Lake County has a lot of towns with unique little downtown shopping areas comprised of boutiques, restaurants and fun areas to browse/walk. Today we went to Long Grove Village to walk around and check out the shops.

As we drove up, I was surprised at the number of stores. I was expecting 15-20 stores, however, I learned that there are actually over 80 shops/restaurants in Long Grove Village. As we started walking around, the area reminded me of a nostalgic, old fashioned town, there were a lot of shops and galleries with cobblestone and brick walkways winding through the shopping areas. The first store we visited was the “Olive Tap”. This store sells oils and vinegars from around the world. I loved that you are actually able to sample lots of different types of balsamic vinegars and olive oils. They had some really interesting flavors. It is great that you can taste them prior to buying a bottle to make sure it is a flavor you will enjoy.

Another store I liked was “Within Reach”. This was a nice boutique that had lot’s of collectables and gifts. They had some really cute children’s clothing that had sayings on them like “What happens at Grandma’s stays at Grandma’s”, etc. Another store with great gifts was “The Tuscan Table”. This store had nice ceramic bowls and other Italian specialties.

We also went into “Paddy’s on the Square”. This store had items from Ireland. I wish I knew about this store a couple weeks ago when I was looking for something to wear for St. Patrick’s Day! After shopping we stopped for something to eat at the Long Grove Café. This is a great restaurant that overlooks a nice pond with a fountain in the middle of it. If it’s pretty now, I can only imagine how great it would look once the weather gets better. We had a great meal and decided to skip dessert, so that we could get something at one of the shops that we noticed afterwards. We went into “Apple Haus” to find something to have for dessert. We had plenty of options, this store has homemade apple cider, breads, etc. We decided to have tiger tails and cinnamon sticks which were great! Before leaving we stopped into a couple more shops. One was “The Fairy Garden” which is a florist. However, they also have a lot of wind chimes, key chains with cute sayings on them and garden type decorations. The other was “Baby, Baby & More”. This store had great baby/toddler clothing which I could not get enough of.

We had a wonderful time in Long Grove Village and look forward to returning to try more of the restaurants, do more shopping and just relax.

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