Visit to the Linden Centre

Linden Centre at night

To start 2011, we spent five nights at the Linden Centre just north of Dali in Yunnan Province. The blue skies and much warmer temperatures were a nice break from the Siberian winds that punish Beijing from November until May.

Zoe and Ollie in horse cart

The Linden Centre is the brilliant concept of an American couple that found and renovated a mansion in the tiny village of Xizhou.  Brian and Jeanee are wonderful hosts, making you feel like you are guests in their home rather than guests at a hotel.  Guests chat between tables during meals, kids pile into the movie room after dinner, and parents are always within earshot from the well-stocked library and the Wi-Fi enabled bar that separates the mansion’s two courtyards.  The verandah at sunset is absolutely peaceful.

Zoe, Craig and Ollie on Cangshan Mountain 

Highlights for the girls included watching cormorant fishing on Erhai Lake, taking a gondola up to Cangshan Mountain and going for a short hike, and driving the horse cart that carried us around Xizhou village and to visit temples every afternoon. 

We had heard about the Linden Centre for several years, and it was everything we expected it to be.