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Recreation

Carroll County has 10 loop bike tours totaling more than 150 miles. The routes pass scenic stops and historic attractions, through farm and woodland, villages and backroads. The routes were compiled by local bicyclists from their favorite rides, ranging in difficulty and length. Maps are available from the Carroll County Visitors Center.

The Carroll County Equestrian Council has put together a packet of detailed maps for horseback riders in five different natural areas where equestrian trails exist. (225 N. Center Street, tel. 410-386-2103)

Bear Branch Nature Center has observation and exhibit rooms, a planetarium, and hiking trails of the Hashawha Environmental Center surrounding it, including a handicapped-accessible trail. Open Wednesday-Saturday, 10 am-5 pm, and Sunday, noon-5 pm. (300 John Owings Road, tel. 410-848-2517)

Dining

Baugher’s Country Restaurant has pick your own strawberries, a fruit market, restaurant, and playground, all set on a hill on the west end of town, just off the highway 140. This is comfort food the way grandma makes it: fried chicken, succotash, apple fritters, delicious desserts, and apple cider pressed from their own apples. Kids can eat for as little as $2.50. (289 W. Main Street, tel. 410-848-3600)

Fat Cat Café is located in a restored Victorian home (172 Main Street, tel. 410-848-1181), and Johanssons Brewing Company and Dining House is a microbrew and restaurant with the style of a Victorian pub. There’s even a red British phone booth in the bar. (4 W. Main Street, tel. 410-876-0101)

About eight miles north of Westminster is Bradley’s Fox Briar Inn. It opened in 2002 with new owners, but the building goes all the way back to 1700 when it was an inn with a tollgate next-door. There’s a pub for casual eating and fine dining in a separate room, with hardwood floors and a fireplace. The menu features seafood, prime rib and chicken entrées, as well as the ever-popular jumbo lump crab cakes. Kids’ menu available. Open for lunch and dinner daily. (4115 Littles­town Pike, Silver Run, tel. 410-848-2316)

See also Westminster Inn and Antrim 1844 in Lodging, below.

Lodging

Once a schoolhouse, The Westminster Inn now offers 24 bed & breakfast guest rooms, casual dining in the Courtyard Café or Naughty Boy’s Pub, the more formal Library and Botany dining rooms, or cocktails in the Teacher’s Lounge. The cuisine is contemporary American. In the same building is the East End Athletic Club, which has an indoor track, swimming pool and other sports. (5 South Center Street, tel. 410-876-2893 or 410-857-4445, www.westminsterinn.com, $$)

The Westminster Inn also operates the Bowling Brook Country Inn a few miles north of Uniontown, and about 20 minutes west of Westminster. The mansion, with eight bed & breakfast rooms, is surrounded by 225 acres of farmland, which was a horse-racing training ground for five successive Preakness winners from 1878-1882. (Mid­dle­burg Road, Uniontown, tel. 410-876-2893, $$)

Antrim 1844 country inn is a four-star dining and bed & breakfast experience in Taneytown, about 10 miles northwest of Westminster via Route 140. The accolades “elegant” and “romantic” fit to a T. The mansion has nine guest rooms, with another 13 suites and rooms in original, restored outbuildings, each their own fireplace. The formal breakfasts feature Belgian waffles, butlers serve at the hors d’oeuvre parties, and the six-course dinners have been acclaimed in The Baltimore Sun. (30 Trevanion Road, Taneytown, tel. 410-756-6812 or 800-858-1844, www.antrim1844.com, $$$$)

At the Yellow Turtle Inn in nearby New Windsor, visitors are greeted by staff in Victorian clothing. You can arrange for a massage, a soak in a Victorian tub, tea and scones, or just sit on the wrap-around porch with a book. There’s a pool and a carriage house filled with a costume collection. Three guest rooms and two whirlpool suites. (111 Spring­dale Avenue, New Windsor, tel. 410-635-3000, www.bbon­line.com/md/yellowturtle/, $$)

There’s a Best Western in Westminster, with a