Heidi Speece

Oct 25, 2024 | virginialiving.com | Heather Bien |a Virginia- |Elizabeth Cogar |Heidi Speece

The Virginia Scenic Railway is restoring the allure of train travel with its three-hour round trips departing from Staunton. The railway runs two main routes, and the Alleghany Special route is particularly scenic. It lurches westward from Staunton through pastoral scenes, past working farms, and toward the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. From Saturday, Nov. 23–Sunday, Dec. 22, Santa’s reindeer are getting a break.

Jul 5, 2023 | virginialiving.com | Dawn Klavon |Martha Steger |Taylor Pilkington |Heidi Speece

Local flowers are closer than you think. Here’s a sampling of farms statewide. Flowers are a blooming business here in Virginia, where local flower farms have proliferated by 80 percent over the past 20 years. Some call this bloom-boom the “slow flower” movement—a play on “slow food’s” know-your-farmer approach to eating. Others use the term “farm-to-vase” or “seed-to-centerpiece.” Either way, locally grown flowers are a growing field, pun intended.