This past May Bobby and I celebrated our 48th anniversary. We weren’t able to travel so we took a mini-stay vacation and spent a few days at Los Poblanos, an historic inn in the village of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, just northwest of town. It is located up against the Bosque along the Rio Grande; therefore, it is very green and lush. We had a very pleasant retreat – relaxing, quiet, peaceful, and a culinary delight.
Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm was built in 1934 and designed by John Gaw Meem, “the Father of Santa Fe Style”. It still uses the original buildings which have been updated and remodeled, while maintaining their original charm. One of the older buildings, La Hacienda, has been renovated into a spa, and another, La Quinta, a multi-use facility for meetings, library, museum and weekly afternoon tea. Due to the popularly of the Inn, they have added more quest rooms as well as a new restaurant and Farm Shop. Throughout Los Poblanos are organic gardens, and lavender fields. The lavender is used to to make a variety of lavender products from body care to teas and honey. I encourage you to click on the provided links to see more of this beautiful historic in and learn more about the various services.
During our visit we stayed in one of the original guest suites which, I think was the best room in the whole inn. Our patio looked out onto the Greely Garden which was absolutely beautiful during our stay. Many of the rose bushes were still blooming, along with a variety of wild flowers, columbine, and water lilies. The lavender and day lilies were still a week or two away from blooming.
Below are some of the blooms we enjoyed. In the first picture, a wisteria vine covers the portal to two quest rooms. Our room was on the right side of the portal with a patio that looked out into the gardens.
On the day of our anniversary, Bobby treated us to an afternoon tea at La Quinta. It was a beautiful afternoon, cool, still, and a New Mexico blue sky. The ambience was breathtaking and the teas and tea menu were afternoon delights. Enjoy the pictures of our afternoon tea.
I could have eaten a bowl of the vegetable shooter. It was a Cold Tarragon Asparagus Soup.
In addition to afternoon tea, we also enjoyed a couple of meals at Campo, the Inn’s restaurant. We have been to Campo a few times in the past and have always enjoyed the food and the overall dining experience. For the dinner we had, Bobby ordered the seared duck breast with mole blanca, roasted beets and absolutely delicious spring greens. Because he was generous enough to share, I can honestly say that it was some of the best flavors I’ve eaten in a long time. My meal was also quite good, but very different. We all know how I love spicy, so I ordered the Ribeye smothered in a spicy chile mache, served with roasted potatoes and mushrooms. It was delicious as well!
On our last day we went back to Campo for brunch. Again, the food was marvelous. Eggs Benedict and a pasta dish both with produce picked fresh produce from the Los Poblanos gardens. Oh, and let’s not forget the dangerous Bloody Mary of which I could easily have drank more than one.
As a closing note – Just outside our room was this one hundred year old (or more) tamarisk (salt cedar). We have seen A LOT of tamarisk in the Bosque, but never one this big and old. It was pretty amazing.
We hope you enjoyed our short little get away to Los Poblanos Historic Inn. I didn’t get a lot of pictures of the grounds and buildings, so please visit the links I provided previously to get a full picture of what a beautiful place this is. We are very lucky to have such a pleasant place so close to home.
In addition to visiting Los Poblanos, here are a few other places to explore on your next trip to New Mexico.
48 years! Congratulations!! You are making me long to go back to Albuquerque. So many great memories there. I retired last year and visiting NM has been moved up on my travels list. Thanks for a wonderful recap of two very lovely places.
Thanks so much! I hope you get to revisit ABQ again soon. Congrutaltions on your retirment! You’re going to love it. I certainly am enjoying mine. 🙂 Cheers, MJ
As always, I love your NM travels. Adding this to my list, I hope we get to the Land of Enchantment soon!
This looks delightful.
Thanks Jeff!
MJ, I had to come over check out your Los Poblanos post. This is a beautiful place. What a special 48 th Wedding Anniversary quiet celebration.
Velva
thank you so much Velva! It was a very nice celebration.
Happy Anniversary! I would have a great time celebrating there. Looks like I have one more place to add to my New Mexico list. Actually the whole state is on there!
Thanks Abbe. You’re right, there is SO much to see here in New Mexico. If I were visiting it would be hard to choose.
MJ, such a wonderfully relaxing stay-cation! You’ve captured the scenery so beautifully. Congratulations to you both on your anniversary!
Thanks Kelly!
Congratulations on your 48th wedding anniversary. It is indeed so special! And thank you for sharing your beautiful stay-vacation with us 🙂
Thanks Darlin! Yes, it was quite special. 🙂
MJ,
Congratulations, first of all, on your anniversary with Bobby! What a treat indeed to stay at this inn that is so close to you! I loved the photo-journey experience that your camera and you took us on. I haven’t been to an afternoon tea in a long time, so I really enjoyed reading the menu and looking at some of the items offered. Beautiful setting and I love all of the roses! thanks for taking us along in your suitcase for the trip! I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!
