Loudouners enjoy a large number of award-winning, family-owned wineries, many offering live music, entertainment, and concerts. The gorgeous tree-dappled county has six striking golf courses, and for Loudoun’s organic aficionados some 27 weekend markets and farms to browse.

Dedicated Loudoun County winemakers, working with the rhythms of time and the vagaries of Mother Nature, have created an overwhelming revelation for visitors to Washington D.C. For those in the pursuit of pleasure, Loudoun County, a short 25-miles to the east of D. C. is a leisurely laid-back alternative from the chaotic rush and jumble of the big city where vineyards and horses combine to create a lifestyle to envy.

In late autumn the rolling hills of the Palouse in Eastern Washington and North Idaho turn to gold as wheat ripens over thousands of acres and giant green combines crawl over the fields like giant locusts harvesting grain. Rain is scarce in this region and wheat, barley, legumes, especially chickpeas and lentils, respond well to the dry farming. When irrigated …