Christmas in Kennett Square

Half a journal entry, half a travel guide

Christmas is just over two weeks away, and I am feeling very festive this year. A major contributing factor to my festivity is that I just had the loveliest, most Hallmark-worthy weekend in a little town called Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Consider this piece half the journal entry I didn’t bother writing during my weekend getaway and half a travel guide for anyone else who might choose to spend a weekend in the area (I’m basically Anthony Bourdain). 

Kennett Square is about five hours from where I live. Since I live close to Pittsburgh (located in Southwest Pennsylvania) and Kennett Square is close to Philadelphia (located in Southeast Pennsylvania), I drove nearly the entirety of the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Friday, December 8 and then again today on Sunday, December 10. The wide expanse of Pennsylvania that exists between its two largest metropolitan areas is really, really pretty. Half of the state is mountainous (YAY for Appalachia), while the other half is flat. In addition to the lovely landscapes of central Pennsylvania, here is an incomplete list of entertaining things I saw during my five hour drive across the state: 

• About five separate billboards that said “drink whole milk!” (Where is the representation for drinkers of skim milk and 2%?) 

• A two-story Golden Corral 

• A Cartoon Network themed hotel 

• A man in a full Grinch suit, mask included, who stared at me the whole time I waited in line for my Americano at Starbucks. (I need to give you the full vision here. This man–at least I think it was a man–really committed to the bit. He did the arms-crossed, toe-tapping stance the Grinch does in the movie while he stared at me, and he did not wave back or say anything when I said hello.) 

Anyways, I arrived at Kennett Square a little past 5:00pm on Friday and checked into the attraction that brought me to the little town in the first place: The Book House Hotel. I discovered this four-room hotel via a TikTok video at the end of October, which I sent to my book-loving friend Charlotte along with the message “omg road trip?” Thus, we planned a whole weekend around staying at this hotel, and Charlotte and I agreed that the hotel and the town where it is located far exceeded our expectations. But I am getting ahead of myself. To start out with, here are some pictures of the Book House Hotel: 

Dreamy, right? 

Charlotte, unlike me, did not drive across the entire state of Pennsylvania. She came from the DC area (about 2.5 hours away) and drove in after work, whereas I took the full day off work. As a result, Charlotte arrived at around 6:30pm, which gave me ample time to enjoy the clawfoot tub and get a head start on my reading for the weekend. 

As I mentioned before, Charlotte fell in love with the Book House Hotel just as much as I did. We were also surprised by how much we fell in love with the town that we had previously known so little about. Kennett Square is straight out of a Hallmark movie. Everything is walkable and decked out for the season, and the people are so nice. 

On Friday night, we had dinner at a restaurant called Lily Asian Cuisine, which had a large menu of sushi and, you guessed it, other Asian cuisines. The moment I saw pad thai on the menu, my heart soared. We were also very entertained by this little robot that rolled around the restaurant, carrying dishes to patrons’ tables and saying in a little voice, “Enjoy your meal!” I wish I had a picture of the robot, my food, or even just the inside of the restaurant, but as is, you will have to make do with this picture I took of the restaurant’s exterior the following morning:

Our nights in Kennett Square were quiet. There are certainly bars and breweries in the town if you are interested, but Charlotte and I are introverts who don’t live near each other or see each other in person very much, so we were more than content to enjoy the couch in our hotel room, catch up over cups of tea, and go to bed early to get an early start on Saturday morning. 

We spent the first half of Saturday exploring Kennett Square and shopping. Here are some pictures of the street in the daytime, all decked out for Christmas: 

If you’ve seen Gilmore Girls, I will tell you that Kennett Square gave me major Stars Hollow vibes. If you haven’t seen Gilmore Girls, well, you should probably go watch it. 

In true Gilmore Girls style, one of my favorite things to do when I visit a new place is find a local coffee shop. In Kennett Square, this was Philter Coffee, where I could have happily spent the entire day. The food and drinks were delicious, the atmosphere was great, and the coffee was served in mugs made locally. What more could a girl ask for? 

Much like places to eat, there are options galore of places to shop in Kennett Square. Charlotte and I visited many different locally owned stores, my favorites being Mrs. Robinson’s Tea Shop, Trail Creek Outfitters, and The Mushroom Cap. Fun fact: Kennett Square is known as “The Mushroom Capital” because over half of the USA’s mushrooms are produced in the area. My husband is a fungi enthusiast (I actually got him a foraging bag for his last birthday), and I am already planning a return trip when I will bring him with me. 

For lunch, we ate at Trattoria La Tavola, an Italian restaurant that we had stopped by the night before only to be deterred by the crowd. At lunch time, the place was much less crowded–and the food, just as good. I had spinach and salmon with a lemon caper sauce. It was both tasty and filling enough to fuel me for about five miles of walking during the second half of the day. 

If you ever find yourself in Kennett Square or in the Brandywine Valley Region at large a visit to Longwood Gardens is a must. The estate has indoor and outdoor gardens as well as holiday lights. I do recommend ordering tickets a few weeks in advance and, if you are visiting around the holidays, taking the shuttle from Kennett Square. By taking the shuttle, we were able to avoid the hassle of trying to find parking (which, from looking out the window at the sea of cars filling the parking lot, may have been downright impossible). I was also able to enjoy some spiced hot chocolate and wine along with my concession stand dinner of soft pretzels and cookies without worrying about driving back into town! The internet recommended spending at least three to four hours at Longwood to be able to see everything. Charlotte and I stayed from around 2:00pm - 7:00pm to see everything in the light and the dark, and we enjoyed every second. I took many, many pictures. Here are a few of my favorites: 

I also met this cat near the gardens, which I would consider a fitting end to a perfect day: 

Our second night was restful, and our second morning was slow. We wanted to enjoy every last second that we could at the Book House Hotel! I joked with Charlotte that I might hide under the bed or run around like my three-year-old niece does, screaming “can’t catch me!” while the hotel’s owners tried to convince me to leave. 

As is, I have already decided that I will be returning as soon as the flowers begin to bloom in spring! 

Until next time, 

Alexa