The path to the Shorecrest inlet beach: a winter wonderland in a blanket of new snow

Always a fan of the great natural beauty of the North Fork, its open fields and miles of beaches, I am particularly enamored of its winter glory. The area is looking especially beautiful at present in its white winter coat of snow and offers great photo opportunities for the camera buff. I am equally fond of the local wildlife which, if not in hibernation might need some extra help during this kind of harsh winter weather. The birds at my feeder just outside my window are a constant source of entertainment as they brave the storm to supplement their winter diet.Over the summer we could hear the call of a red fox in the nights and spotted him a few times dashing across route 48 in the late evening or early morning hours. Now we know where he goes as we can spot his tracks in the snow from his nightly hunting forays. I hope he manages to find and make a meal of some of the sleeping voles that were eating my bulbs and perennial flower roots last spring! Gardeners quickly lose any sentimental feelings over pesky rodents, and anyway, I’m a big admirer of handsome Mister Fox.

Large amounts of snow can be a burden in an urban setting; and not pretty as soon as it turns from pristine white to a dirty gray color, then black, in a very short time.  Piled high on every corner, it makes getting around a chore in the city as I remember well from when I worked in Manhattan. But on the sparsely populated North Fork the snow remains white and pristine on all but the busiest main roads and its beauty a pleasure. Driving the back roads, visiting the creeks and vineyards or hiking the nature preserves and beaches, the stunning views just take your breath away.

If you want to regain that feeling of childhood, when a snow storm was a magical event that transformed the landscape and made everything beautiful, take a little break and come stay with us for a couple of days. We are only just over two hours from Manhattan and a less than fifteen minutes from the Orient Point Ferry. Visit the ‘Area Attractions’ page of our website to see our map and lists of things to do and see while you are here. Bring your Valentine , any time through the end of March, and be treated to a complimentary champagne picnic or wine class included in the cost of a two night stay. Visit our website and click on the ‘check availability BnB rooms’ for rates and calendar.

News updates from Shorecrest

Each winter I choose a couple of projects to improve the comforts and amenities of the BnB for my guests. This year I tackled extending the central heating and cooling system that serves the rest of the house to the west porch and improving the insulation of the storm windows. The result has been that guests have been able to sit out there, play chess, scrabble or just read on even cold days this winter. It is also now usable for far more days of the year for in house massage, and is large enough for either a single person or couple to receive their treatment. There is nothing so relaxing as a semi outdoor massage with natural daylight and a view of the gardens and water of the inlet beyond.

We are offering special stay packages with massage and/or wine classes included throughout the winter and early spring. Please visit our website to check availability, special offers and discount on massage with a two night stay or more.

Shorecrest waterfront houses available for summer rentals

Summer is coming and isn’t it time to think about a vacation for you and yours? If you are limited for time, traveling far by plane can cut so much time from your much needed holiday and so exhausting, you need another vacation to recover when you get back! Isn’t it fortunate then that there is so much to do on the North Fork for all ages and it is amazing that such an idyllic place could be just a short journey from large Metropolitan areas as Manhattan by road, train or bus and Boston and Connecticut via the Cross Sound Ferries from New London or Bridgeport. We are also only 45 minutes from Long Island’s McArthur airport and two hours from JFK or La Guardia for those coming from further away and who need to fly. Great for families with children and even pets, Shorecrest Property Management has four waterfront houses still with availability for rent this coming summer. Please visit our Property Management website  for photos and details and links to our reservation calendar for house prices and availability.

I look forward to welcoming you to Shorecrest and the North Fork soon!

From the Strawberry Festival in Mattituck to Winery Tours and the Greenport Gallery Walk.

find out what’s going on at Suffolk Times twitter list here

Scroll down to see some Upcoming Winery Events

Castello di Borghese Vineyards

Saturday, June 19, 2010
1pm

Winemaker’s Walk at Castello di Borghese Vineyard

A guided tour of the winery and production facility and wine tasting at
Castello di Borghese Vineyard & Winery. $20 per person. Please call to make
reservations (631) 734-5111 or purchase tickets online securely with your
credit card at www.castellodiborghese.com.

