I’m no oenophile, but I am a huge fan of wine country architecture and style. The other night, we took my in-laws to Hillebrand Winery in Niagara -on-the-Lake to celebrate my father-in-law’s upcoming 70th birthday. It was a lovely evening all around.

The Hillebrand grounds have exactly what I love about wine country style – a perfect blend of old and new, a perfect balance of natural and refined.

I got a lot of ideas to use for improving our yard, when the time comes.

I absolutely love this raised patio dining area. The stone steps and facing are rustic and beautiful. The wrought iron railing would be a huge improvement over our chainlink!

Beautiful raised patio at Hillebrand Winery

I don’t want to completely cover our patio, since it’s often foggy where we live, and we love every little bit of sun we can get, but an open pergola would look great, and I love the look of the grape vines growing up the posts. It would be a bonus if we actually get some grapes!

Grape vines on a covered walkway at Hillebrand Winery

I also got inspired by some practical tricks for great-looking pathways without a huge price tag.

Below are a surface used for walkway and patio made from stamped concrete that looks like flagstone and also a path of packed dirt and gravel with a simple grey brick border. Both look great without using expensive materials.

concrete stamped to look like flagstone

Simple walkway of gravel with grey brick border

Inside the restaurant, I was taken by these big interior windows and wondering how I might incorporate something like that when we redo our kitchen. It could be a good way to connect go the living room.

Interior windows are so charming and carry natural light through a space.

The food was delicious, and the setting was perfect. We slipped out to the garden with the kids multiple times between courses to run around in the grass, keeping everyone happy.

Playing at the Winery

Here’s a wonderful dilemma to have: besides the gorgeous wine country gardens, I also love a gardens with an Asian theme – the stone lanterns, bridges, Japanese maples, and bamboo. I’ll have to figure out how to blend these into the perfect outdoor space soon!

Here are some pictures from the garden at my dad’s house. It was planted about 15 years ago now, and it has grown in beautifully!

Lush garden with stone lanterns and Japanese maples

Beautiful layers of green form the perfect backdrop for this garden with stone lanterns, paver stepping stones, and Japanese maples.

Cheers!

“Jewels”