This Stunning Home in Virginia’s Horse Country Is the Perfect Fall Getaway

Some fall getaways are about leaf peeping, others about pumpkin patch scouting—but this season in the foothills of Virginia, design is actually the main attraction. For a limited time, the 2025 Southern Living Idea House in Keswick—a horse-country hamlet dotted with chic vineyards just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia—is welcoming design lovers eager to make a weekend of it.

Southern Living’s 4,500-square-foot, four-bedroom residence, created by Rosney Co. Architects with interiors by renowned designer Charlotte Moss, blends classic details with modern touches and anchors the coveted Keswick Estate community. It’s an ideal address for travelers, given its proximity to the recently reimagined Keswick Hall, a bucolic Historic Hotels of America inductee that sits just down the road. With one of Virginia’s most notable collections of regional art at its core, the hotel was reinvented three years ago as a design haven by owners Molly and Robert Hardie, who also oversee Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel. For visitors eager to live—even briefly—inside the pages of a favorite magazine, central Virginia is autumn’s ultimate decorative arts destination.

“This area really represents the best of Virginia,” says Sid Evans, editor in chief of Southern Living. “There’s so much history in Charlottesville from a design point of view.”

Now marking its 36th year, the Idea House franchise aims to showcase not just aspirational decor, but also destinations that people are eager to experience. “It only takes so long to tour a house, so it’s nice to have lots of other things to do in the area,” Evans says. “Charlottesville has that in spades—vineyards, museums, shopping.”

For Moss, looking to Keswick and Charlottesville for inspiration came naturally. “Southerners are house-proud people,” she says, and adds that it’s a sentiment woven into the fabric of the region since its earliest days. “Virginia is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents, with homes that stand as important historical landmarks.”

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, for example, is just a 13-minute drive from the Idea House and Keswick Hall. “There’s a legacy of design and architecture here that resonates on so many levels,” she says.

According to Hardie, the project’s developer, the Idea House owes its magnetism to Albemarle County’s distinctive vernacular—seen in its two grand porches, octagonal entryway, and grounds planted with native species, a choice that echoes her own landscape decisions at Keswick Hall. A push-pin map in the Idea House’s garage tells the story—its surface dotted with markers from travelers who’ve journeyed from across the country to see it for themselves.

Last year’s Idea House at Kiawah River in South Carolina welcomed more than 17,000 visitors from all 50 states. Evans expects a similar turnout at the Keswick property this year—especially come November, when the Southern Living team turns up the charm, bedecking the home in magazine-cover-worthy holiday decor. “It’s a great girlfriend getaway or mother-daughter trip,” Evans says.

Tickets to the Southern Living Idea House are available at keswick.com.