Saturday & Sunday, June 25 & 26, 2010
11am – 5pm

Piano Tasting at Castello di Borghese Vineyard

Enjoy this wonderful afternoon event ‘showcasing’ beautiful pianos
graciously supplied by Frank and Camille.  Castello di Borghese Vineyard is
located at 17150 County Rte 48 in Cutchogue, NY.  Call 631-734-5111 for more
information or visit our website at www.castellodiborghese.com

Saturday, June 26, 2010
1pm

Winemaker’s Walk at Castello di Borghese Vineyard

A guided tour of the winery and production facility and wine tasting at
Castello di Borghese Vineyard & Winery. $20 per person. Please call to make
reservations (631) 734-5111 or purchase tickets online securely with your
credit card at www.castellodiborghese.com

Saturday, June 26, 2010
12-2pm

Rolling in Dough A Traveling Wood Fire Brick Oven Pizza at Borghese Vineyard

Rolling in Dough, a mouth watering, wood-fired, brick oven pizza on wheels
will be tantalizing your taste buds at Borghese as part of the Long Island
Wine and Food Festival events being held throughout the weekend.   Pizza &
Wine available for purchase for your visit.  Castello di Borghese Vineyard
is located at 17150 County Rte 48 in Cutchogue, NY.  Call 631-734-5111 for
more information or visit our website at www.castellodiborghese.com

Saturday, June 26, 2010
2-4pm

Long Island Wine and Food Festival Event featuring Executive Chef Lia Fallon
at Castello di Borghese Vineyard

Executive Chef and Co-Owner of Amarelle, Lia Fallon is a seasoned culinary
executive, food stylist and producer. Educated and trained at the Culinary
Academy in New York where she received her culinary arts degree, will be our
featured Chef during the first “Long Island Wine and Food Festival”.
Chef Fallon began her career in Manhattan at The Food Network as a food
stylist, working for celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay and now
will bring her incredible talent to Borghese for this special tasting
experience.  Chef Fallon evokes food to perform and achieve beyond ordinary
expectations and will pair everything with Borghese’s Award-Winning wines.
Castello di Borghese Vineyard is located at 17150 County Rte 48 in
Cutchogue, NY.  Call 631-734-5111 for more information or visit our website
at www.castellodiborghese.com

Clovis Point Winery

JUNE

SATURDAY,  June 19th, Live Music
Baxter-Miller Band
2-5pm

SUNDAY, June 20th, Live Music
Join us for a Father’s Day Celebration
Sue Giordano Duo
2-5pm

SATURDAY, June 26th
Join the Managing Partner Hal Ginsburg for a VIP tour of the Vineyard along with wine and a Greek cheese tasting
At 1:00 and  3:00
Fee for this event is $15.00 per person ($10.00 per person for Wine Club Members)
Please RSVP

SATURDAY, June 26th
Book Signing
Rosemary Mckinley, a local author from 2:30-5:00pm
101 Glimpses of the North Fork and Islands

SATURDAY, June 26th (Evening)
Dinner and Library Wine Tasting
with live music
Jazz on the Half Shell
6-9 PM
Dinner paired with Cellar favorites.
We will be serving five wines with five courses

SUNDAY, June 27th
Clovis Point is pouring at the
Long Island Wine and Food Festival Weekend in Greenport
www.LongIslandWineandFoodFestival.com

Lieb Cellars

Father’s Day Weekend
Saturday June 19 and Sunday June 20
Celebrate Fathers Day with Lieb Cellars. All Dads will receive a free tasting flight of their choosing.

