Imagine yourself lounging in a stone cottage suite with a fireplace and freestanding tub, sipping hot chocolate in a rustic game and reading room with a raftered ceiling, and ice skating and cross-country skiing in the crisp mountain air. Sounds pretty perfect, doesn’t it? Especially when you add in seasonal touches.

© The Chatwal Lodge
The Chatwal Lodge, located in the Catskills on the former grounds of an 18,000-acre game preserve, is ready to make your holiday dreams come true. Only two hours from New York City, the luxury-meets-rustic boutique resort features 11 rooms and suites with views of the mountains and Toronto Reservoir. Décor is inspired by the Catskills setting, with details like overstuffed leather chairs, stone fireplaces, original wood and fixtures made from repurposed barn beams. But there are modern niceties, too, like heated floors, iPads and Bose stereo systems. Each accommodation is a little bit different; the Timberline Suite has its own private library, the Stone Cottage Suite boasts 22-foot-high vaulted ceilings, and the Treehouse Suite hovers 15 feet above the ground and provides the feeling of being part of the canopy. Turndown amenities in accommodations include seasonal treats and craft cocktails.
The Lodge is happy to curate a holiday itinerary for guests, with activities including ornament-making classes, gingerbread-house decorating, cookies with Santa, “reindeer games” archery and more.

© The Chatwal Lodge
Afternoon tea is offered every Friday and Saturday in December, with classic tea sandwiches; scones with clotted cream and house made preserves; a variety of homemade pastries from The Lodge’s homemade baker “The Bake House” like macarons, butter cookies, fresh tarts and almond pastries; and a selection of teas and French press coffee.
Executive chef Karl Ulmer created a holiday menu featuring prime rib with horseradish crust and jus and poulet rouge with mushrooms and marsala; the on-site restaurant is also open to the public on Christmas Day.

© The Chatwal Lodge
Food and beverage director Kelly Kelting created a list of fun signature cocktails sure to put you in the spirit. The pomegranate mimosa is served in a sugar-rimmed glass and garnished with rosemary; the sugar cookie martini is dessert in a glass, with Baileys, vanilla vodka and amaretto, garnished with vanilla frosting and sprinkles; and the gingerbread old-fashioned stirs Woodford Reserve Bourbon with gingerbread syrup and angostura bitters.
A house car is available to take guests to the surrounding region, like shopping at local stores and boutiques; and holiday programming at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, like holiday markets, light shows and concerts.

© The Chatwal Lodge
But guests can also hang back at the Lodge for indoor activities like duckpin bowling and billiards, or cozy up under a blanket in the reading room with a holiday title before nestling all snug in their beds and dreaming of those sugarplums.
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