Two of our guests at the Inn at Lonesome Hollow (a rural Soldiers Grove, WI Bed and Breakfast), Cindy and Ann, took an afternoon tour last Saturday with local  guides, Kevin and Patsy. Kevin is a retired history teacher who is as well steeped in the history of the Kickapoo Valley as anyone. (more…)

 This weekend marks the official beginning of cheese making workshops at Lonesome Hollow. Today we set up the workshop in preparation for 26 workshop attendees who will begin learning the art of cheese making tomorrow morning.

workshop set up for cheesemaking

 Steve the Cheesemaker, from Cedarburg, WI teaches the class. In 2009 Steve conducted four workshops at Lonesome Hollow, and this year he has signed on for another four. The 2009 workshop attendees came from as far away as Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, California, Virginia and Texas. The class will make its own soft cheeses overnight and will go home with some cheese that they helped to make. 

November Cheesemaking Graduates

Other cheese making workshops at Lonesome Hollow are scheduled for the weekends of May 22/23, July 10/11 (already sold out), and Nov 13/14. Call Steve at414 -745 -5483   to reserve a place in the workshop, and call Pete or Nora at the Inn at Lonesome Hollow for your lodging.

The world is a better place because of cheese!

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow is delighted to announce three culinary workshops this year featuring  chef Monique Jamet Hooker.  Participants in any of the 3 culinary workshops staying  2 nights at the Inn at Lonesome Hollow will get a $50 discount on their stay.  The first workshop this year is April 17th and 18th, and will be “Pates and Sausages”.  Learn how to make Pate de Campagne, garlic sausage, onion brats and more!

 Culinary workshop attendants can choose several ways to participate: from a full weekend, starting Friday night through Sunday, which includes 2 dinners, lunch, and Sunday brunch, to a shortened workshop on Saturday, which includes lunch.  The workshop will be located at Monique’s kitchen at her log home, which is nestled in the woods on a bluff above the Mississippi River.  Included with the workshop will be Monique’s award winning book,  Cooking with the Seasons, which introduces readers to over 200 recipes that emphasize seasonal distinctions of taste, texture, and color.

Monique Presents her Delicious Fare

Acclaimed chef Monique  came to the US from France in the sixties and took a position in her brother’s restaurant in New York state before moving to Chicago where she made a name for herself as a food stylist and caterer.  She also began teaching classes for people eager to recreate her art in their own kitchen. In 1983 she opened Monique’s Cafe’ in Chicago’s North River district which has since become the premier dining area in the city.

Since Monique has “retired” to the hills of Southwest Wisconsin,  she has been a spokesperson and chef with Organic Valley Cooperative, and is a frequent guest on “WPR’s “Here on Earth” and continues to teach, lecture and demonstrate the “art of seasonal cooking”.

Additional Lonesome Hollow workshops with Chef Monique Hooker will be November 5th-7th:  “All About Duck”-Roasted, Confit, Foie Gras, and more;  December 3rd-5th: “Chocolate and More Chocolate”-Cake, Truffles, Glaze, Dipping and more.

Photo by Jerry Quebe

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow, a rural bed and breakfast in Southwest Wisconsin, will sponsor three “Learn About the Wisconsin Amish” weekends in 2010. The dates for these Amish weekends are April 30/May 1, June 4/5, and October 29/30.

Locally Made Amish Honey

Included in the Amish learning weekend will be an entire afternoon spent with local tour guides who know the Cashton Settlement extremely well. The afternoon will include a tour, inside and outside, of a recently completed Amish-built house, a driving tour through the Cashton settlement with stops at the workshops of local Amish artisans, lunch at a very unique eatery, a tour of one or more local round barns, and a list of recommended Amish shopping for tour participants to visit on their own.

Amish Hay Wagon Near Cashton

Immerse yourself for one day in the life and the culture of the old world Amish. See and experience how this gentle religious sect lives a life of simple pleasures and hard work. Enter into fascinating discussions with your very personable guides and with some Amish artisans themselves. Visit the “Workshop” page at www.lonesomehollow.com for “Learn About the Wisconsin Amish” weekend details.