Wine Club Spring Pick-Up Party
Sunday June 27 (Rescheduled from June 13th)
12 – 3 pm
$20 Gold Club Members
$5 Platinum Club Members

Wine and Chocolate Pairing Education Class
By Exotic Chocolate Tasting
Part of the Long Island Food and Wine Festival
Saturday June 26
5 – 7 pm
Join us for a special Exotic Chocolate & Wine Pairing Event featuring Roxanne Browning. Roxanne will be pairing 5 fair trade exotic chocolates with 5 of our wines.
$40 per person / $25 for wine club members
RSVP Required

www.liebcellars.com    35 Cox Neck Road, Mattituck, NY 11952       631 298 1942

Martha Clara Vineyards

Saturday June 19th 7pm

Sail on the beautiful scenic
Mattituck Inlet & LI Sound
w/ Captain Bob & Martha Clara
Vineyards Winemakers.
Wine will be served along with light hors d’oeuvres.

$75/ticket+tax
Wine Club Members $55/ticket
for a max of 4 tix+tax
Purchase tix with gina@marthaclaravineyards.com

Osprey’s Dominion

Saturday 6/19/10 – Live Music
With Sahara from 1:30 – 5:30PM

Saturday 6/20/10 – Celebrate Dad
Live Music with TJ Brown from 1:30 – 5:30PM

ART HAPPENINGS

5TH ANNUAL OUTSIDER ART IN THE HAMPTONS

Visionary, Art Singular & Self -Taught Artists

NOW through Monday September 6th, 2010

Galerie BelAge, 8 Moniebogue Lane, Westhampton Beach, New York 11978

Gallery Contact number: 631-288-5082  www.galeriebelage.com

Gallery Hours: Monday thru Friday 10 – 5:00, Saturday + Sunday 12 – 6:00

Opening Night Reception: Saturday June 19th, 2009, 5:00 to 8:00 PM

Featuring Live Outsider Music and Poetry Reading by Self taught artist, poet, and song writer; Phil Demise will be giving a rare musical solo performance and reading poems from his book “PERIODS”. The “NYC Gothic Blues duo Lone Vein” will also be performing live.

This year’s exhibition includes 80 established and emerging artists from France, Netherlands, China, Switzerland and throughout the USA, including Long Island. Mediums include works in oils, acrylics,sculpture,photography,video,with musical, dance & poetry performances. Additionally there will be a satellite exhibit for the month of August at the Greenport Brewery’s Gallery. The “UnHamptons North Fork Edition” of the “5th Annual Outsider Art in theHampton’s, with a selection of art in coordination with the Westhampton’s Beach Exhibition.

These exhibitions are a collaborative effort with Three Non Profit organizations; Fountain Gallery + Pure Vision Arts from New York City + Survivors Art Foundation.

Enjoy your Father’s Day Weekend!

Vineyard Events
Sat 19th
2-5pm Live Music – Hank Stone (Folk/Rock)

Sun 20th
2-5pm Live – Music Alan St Jon(classic rock/pop

Look for us on

facebook.com
twitter.com
Youtube
6025 Sound Ave Riverhead NY   631 298 0075   marthaclaravineyards.com

Last Chance Animal Rescue Vineyard Hike at Palmer Vineyards

Vineyard: Palmer Vineyards
Time: 10:00 AM
Sunday, June 27th
Last Chance Animal Rescue Vineyard Hike

Babe in the Garden

10:00 AM
Join us in the morning for a 2 mile hike with Palmer Vineyards vineyard manager, Josh Carp. Josh will give us a brief vineyard tour while we get a bit of exercise. Don’t forget to bring your favorite fluffy friend.
Donations will be accepted to benefit Last Chance Animal Rescue, a charitable, not-for profit organization created to save the lives of animals. One of the main goals of the foundation is to rescue animals that are located in “KILL” facilities and underwrite the costs of relocating them to “NO KILL” facilities in hopes of finding them a forever family.
Dogs available for adoption will join us as well!

