Lonely Planet Florida and The South’s Best Trips by Lonely Planet

Author:Lonely Planet
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Published: 2018-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

LINK YOUR TRIP

26 Tailgate Tour

Take in some of America’s most mythic speedways, football fields and basketball gyms, and the nearby bars that fuel the local face-painted fanatics.

25 The Bourbon Trail

Interspersed between pasture and race tracks are Kentucky’s fine distilleries where America’s tastiest hooch is crafted.

Lexington Sculptures by Gwen Reardon in Thoroughbred Park

EHRLIF / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

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2 Nicholasville

Strictly speaking, the area surrounding Lexington is what’s known as the Inner Bluegrass (or Horse Country), and it has been a center of horse breeding for three centuries. Set on a dead-end road among wooden houses, broken-down barns and stunning pastures stitched with corral fencing, Sunburst Horsemanship Center (859-224-8480; www.sunbursthorsemanshipschool.com; 1129 Durham Lane; intro lessons $60; ) isn’t a stud farm, but a horse-riding school that offers clinics to beginners and experienced riders alike, from basic horse safety to advanced jumping techniques. It also offers fun intro rides to visiting tourists, which include instruction on how to brush and saddle a horse, as well as how to walk and trot, canter and lope.

The Drive » To take KY 1268 to the Hwy 68 west into Harrodsburg is to enjoy the finest scenery in the state. This narrow two-lane road bisects vast pastures, skirts sycamore trees and wraps around hairpin bends that overlook cascading streams. At times the land cleaves and the green Kentucky River snakes along great limestone bluffs known as the Palisades.

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TRIP HIGHLIGHT

3 Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill

As you close in on the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill (www.shakervillageky.org; 3501 Lexington Rd; adult/child $10/5, riverboat rides $10/5; 10am-5pm Tue-Thu & Sun, to 8pm Fri & Sat) the countryside fencing begins to morph from corral to the stone pile flagstone variety, a centuries-old technique that hints at the age of this bucolic settlement, part of an old stagecoach mail route since 1839.

The village itself offers tours but you can take a self-guided tour among the dwellings. In the early 1800s these softly rolling hills were home to a communal society of 500 peace-loving men and women. Though the Shakers worshipped God through uninhibited ecstatic dancing, they practiced strict celibacy (probably why there aren’t any left). See their remarkable artisanship in dozens of restored buildings and learn about their history at the Shaker Life Exhibit. The Shaker Village Inn operates a lovely 3-mile paddle-boat ride aboard the Dixie Belle (adult/child $10/5) on the Kentucky River, which offers incredible views of the stunning Palisades.

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