Valentine’s Day, more than any other holiday, is an occasion to spend quiet time with the one you love. In the wooded hills and valleys of Southwest Wisconsin, three miles from the tiny villages of Soldiers Grove and Gays Mills,  the Inn at Lonesome Hollow offers luxurious rooms and suites set on 160 secluded acres. The Inn offers two person whirlpool tubs, fireplaces, beautiful decor and an amount of privacy that can’t be found in even a small town.

Between your full breakfast and your liesurely afternoon soak in the whirlpool, hike or snow shoe on four miles of private wooded trails. The Inn offers complimentary use of snow shoes. Additional hiking is available nearby at Wyalusing and Wildcat Mountain State Parks in WI, Effigy Mounds National Monument and Pike’s Peak State Park in Iowa, and at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, an incredible 8000 acres of public land near La Farge, WI. Restaurants in Soldiers Grove, Viroqua, and Prairie du Chien offer excellent dining opportunities. 

Be alone, enjoy the natural beauty of the Kickapoo River Valley and the incomparable Driftless Area, drive the rural county roads that wind through the hills. A special Valentine Package is posted on the website – www.lonesomehollow.com.

It was 7 am, December 29, 2009. The temperature was minus four degrees (Fahrenheit, just in case someone outside the US is reading this). Early glimmers of daylight were just appearing to the east as we left our bed and breakfast, the Inn at Lonesome Hollow, near Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin. We quickly made our way to Hwy 131, then headed north. As the sky lightened a bit more we weaved our way past a wonderous white landscape, progressing north through the quiet villages of Soldiers Grove, Readstown, Viola, and LaFarge. About four miles north of La Farge we turned left onto Cty Hwy P. Just a mile after turning onto Cty P we pulled off the road into a small parking area at one of the many trailheads in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.

Slight glint of the morning dawn on the frozen river

The Kickapoo Valley Reserve (KVR) is a jewel. It is more than 8000 acres of roughly sculpted hills, bluffs, and valley that are owned by the people of Wisconsin. It is located near the center of the famed Driftless Area, a large island or peninsula of land that was spared by the Wisconsin Glacier of ten thousand years ago. The Kickapoo River has therefore been slowly wearing away the limestone bedrock of the valley for more than one hundred thousand years. In places this erosion is gentle in appearance, with graceful valleys that gradually meld into the hills. In other places this erosion is dramatic and limestone bluffs rise almost one hundred feet vertically out of the river bed. The Kickapoo Valley is twenty five times older than the pyramids of Egypt. It is about 500 times older than the United State of America. It is evidence of the persistence, the patience, and the power of nature.

Kickapoo River from Bridge 15

Our walk was exceptional. We saw no other person. The trail wandered through pristine forest and valley bottom, often right alongside the ever wandering Kickapoo River. Our lungs sucked in the frigid air. We walked quickly to accelerate our heart rates and make our family doctor happy! Dr Dave would approve of our start to this day. 

Bridge 15

It is too easy for midwesterners to stay inside during the cold winter months. We can always find diversions that keep us in the warmth and protection of our homes. But if you can muster the energy to venture out into the cold, the rewards can be amazing and beautiful. And blessed.

Happy winter!

Pete and Nora, Inn at Lonesome Hollow

It looks like the 2009/2010 winter will be another snowy one in Wisconsin. In SW Wisconsin, about 60 miles south of LaCrosse, we are right now watching a big storm go through. There is already a foot of snow on the ground from this storm and 3-5 inches additional is forecast for later today. So, lets make lemonade from the lemons!

For those who are adventurous enough to go out into the snowy landscape, the rewards are many. There is nothing more quiet and more peaceful than a snow-filled forest. The normal quiet of a rural forest is rendered even quieter by the sound absorbing blanket of snow. Everything is fresh, and white, and invigorating. Animal lovers have access to the tracks of every critter that has recently passed before you on the trail. Signs of deer, rabbit, fox, turkey, coyote, and even an occasional bobcat will be there on the ground. Look also for signs of a hawk swooping down to the ground to grab an unsuspecting field mouse.

Winter at Lonesome Hollow

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow is a rural bed and breakfast located half way between Gays Mills and Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin. Accomodations include B&B rooms, suites, and a cabin. All units have a gas fireplace to warm up over after a few hours in the woods. Four of our units have whirlpool tubs for you to soak away any residual chill. Enjoy a hot breakfast guaranteed to fill you up; dine at a great pub only four miles away; or order a take out meal from the pub’s menu and we will pick up your dinner for you.