Time: Doors open at 10 AM Hike begins at 10:30, poop bags will be provided
Donation: $15 includes a free mimosa after the hike
For more information: www.palmervineyards.com

Warm days in April are some of the best times to walk the trails of the  Arshamomaque nature preserve on Chapel Lane in Greenport, Long Island, a two minute drive from the Shorecrest Bed and Breakfast on the way to Greenport village.

The preserve is 51 acres, part of the Long Island Pine Barrens Maritime Reserve and listed for protection because of its exceptional scenic, biological and recreational resources and at this time of year offers a rare and brief opportunity to see and photograph the Vernal ponds .

Reflections in a vernal pond

This week the weather was perfect, mild but with a crispness in the air, and as the trees had not yet leafed out there was nothing to restrict the view of the magical reflections in the ponds, which cover a large area of the preserve at the end of winter.

Swamp Cottonwood in early Spring

These expanses of water which only exist for a short time as a result of the snows and rains of winter will dry up entirely as the weather warms but not before the many animals that depend on them, especially for breeding will have completed one important cycle of their lives. Most of these animals such as frogs, toads, turtles, and salamanders spend a majority of their life in the nearby wetlands but migrate to breed or feed in these productive vernal pools. Fingernail clams and air-breathing snails live their entire life in vernal pools and must burrow beneath leaves and mud when the pool dries until the water returns. Fairy shrimp produce eggs that remain in the dry pool after the adult’s death and hatch after the pool refills.

Wood anenomes carpet the forest floor in April

Arial photographs indicate that sixty percent of the preserve was once farmed. Over time fields were left fallow and resulted in the mixed stages of plant succession that you can see as you pass along the trails. Some meadow like areas are at early stages of development and still dominated by grasses and perennial herbs, providing food and cover for white tailed deer, bobwhite quail and eastern cottontails.

A grassy meadow within the preserve

A large area is at the shrub land stage where eastern red cedar and northern bayberry prevail, providing cover for animals to sleep, roost and escape predators. Finally stands of black locusts, a fast growing deciduous tree represent a more advanced stage of succession, and these will eventually, in many years give way to beeches, oaks and hickories.

Reflections in the Marsh

The preserve also includes an example of a swamp cottonwood forest, rare in NY State, also mixed with other swamp hardwoods which support specialized bird and animal populations.

The short or the long trail- you choose

The blue trail will take you to the bird observation tower, a tree house like structure with a view over the marsh.

Bird spotting from the tree house blind

I brought my iphone with the ‘chirp!USA’ app, a bird song and photograph identification tool that I have used in my back yard to attract different species to my feeders. This time I played the Redwing blackbird song and sure enough, within minutes an interested male of the species was checking out the source – of  a rival or possible mate? – not being a bird, I really had no way to tell!

Male Redwing blackbird checking out my iphone

Arshamomaque is only one of many preserves on the North Fork which offer such quiet and tranquil beauty all year round including the National Audubon Society preserve just a few minutes from the Shorecrest . I will be writing about the others soon in this blog and reporting back as they change with the season.

Cattail Marsh viewed from the bird blind

I hope you will find the time to visit and enjoy them too, and ask us about our special discounts for National Audubon and Garden Conservancy members for off season and mid week stays, and a private tour of the Shorecrest gardens.

March view from the bird blind

The Shorerest Bed and Breakfast gardens are predominantly planted up with perennials and a generous dose of annuals, mostly self seeded from the previous year, to maintain color and fill in gaps when the perrenial borders aren’t quite up to par.

I’ll be writing about them in my next blog post  and following up with progressive articles as they change throughout the year

We look forward to welcoming you to Shorecrest soon and would love to be your guide and helper as you explore the natural beauty of the North Fork.

Cedar Beach Country Park in Southold is a 68 acre park with over 2,800 feet on Shelter Island Sound.  From the part, visitors can enjoy great vistas of Shelter Island Sound and the saltwater marshes of Cedar Beach Harbor. 

