Bucks County Artistry Highlights the

52^nd Annual Four Lanes End Garden Club

Holiday House Tour and Tea!

 

 

In this relentlessly changing world we live in, traditional holiday rituals that require months of preparation are a rare and welcome treat!  One such tradition is the Four Lanes End Garden Club’s Annual Holiday House Tour and Tea, to be held this year on Thursday - November 17, 2011 (11 a.m. until 8:30 p.m.)  in the picturesque hamlet of Langhorne Borough.

 

Year in and year out, multiple generations of families and friends come out to experience an old fashioned slice of Holiday Americana by visiting the spectacular holiday floral displays created by the FLEGC members which are staged throughout four stately homes each year.

 

Over the tour’s 50+ year history, it has grown from a local event attend by a few dozen town folk to a community wide event that has thousands of visitors from all over the country descending on the town for that one special day in November (making it one of the highest attended house tours in the country!)

 

            This years Tour features homes that showcase the abundance of artistic talent that makes Bucks County a special place to live, work and play!

 

            The Katz residence at 123 West Maple Avenue is an 1857 quintessential Bucks County historic home that features several architectural accents of hand made tiles from Henry Mercer’s Moravian Pottery and Tile works factory in Doylestown:

 

 

 

            The Lodini home at 150 Country Lane is literally tucked down a bucolic county lane near the Middletown Country Club.  Owner Lora Lodini is an interior textile artisan and the fabulous displays of her work throughout her home will delight tour goers:

 

 

 

The Schmidt residence at 370 Winchester Avenue is a stately 1925 colonial tucked behind a vast screen of majestic evergreens.  On display for view is a hand made Honduran mahogany Secretary that owner George Schmidt made for his wife Jane, after seeing an antique on display at the Philadelphia Antiques Show.  Also, many of George original oil painting of Bucks County landscapes adorn the walls of this magnificent home:

 

 

 

The Martini residence at 174 Green Valley Road is the home of Four Lanes End Garden Club President Sonia Martini.  Sonia’s landscape design talent is showcased in her award winning garden (including the prestigious Bucks Beautiful award).  Sonia’s vast garden sculpture collection includes a Five Senses garden and examples of Easter Island sculptures.  Her ongoing commitment to organic gardening includes the recent addition of a fine Brahma Bantam chicken, which will be on hand to visit with Tour goers!

 

 

 

 

Workshops on how to create hand made ornaments and wreaths will be held hourly at the historic Richardson House at the corner of Maple and Bellevue Avenues and the 1888 Williamson Library (only remaining documented structure designed by Renowned Bucks County architects Newton H. Culver and T. Mellon Rogers which is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places) will be decorated and open for view as well.

Tea and home made holiday cookies will be served at the Middletown Country Club and will feature holiday entertainment throughout the day.  A Holiday House Store set up at the Country Club will provide visitors an opportunity to purchase a memento of this wonderful day!

The Middletown Country Club will be featuring a special gourmet lunch and dinner menu the day of the tour.  The Jesse Sobe American Legion Hall and many local restaurants are offering substantial lunch discounts for tour goers as well.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 the day of the tour.  Tickets are available at several local Langhorne shops (Judy’s Framing, Langhorne Coffee Shop,  Dance Ten and St. Mary’s Thrift Shop) or from any FLEGC member.

The monies received from the tour are used for scholarships to support local college students studying horticulture, landscape architecture, and other related fields.

For more information, contact FLEGC President Sonia Martini (smarjmar@verizon.net, (215) 860-1366) or Publicity chairpersons Terri Doerschuck and Peggy Parkinson (tdoerschuck@dandacorp.com, shorebum54@hotmail.com).

 

Information about FLEGC can be found on their website: http://flegc.buxcom.net/