The Autumn Walk, The Mahogany Garden, The Labyrinth, The
Children’s Garden, The Tropicana, The Golden Garden, The Twilight Garden, The
Bird Habitat, The Hidden Garden, Xeri Rock Hil, The Woodland, The Fragrance Garden, and The Winter Garden. These are all part
of the self-guided walking tour of the Village Green Gardens. As a late birthday gift, we took the short 2-hour
drive to Cottage Grove, Oregon and spent 2 nights at the Village Green Resort.
A Groupon coupon made the stay very affordable as it
included a $30 per night dinner credit along with a complimentary
breakfast. The first night we opted to
eat dinner in the Fireside Lounge. Very
clean and food presentation was good. I
opted for the fish and chips accompanied by a local light beer. Fish was very fresh and perfectly cooked. Was quite good. We did not use the entire $30.
When we first opened the door to our room I was immediately
struck by the ‘retro’ feel. The sink,
tub and tile were pink but the toilet was white. After checking with the front desk I
discovered that the property was indeed built in the early 1960’s.
That certainly explained the feel of the room. We had a nice fenced patio seating area with
2 chairs and a table. It was very quiet
and serene. We found this true for the
property. Perhaps it was because school
was back in session. Whatever the
reason, it was wonderfully relaxing.
Late in the afternoon of our arrival we decided to take the
self-guided walking tour of the 14-acre gardens. It was nice but certainly not a Butchart
Gardens by any means. Very few flowers
but a nice walk and they did reference trees and vegetation along the
way.
Our first morning we opted to do a driving tour of the 6
covered bridges in the area.
Dating from the 1850’s, the trip took about 2 hours, was
approximately 25 miles in duration and led us to Centennial Bridge, Swinging
Bridge, Chambers Bridge, Mosby Creek Bridge, Stewart Bridge, Dorena Bridge and
Currin Bridge. At one time there were an
estimated 450 covered bridges in the state of Oregon. By 1977 the number dwindled to 56. Oregon now has the largest collection of
covered bridges in the West and one of the largest in the nation. With 20 covered bridges, Lane County has the
distinction of possessing more covered brides than any other other county west
of the Mississippi, and Cottage Grove has the most of any town in Lane County.
Having grown up in the Rogue Valley I was surprised at how much I learned from this short drive.
The brochure that we received from the hotel desk had a smartphone bar code scan
that you can use if you are ‘tech’ savvy.
In the afternoon we decided to take in a vineyard and
winery. We drove the short 5 miles over
to Saginaw Vineyard which was a very small 14-acre privately owned farm. We did a sampling of 10 wines for FREE by
Cheryl Byler, the owner of the vineyard.
She was a true delight to talk with. They are located at 80247 Delight Valley School Road,
Cottage Grove, Oregon.
As we turned down the dirt road, following the Saginaw
Vineyard signs, I was thinking that we were probably on the wrong road. It certainly wasn’t what we had expected. Driving past the family farm and pulling into
the ‘tasting room’ was not the same as driving to one of the vineyards in the
Applegate Valley. Nonetheless, it
proved to be a good stop and we purchased a couple bottles of their specially
blended wines. Although a little sweet, I enjoyed the blackberry wine.
Since we had a $30 dinner credit, the evening dinner was
back at the Village Green in the Seasons At The Green Restaurant. Their dinner menu was extensive and included
appetizers of Crab Cakes, Toasted Hazelnut Encrusted Goat Cheese, Steamed
Manila Crabs and Shrimp Scampi. We opted
for the Beef Stroganoff entree’ as I am not a hugh red meat fan. They did offer Surf and Turf for $25, New
York steak for $22 and Top Sirloin for $18.
We were glad to have the $30 dinner credit to help offset our
expense. Server was prompt and attentive. Food was delivered in a timely
fashion, was well plated and had excellent taste.
I could certainly recommend this if you can find a GROUPON
coupon. At one time I am sure this place
truly was a RESORT but right now I could not recommend it as a RESORT but
simply a hotel with some amenities.
