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Circle S Ranch and Country Inn
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Lawrence, Kansas
(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2000)
You won't be roughing it at this inn on a prairie hillside in northeast Kansas (11 miles northeast of Lawrence).
Built in 1998, the ranch house resembles a hulking plank-sided barn, with a dozen elegant, yet comfortable, rooms on three floors. You'll find a hot tub in the "silo" and a towering fireplace and leather couches in the glass-walled great room. The gourmet restaurant serves four-course dinners to overnight guests on Fridays and Saturdays.
Individual touches in each of the themed guest rooms (some with whirlpools or fireplaces) capitalize on the ranch atmosphere. Blocky sandstone fence posts like those in the Flint Hills of east-central Kansas form the mantel in the Postrock Room. The bath in the Cowboy Room includes a shower head made from a tin bucket.
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Visitors have the run of most of the ranch, where the solitude is relaxing. You might hike past grazing buffalo or one of the strutting peacocks.
The two-story great room, with a prairie view, makes the perfect spot for hearty breakfasts. In ranching tradition, suppers in the dining room usually feature one beef dish such as mixed grill of beef tenderloin and salmon, with a side of Cabernet mashed potatoes and a salad of baby greens.
After dinner, retreat to a sitting room to curl up with a book or go for a stroll. On clear winter nights, the prairie sky becomes a stargazer's dream.
For more information, and to make reservations:
