Weekend Escape: San Diego County : Green Acres : With a sigh-sigh here and a zzz-zzz there, country comfort at a peaceful Dulzura B

Old MacDonald would have had a lot more visitors if he had lived at Brookside Farm, a soothing retreat in the foothills of eastern San Diego County.

From downtown San Diego to the working farm it is about 30 miles, past the increasingly smaller towns of Lemon Grove, Jamul and Dulzura. Although the 10-room bed-and-breakfast inn has a Dulzura address, it feels isolated on its dirt country road, with the set-back houses of neighbors at a distance. You won’t hear anyone’s stereo blasting, unless it’s from a truck on its way to the Rod and Gun Club two miles up the road.

The farm and the inn on it are the home and business of Sally Guishard and her husband, Edd, who operated several well-known restaurants in the San Diego area. Edd now reserves his remarkable cooking skills for his guests, serving optional four-course dinners on Fridays and Saturdays.

Although you can stay at the inn without signing up for dinner, I have never known a return guest to skip it, and much of the talk at the tables of four to six seems to center around the food and past Brookside feasts. Dinner Friday started with vegetable soup in a rich brown broth. The salad of sprouts, radishes, mushroom and tomato featured a zesty lemon and cilantro dressing that Edd dreamed up minutes before the meal. Shrimp Ranchero in a tomatoey sauce was served with rice and garden-grown carrots and rutabagas, followed by a rich ginger mousse and coffee or tea.

The 1928 farmhouse had fallen into neglect when Edd bought it in 1983. The restoration is ongoing, but all the rooms are immaculate and fully appointed, with fresh, comfortable queen beds, private baths, antiques, modest artwork and quilts made by Sally.

Expect a full house on weekends, and reserve a month or more in advance, especially for a specific room. Most rooms require a two-day minimum on weekends, three on some holiday weekends. For real solitude, go during the week.

In March, our third stay, we were in the Hunter’s Cabin ($85 per night), which is comfortable but intentionally rustic--the most so of all the rooms--with scattered rugs on wood floors and a pair of chairs (a big sturdy rocker for me, a stuffed armchair for him) for sitting in front of the wood-burning stove (plenty of firewood available, free) or the large windows overlooking the brook and greenery; another window looks out on the lawn.

A screened porch, also overlooking the brook, holds the fridge and two chairs plus a little table, and an overhead light allows reading out there. The room also has a portable electric heater and, even under two blankets and the handmade quilt, you might need it during cool nights most of the year. We put it in the bathroom to take the morning chill out of the air before our showers. (The 1,400-foot elevation makes the climate cooler than you might expect most of the year; the up side is that, although summer days can get into the 90s, it’s usually comfortable by bedtime.)

There is little to do in Dulzura, which has a cafe frequented by locals, or on the farm, which has a cozy common room of bookshelves, puzzles and board games and an often-roaring, wood-burning stove. Those who enjoy strolling, which is our speed, can go up Marron Valley Road, as Edd says, “practically forever”; properties up the road have donkeys and goats. Serious hikers, we’re told, can drive to Moreno Lake, about 20 miles east, where there are several trails, none of them too hard, according to Edd. Tecate, Mexico, is only 10 miles south; the brewery there offers tours and samples.

Farther east is the Southwestern Railroad Museum at Campo, which has volunteer-run tours of the permanent displays and offers a 16-mile ride on a restored steam train, also run by extremely knowledgeable volunteers. Allow about 90 minutes for the train ride; round-trip fare is $10 for adults, $3 for children, $8 for active military and seniors.

But the main reason we go to Brookside is for the peaceful days--we napped before dinner Friday and Saturday--and clear, starry nights. There are a few lights on the four-acre property, but you can walk up the road and see stars, even meteors, no telescope required.

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Our main activity Saturday was getting a one-hour massage ($35 each) from Laurie Morse. Morse, a student of Chinese medicine, provides a delicious and thorough combination of Swedish (circulatory), shiatsu (pressure point) and tui-na (Chinese style) massage in the private Bird’s Nest, a warm little room with sloping ceiling at the top of the farmhouse. My husband and I have massages about twice a month, and Laurie’s are among the best I’ve had. She works the face without any oils but uses a simple, non-smelly massage oil on the rest of the body.

There was just enough time for a nap before Saturday dinner, which was a light soup; a salad with jicama, papaya, raisins, peanuts and olives in a light dressing, and skinless, boneless chicken breast in a peanut sauce with couscous and pea pods from the garden. Dessert was lemon chess pie; ask Edd why he calls it that.

After dinner we soaked in the hot tub that sits under a leafy grape arbor hung with plants and stained glass. There’s also an aviary of parakeets near which one can often find farm cat Adrian snoozing, one eye open. Nearby is a grassy area for lounging or lawn games; equipment for badminton and croquet is in the shed. There’s also a horseshoe pit.

Between the farmhouse and the brook is an enormous old oak that shades those who wish to lounge on the trellised terraces or sit at tables for reading or card playing or an afternoon nap in the hammock.

A flower-lined path winds past the dovecote, a koi fountain and the pine tree grove to the vegetable garden, past fruit trees, a berry patch and vineyards and, beyond, pens with the ever-changing animal population. There may be goats, pigs, peacocks, ducks and geese, plus a henhouse with enough egg-laying chickens to guarantee a fresh breakfast--and inspire several rounds of “E-I-E-I-O.”

Jams and other toppings are also farm-made. For breakfast, we had apricot preserves. We also had Francisco the pig; they make their own sausage and ham steaks. Best not to get attached to the animals.

Breakfast Saturday included fruit salad; a cheesy egg dish with mushrooms, spinach and zucchini; banana bread and corn muffins; coffee, tea or cocoa, and juice. The traditional Sunday breakfast is creamed eggs; a unique casserole made with sliced hard-boiled eggs and assorted vegetables, in this case, onions, asparagus and green beans; farm-cured ham; little sugared doughnuts (my favorite); frosted cherry Danish and cinnamon baked apples with heavy cream, as well as juice and coffee.

Breakfast is included in the room rate. The Country Weekend packages let you add dinner for two on Friday and Saturday for an additional $45, making the weekend total $195 to $275 plus tax, depending on one’s room. The inn recently began offering complimentary light meals (soup and salad, for instance) on weeknights, when rooms for two run $75-$95.

My husband and I try to get away about every six weeks, almost exclusively in inns, and at our favorite places we’re considered veterans after half a dozen stays. At Brookside, veterans are well into double digits. Old MacDonald never had it this good.

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Budget for Two

Room for two, two nights (plus dinners and breakfasts): $233.45

Massages: 70.00

Tip: 10.00

Gas, round-trip from Santa Ana: 8.40

FINAL TAB: $321.85

Brookside Farm, 1373 Marron Valley Road, Dulzura, CA 91917; tel. (619) 468-3043.