Arshamomaque Point in Southold encompasses a 54-acres wooded preserve with several trails that wind through mature woodlands, ponds, and saltwater wetlands.

Arshamomaque Preserve in Greenport is a 120 acre preserved owned by the Town of Southold.  They have 1.3 miles of nature trails that wander through mature woodlands, freshwater wetlands, and open fields. 

Inlet Pond Park in Greenport enjoys a 55 acre preserve with 1.6 miles of trails leading to Inlet Pond and Long Island Sound.  The North Fork Audubon has a visitor’s center and also offers nature programs. 

Dam Pond Maritime Reserve in East Marion is a 36 acre reserve also owned by the Town of Southold.  Here you can enjoy a small protected bay, grasslands, saltwater marshes and woodlands.  There is also a trail that wanders through the reserve which is 1.2 miles long.  

It will take some time to try them all, but we will enjoy having you as our guest at the Shorecrest Bed and Breakfast as you explore the North Fork of Long Island

If you prefer to have guided tours, most Sundays and Tuesdays they offer Family Nature Walks.  This is an opportunity to learn about birds, plants, and animals that live on the North Fork.  Be sure to check their calendar for their up-to-date schedule.  For the remainder of October the walks are scheduled for October 18, 20, 25, and 27th. 

Every third Tuesday of the month features “Tuesdays with Tom”.    He is sure to entertain as he guides you along the North Fork to enjoy a little hiking and bird watching.  On Tuesday, October 20th he will visit Jamaica Bay in search for migrating hawks and falcons.  He notes that merlins can also be found along this route.  Make sure to save the date of November 17th for another of his guided days.

Programs and Presentations are also in abundance at the North Fork Audubon Society.  Friday, November 18th will host a presentation on the Calverton Grasslands.  Calverton Grasslands is home to many protected species and will discuss how they utilize the grassland habitat.

The North Fork Audubon Society offers guests of the Shorecrest Bed and Breakfast year around activities.  We know you will enjoy them!

Some of our favorite trails include:

 Mill Road Preserve covers 25 acres and trails wind through 8 acres of grasslands and shrub lands and then into 17 acres of mature woodlands. 

Goldsmith Inlet Park has 35 acres and there is a ½ mile trail which leads to Long Island Sound.  Hikers experience mature woodlands, tidal wetlands, Goldsmith Inlet Pond, and 1500 feet along the Long Island Sound.  This hike is also wonderful for bird watching.

Laurel Lake Preserve has 495 acres of preserved land and the nature trail is 2.1 miles long.  The hike wanders through a variety of terrain and includes woodlands, grasslands, vernal ponds, fresh water swamps and overlooks the beauty of Laurel Lake.

This is only a sampling of the trails which are available on the North Fork.  We encourage you to join the Shorecrest Inn and experience the variety of hiking trails which are available!

While enjoying your stay at Shorecrest Bed & Breakfast, make sure to take the time to enjoy Orient Beach State Park.  Orient Beach State Park is located at the eastern end of the North Fork on Long Island. Orient Beach has 45,000 feet of frontage on Gardiner’s Bay and forms the protective arm of Orient Harbor. The park is open year round and there is also a small bathhouse. The beach has beautiful scenery and if you walk to the end, you will enjoy wonderful views of Shelter Island and Long Beach lighthouse. Apparently not many people know about the Park as it never seems to be crowded, which makes this a great getaway.

Orient Beach State Park offers more than just swimming. Visitors can wonder trails throughout the thick forest or stroll along one of the many marshes. Along the way you will enjoy the beauty of red cedar, black-jack oaks trees, and prickly-pear cactus. Be sure to keep your eyes open as the area is home to wildlife such as terns and osprey, which are plentiful in the marshes. Or if you prefer a little more adventure, why not rent a bicycle or kayak?

This is a wonderful Park and a great way to enjoy the day at the beach.