dusted crudo of striped bass, crab agnolotti with preserved lemon and brown butter, steak au poivre, banana budino. And the prices are reasonable: just $65 for two courses or $75 for three.

📍 1001 Longwood Rd., Kennett Square, Pa. 19348