Ciao, xoxo,
Roz
Thanks Roz! It was nice staying so close to home, but far enough away and different enough that we felt like we were miles away. It was our first afternoon tea and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Cheers, MJ
Thanks so much for sharing this MJ. We’re always looking for new adventures in NM. And Happy Anniversary. The property looks beautiful and I’ve never seen a Tamarisk that big. The food sounds amazing.
Thanks Lea Ann! That Tamarisk blew us away. We’ve seen hundreds of them, but never one that big.
What a gorgeous spot to celebrate your anniversary!!! Congratulations!!!
Thanks Liz!
Happy 48th MJ. What a relaxing staycation. I love these kind of get away – where time seems to stand still for just a moment.
Thanks Bobbi! Yes, it was quite relaxing.
This looks like a lovely place to visit! love all the gardens and flowers.
Thanks Amy!
this looks so delightful MJ. Love the gardens and the flowers … Happy happy anniversary to you!
Thanks Sherry!
Oh, W o W, Congratulations MJ, 48 years together is quite something! I’m so glad you got to celebrate at this wonderful place with its lush, colourful scenery, such pretty blooms. Afternoon tea is special isn’t it (the clotted cream with the scones, omg) have been lucky to go a couple times in Canada (that British thing you know), and it always feels so unique. I’m very intrigued by the vegetable shooter …. love tarragon, one of my fave herbs… i vote for you to recreate this delightful sounding soup on your blog :)).
Thanks Kelly! I know! 48 years! I remember the naysayers that said it would never last when we first got married. I guess we showed them. Ha Ha. I had no ideai that the tea was going to be so special. We both surprisingly enjoyed it much more than we thought. The vegetable shooter – we are two like minded people. I actually started working on recreating it a couple of days after we got back. I have one more adjustment I won’t to make and I think I’ll have it. 🙂 Cheers, MJ
Happy 48th anniversary to you MJ Willis.
Thank you for share us your great memorable moment. I saw your 1970s picture. That time you were pretty girls. Best wishes to you and your Bob Willis.
Thank you Helen! Oh yes, things have certainly changed in 48 years. 🙂
LoL… definitely, changed… Natural process… best of luck 🙂
Happy Happy Anniversary MJ and Bobby! I’m so happy you shared your time at Los Poblanos Inn and Lavender Farm. It’s within 15 minutes of our house and we visit the farm shop frequently! It’s a magical place to visit and now that I’ve seen your photos, I may have to inspire Joe to take us to the Inn for a staycation one day!
Thanks Jan! Have you ever eaten at Campo? It’s pricey, but for a special occasion, you can’t beat the quality of the food, service and ambience.
Happy anniversary dear couple! This place is so charming, perfect to relax and enjoy!
Thanks Davorka! It is a charming retreat.
How lovely! Thanks so much for sharing. We are always happy to discover new retreats to enjoy in our favorite place on earth, The Land of Enchantment.
Thanks Sharon! Hope you get to visit Los Poblanos some day Even if you don’t stay there, eating at the restaurant is always a pleasure. And the Farm Shop is fun. 🙂
A belated Happy Anniversary with bestest wishes for your coming year – and thank you so much for taking us along to the site of so much happy beauty ! For someone like me so far across land and sea it is especially nice to be able to compare and contrast 🙂 ! What you call ‘afternoon tea’ we would in this instance name ‘High Tea’ . . . there being a fixed three-tier offering of dainty sandwiches, scones and some cake to follow – perchance about twice as much as yours but with a pretty hefty price tag these days !!! Oh, a glass of champagne usually precedes the tea 🙂 !
Thanks Eha! The one commonality between high tea and afternoon tea is the price, that’s for sure. It was cheap, but hey, you only live once. 🙂 The amount was actually just right for Bobby and me. There were two sweet desserts, but both were lighter than a cake. The champagne sounds like a nice addition. Bobby did get a small tawny port to go with the desserts. He enjoyed that. Like you, its always good to know the difference in difference countries. Thanks for sharing,
Thanks. We are coming to Albuquerque in July, and will consider Los Poblanos Inn and the restaurant. Happy Anniversary to you two. PS, since moving from NM to TX we connect with NM recipes through your website and recipe index. Thank you!
Thanks Gregory! Oh goody! Please consider stopping in at Los Poblanos. The restaurant is one of the best in the city and the Farm Shop is so much fun with lots of interesting Artisan products. I am truly thrilled that you are connecting to NM through my website. That’s one of the reason I created it, to connect people with NM cuisine, even though who know it, but can’t get it. Cheers, MJ
Happy Anniversary to you and your hubby, MJ! Looks like that you two had some great time in that lovely organic farm!
Thanks Angie! We did have a lovely time.
Happy Anniversary! What a terrific way to celebrate — sounds like a ton of fun. Love the pictures. And the post, of course. 🙂 Thanks!
Thanks John! It was a fabulous anniversary celebration for sure.
What a wonderful getaway! And a very Happy Anniversary to you both.
Thanks Susan!
Thank you for sharing these places in New Mexico. I live in Colorado and want to visit each place you have blogged about! Just beautiful. Thanks again.
You are most welcome Lois! Thank you! I hope you do get to visit these places some day. They are definitely enchanting.