The Inn offers complimentary use of snow shoes for use on the four miles of trails at Lonesaome Hollow or at one of five nearby state parks.  Visit

Snowshoeing at Lonesome Hollow

www.lonesomehollow.com to see hundreds of photos of our 160 acre property. We off special internet winter rates to make your stay economical as well as enjoyable.

Pete and Nora

Chicago area photographer, Bob Denny, will be hosting another of his digital photography workshops on Oct.31 – Nov.1 at the Inn at Lonesome Hollow (www.lonesomehollow.com) located in rural, scenic Southwest Wisconsin.  The workshop will include: classroom instruction on basic digital SLR camera controls; outdoor shooting of late fall colors in the beautiful Kickapoo Valley and Driftless Area that surround the Inn at Lonesome Hollow; indoor shooting utilizing artificial lights and backgrounds; and photoshop image manipulation and printing.

Bob has offered his photography workshops at several different locations in Wisconsin over the past four years. Several of the workshop attendees regularly come back for more learning experience at subsequent workshops. His workshops are noted for the teaching of manual control of SLR digital cameras, artistic photo composition, and the production of quality prints.

To sign up for the course, contact Bob at www.bobdennyphoto.com. Space is still available. The Inn at Lonesome Hollow is offering special lodging pricing for this workshop – save $50 on a two night reservation. Lodging availability is shown at www.lonesomehollow.com, or call Pete and Nora at 608-624-3429.

A very good apple harvest is underway in the famed apple growing area surrounding Gays Mills, Wisconsin. Last week the orchards brought in the highly desired Honeycrisp apples, so a good supply of these sweet, crisp apples is readily available right now. Other late maturing apples will continue to be harvested for a while. Several of the orchards have very neat gift shops associated with their businesses and it’s a blast to browse the shelves for eclectic soup mixes, locally made maple syrup and honey, pumpkins, and of course for specialty Wisconsin cheeses.

Our favorite set of orchards, four in all, lie on Wisconsin Hwy 171 between the village of Gays Mills on the west and US Hwy 61 on the east. Sunrise, Kickapoo, Fleming and Hillcrest orchards have all been in business for many years. Some of these orchards have their own bakeries, and there is a separate bakery – Apple-icious Pie Depot. Apple pies, apple pizzas, apple donuts and way more are produced in their ovens daily.

Sept 26 and 27 are the dates of the annual Gays Mills Apple Fest. Festivities will include a flea market, arts and crafts show, live music, parade, and great food. Beyond apple fest weekend some of the orchards will stay open into December, making them a prefect spot to continue making apple and specialty gift purchases. The Inn at Lonesome Hollow - www.lonesomehollow.com – is located only a few miles from the orchards. Stay for a night or two, visit the orchards, and take in the spectacular fall colors while in the area.

The fall color season has started in Southwest Wisconsin! The hardwood forests between LaCrosse and Prairie du Chien contain a high percentage of maple trees, and every year the fall colors range between “GOOD” and “WOW”. Right now (Sept 22) the colors around Soldiers Grove , WI are about 25% developed. Peak color will probably occur sometime between Sept 28 and Oct 10.

Maple Tree on Lonesome Hollow Trail

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow  has 160acres of  ridge and valley land, with almost 100 acres being wooded. There are about four miles of private hiking trails that skirt the forest edges or penetrate deep into the forest. Nearby is the Kickapoo River and a sparsely populated valley that extends north from the Wisconsin River for about 70 miles. Wisconsin Highway 131 follows the Kickapoo River all the way from its origin, near Wilton, to Wauzeka, where it meets the Wisconsin River. This 70 mile drive is very rural for its entire length, with no town on Hwy 131 having more than 750 residents.

Fall Colors Surround the Inn at Lonesome Hollow

The rugged Driftless Area terrain, the quaint antique shops, the Amish settlement near Cashton, great apple orchards, and a few wonderful wineries all combine to make this a great choice for fall leaf watching. You can even take in the fall colors while canoeing on the Kickapoo or Wisconsin river.

If your batteries need recharging, head to the hills of Southwest Wisconsin for a beautiful fall adventure.

Nora and Pete, Inn at Lonesome Hollow