Jump View Farm is 17.5 miles from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia — about twenty-five minutes. It sleeps eleven across four bedrooms, which is why families book it for the weekends when the whole family comes.
Graduation and parents' weekend are the hard dates
W&L graduation, parents' weekends and reunion weekends fill Lexington months in advance. There is not much hotel stock, and what exists prices accordingly on exactly the dates you need. A house that sleeps eleven takes the whole family in one booking and usually costs less than the rooms would.
- Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, eleven beds — grandparents included
- A kitchen and a dining table, for the meal that is the actual point of the weekend
- One reservation instead of coordinating several
- Room to sit outside afterwards rather than in a lobby
Distances
- Washington and Lee: 17.5 miles, about 25 minutes
- VMI, next door to W&L: 16 miles
- Downtown Lexington: 20-25 minutes
- Roanoke airport: 67 miles, about an hour and a quarter
Making a weekend of it
Goshen Pass is seven miles away and worth the detour in warm weather. Jump Mountain Vineyard is two miles, open at weekends. Staunton is half an hour north and has the best restaurants in the area. Families in for a graduation often add a day either side rather than driving straight home.
The house itself
Jump View Farm is an 1870s farmhouse on four acres, surrounded by 177 acres of working calf pasture, with Walker's Creek along the front boundary and Jump Mountain filling the view. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, 2,700 square feet across two floors. The stairs are original, so it is not a step-free house.
Outside there is a full tennis court that doubles for pickleball, a basketball hoop, shuffleboard and a firepit set ready to light. There is a Level 2 EV charger. Pets are welcome — up to three, $50 per pet for the first week — though the cattle and the electric fence mean dogs need supervising.