Articles > Letter from Charleston

The temperature in Charleston is never meant to reach freezing, so I was totally unprepared for the icy blasts which blew in during my stay from the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers. However a great warm and welcoming place to stay is Planter’s Inn - within walking distance of everywhere and full of southern charm without being cutesy. After a freezing morning spent at the Georgian mansion Drayton Hall just outside the city - a house that survived both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars intact - we lunched at Slightly North Of Broad, known as SNOB. Fifty years ago no-one who considered themselves fashionable would have dreamed of venturing north of Broad, but now it is one of the chicest areas. The warmth of the restaurant and a few glasses of sherry really hit the spot, and having unthawed, we indulged in mouth-watering Southern cooking eating scrumptious shrimp and grits. Revived we went on to see the grand Neoclassical Nathaniel-Russell House which is slowly being renovated room by room and has an exciting staircase which seems to fly up through three floors. We followed this by going to see the largely unrenovated Aiken-Rhett House with its intact workyard and slave quarters. Many of the shops were closed over Christmas and the New Year but this somehow only added to the charm of Charleston.

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