The Berkshires Beckon Californians

The Berkshire Hills, rising softly over western Massachusetts, a scenic three-hour drive from either Boston or New York, should be an ideal vacation scene for R&R-loving; Californians. The summer days are warm and sunny. The nights are blanket-cool.

Lakes and rivers invite swimming and boating, and miles of trails through open fields and wooded mini-mountains offer hiking and climbing, tennis and golf. The back roads are ideal for cycling. And it’s famous horse country.

Those who want a rest from play will discover that Berkshire County is cultural New York’s summer annex. It has restaurants by the hundreds, including the Old Mill in Egremont, where my last great taste sensation was a quiche with goat cheese and wild mushrooms.

At Tanglewood, the most famous arts center of the region, the Boston Symphony, with famous conductors such as Ozawa and Bernstein, plays three weekend concerts and holds open rehearsals (cheaper) on Saturday mornings.

Chamber and jazz programs appear on weekday evenings. The renowned Tokyo Quartet plays in the Berkshires at the summer home of the Yale Music School in Norfolk, Conn.

The Williamstown and Berkshire theater festivals, featuring well-known actors, are the best-known theater groups. For the adventurous there is plenty of experimental theater and cabaret going on “off Route 7.”

Art lovers can start with the distinguished Impressionist collection at the Clark Institute in Williamstown, and the recently reopened Williams College art center. Down U.S. 7 in Stockbridge they will find the Norman Rockwell museum for a view of ideal America, as seen through the Saturday Evening Post artist’s loving eyes.

Nearby is the estate and studio where Daniel Chester French carved the heroic Lincoln of the capital’s Lincoln Memorial. The summer show of contemporary sculpture on the grounds is worth a visit in itself. Galleries exhibit the work of contemporary artists, established and new, in almost every Berkshire Village. The Berkshires are as rich in history as in hills.

Early Inns Survive

Beyond the museums of history, many early settlers’ houses and inns survive, furnished in the style of the late 18th Century and decorated with documentary papers and fabrics.

Accommodations are at least as expensive as you might expect in a resort area. There is usually a three-night minimum stay during summer months, with a surcharge for shorter visits.

In spite of high prices, demand continues unabated, particularly for rooms in bed-and-breakfast places, where travelers are accustomed to getting more for their money. But not every B&B; is a bargain. Prices, including breakfast, range from $40 a night for two in a room with shared bath to $160 for a room, sitting room and bath.

Rates rise, also, with proximity to Tanglewood, the best-known summer attraction. If it’s not important whether you are five minutes or 40 from the Boston Symphony, or Tanglewood is not even on your agenda, you may find more comfort, quiet and Berkshire atmosphere and charm at less cost off the main line (U.S. 7), away from Lenox.

Make Reservations Early

If you really care where you stay, act quickly. By Memorial Day many of the old, familiar B&Bs; are booked solid through Labor Day, and some of the newest houses are filling up.

All bed-and-breakfast rates include breakfast. The fare ranges from hot breads, juice and beverages to three-course meals including eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, all kinds of homemade spreads, grilled potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, fresh fruits and so on. When reserving, ask what your host serves for breakfast.

Pets and small children are not always invited, and smoking is often prohibited in bedrooms.

With these warnings, here is a veteran Berkshire vacationer’s selection of the most attractive and comfortable B&Bs;, within 45 minutes of Tanglewood, arranged by location.

Great Barrington, Seekonk Pines, Box 29 AA, RD1, Great Barrington, Mass. 01230, phone (413) 528-4192. Two miles west of town on Massachusetts 23 at Seekonk Road (to right). A rambling early 19th-Century country house on four acres of gardens running up to flowery fields and hills. Pool. As attractive inside as out. Bikes for rent. Five roomy rooms. With bath $75 and $80; half-bath $65; sharing bath $60.

Elling’s RD 3, Box 6, Great Barrington, Mass. 01230, phone (413) 528-4103. One mile out of town on right side of Massachusetts 23. Handsome 1746 mill owner’s home on a knoll overlooking the Green River Valley. Beautiful gardens and walls. Great old furniture, decorated with taste and spirit. Six rooms, two with bath, $65; four sharing two baths $50.

Bread and Roses Star Route 65, Box 50, Great Barrington, Mass. 01230, phone (413) 528-1099. On Massachusetts 71, which runs off Massachusetts 23 to the right about two miles below Great Barrington. A newly opened Colonial guest house, simple and pretty, with all the comforts of modern living. A new deck is a choice spot on which to enjoy the breakfast specialty--french toast, Grand Marnier. Bathrobes in the closets, plus high tea and cake at 4:30. Five rooms with private baths, all $85.

Littlejohn Manor, P.O. Box 148, Great Barrington, Mass. 01230, phone (413) 528-2882. In a gracious turn-of-the-century gabled house half a mile from Great Barrington on Massachusetts 23, west, on the left. A decidedly British flavor: rose and herb gardens, outdoor benches from which to enjoy the flowers and aromas and the wide valley view; expansive English breakfast, with brewed English tea, among other beverages offered, and everything you’ve ever heard of in English breakfasts, including crumpets. High tea, too, with scones and oat cakes, at 5. Four bedrooms sharing two baths, twin bedrooms with fireplace $65; twin bedrooms with view $55; two rooms with double beds $50.

