The Day in the Country stable tour promises visitors not only a tour of five of Portola Valley’s and Woodside’s private barns, but a chance to enjoy an English high tea on the grounds of a private Portola Valley estate.
The tour, sponsored by the Los Altos Hounds, takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 11.
This is the 14th year for the stable tour, but a first for high tea. “The high tea should be beautiful. The gardens (where it will be served) are absolutely gorgeous,” says Mindi Baxter, co-chair of the event with Carol Arnold.
On the stable tour, visitors are sure to “ooh” and “aah” over the two 1-month-old foals that will greet them at a barn just completed in Woodside. The foals’ moms are rescue horses, thoroughbreds that have been injured and can no longer race. They are leading the good life, however, in a handsome cedar-shake barn equipped with all the amenities, including a wash rack and built-in fly control.
Other crowd-pleasers are Smith and Wesson, a pair of Clydesdale horses. Their barn is set among giant redwoods. It has knotty pine stalls and interiors, rubber interlocking floors, a “whole house” vacuum system, indoor and outdoor wash racks and a huge arena that can be used to run reining patterns or drive carriages.
The stable tour will also include dressage, carriage driving and field hunter demonstrations, a chance to browse through equine art and gift items, and bargains at a used tack sale. There will also be a “name the foal” contest.
Ms. Baxter of Santa Cruz, co-chair of the event, is also master of the Los Altos Hounds, a riding club organized in Los Altos Hills in 1953. Today the club rides from November to March in the Woodside-Portola Valley area and other locales in Northern California where the riders follow the hounds over hills and fences.
Ms. Baxter has planned the high tea, which will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The menu will include scones with clotted cream, strawberries, assorted tea sandwiches, cookies, cream puffs and chocolate eclairs. Iced tea, lemonade, and white wine will be served, as well as hot tea.
Tickets for the tea are $25; advance reservations are suggested. They are in addition to the tour tickets, which are also $25.
Tickets and tour information may be picked up the morning of the tour at Woodside Town Hall, 2955 Woodside Road, corner of Woodside and Whiskey Hills roads. For more information, call 851-2551.