Picture-Book Village

New Marlboro. You have to see this picture-book New England village to believe it. A Norman Rockwell cover. White Greek Revival church, restored Stagecoach Inn on the Green (a Berkshire three-star), with even the shingles handmade to match the originals; pre-Revolutionary houses on the Green, and beyond them, miles of view. No stores, no gas stations, not even many passing cars on Massachusetts 57, branching off of Massachusetts 23 east of Great Barrington, 40 minutes from Tanglewood.

Hollister House, Box 132, Star Route 70, New Marlboro, Great Barrington, Mass. 01230, phone (413) 229-8623. The owner, a decorator, has given this small Greek Revival house her own stamp, including doing her own painting, papering and upholstering. Her interest shows. Four rooms sharing one upstairs and one downstairs bath. Three rooms $45, one $40.

Millstones, Box 121A, Star Route, New Marlboro, Great Barrington, Mass. 01230, phone (413) 229-8488. People seek out this airy, turn-of-the-century house on the right as you enter New Marlboro on Massachusetts 57 for its breakfasts, bursting with savor and flavor, and the distinctive decorating touches, including imported documentary papers and fabrics. Six rooms, $75 a room a night. One full bath, three showers, three lavatories.

Red Bird Inn, P.O. Box 592, Great Barrington, Mass. 01230, phone (413) 229-2433 or (516) 431-4047. Three miles west of Great Barrington on Massachusetts 57, shortly beyond Hartsville, on the right. The Red Bird is a restored Colonial, once the home of the village founder, Capt. Hart. The big open side porch is a pleasant place for breakfast or the wine-and-cheese hour (both complimentary), and overlooks meadowlands and the western hills. Rooms are bright, with pretty quilts, coverlets and curtains. Three rooms with private baths $75, two rooms sharing bath $65, $10 discount a night for one person.

The Turning Point, RD 2, Box 140, Great Harrington, Mass. 01230, phone (413) 528-4777. Two miles east of U.S. 7 on Massachusetts 23, at Lake Buel Road. This vintage pink brick Colonial was a stagecoach stop almost two centuries ago. Today’s inn is friendly, unpretentious and proud of the excellent natural food it serves: baked fruit compote garnished with fresh berries, an open frittata with garden vegetables and local goat cheese, and fresh, nonhomogenized milk and cream. One room with bath $85, six rooms sharing three baths $65, single occupancy $45. Apartment $150 a night.

A Special Beauty

Tyringham. The pastoral beauty of the Tyringham Valley is special, even for the Berkshires. You reach it from Massachusetts 102 east of Stockbridge, turning right on Tyringham Road or from Massachusetts 23 east of Great Barrington, turning left in Monterey at the general store. The area is about 25 minutes from Tanglewood.

The Golden Goose, Main Road, Tyringham, Mass. 01264, phone (413) 243-3008 or (914) 769-2714. A restored early 19th-Century farmhouse with a big open deck taking full advantage of a fabled vista. Two rooms sharing bath $55, three rooms with private baths $65. Apartment $75 weekend, $50 weekday.

Lee. A couple of miles above Stockbridge on U.S. 7, find Stockbridge Road on the right. The B&Bs; listed here are two or three miles east. Ten minutes from Tanglewood.

Haus Andreas, RR1, Box 605B, Stockbridge Road, Lee, Mass. 01238, phone (413) 243-3298. Here’s a great house with gardens and views to match, plus a pool and tennis court. Rates from $90 with shared bath to $160 for a two-room suite with bath, plus $18 more for a third person and 5% service charge. The suite seems skimpy for the price.

Ramsey House, 203 W. Park St., Lee, Mass. 01238, phone (413) 243-1598. An old-fashioned house with big rooms on a pleasant shaded street, furnished with Federal and Queen Anne antiques and reproductions. Breakfast under the grape arbor or in the dining rooms with linen napkins. Two rooms with bath $80, two rooms sharing bath $65, room with bath and porch where breakfast will be served, $95.

View of Richmond Valley

Richmond. Middlerise, Rt. 41, State Road, Richmond, Mass. 01254, phone (413) 698-2687. Rooms are so pretty you may be homesick for them when you leave: beautiful papers, one with a lacquer-red ground, one with deep pink poppies, one deep blue and white, and so on. The view across Richmond Valley is stunning. So is the landscaping nearby. Two rooms connecting bath $55, one room with bath $65, one room with bath across hall $55; guest sitting room with refrigerator and hot plate. Reservation only.

Lenox. Near the heart of the action: Tanglewood, five minutes; the shops and galleries around Massachusetts 7A, next door.

Strawberry Hill, 9 Cliffwood St., Box 718, Lenox, Mass. 01240, phone (413) 637-3381. In the center of town, yet serene in its spacious lawns and gardens, this freshly redone Colonial has charm and comfort and sometimes a Tanglewood star in residence. The N.Y. Times comes with breakfast. All rooms with bath $115, two-bedroom apartment $150 a night, $900 a week.

Brook Farm, 15 Hawthorne St., Lenox, Mass. 01240, phone (413) 637-3013. New owners have renewed this Victorian, adding baths and a light color scheme. The feature is poetry, 500 volumes of it in the library, tapes of it on compact disk player and occasional readings by visiting authors. An octagonal pool. 12 rooms with baths $85 to $110.

Berkshire Bed and Breakfast, Williamsburg, Mass. 01096-0211, phone (413) 268-7244. If you can’t find the place you’ve been dreaming of here, Eleanor Hebert has an up-to-date directory of area sites, many moderately priced, and will make reservations.