If Jane Austen had set one of her novels in Northern Virginia, the characters would definitely be taking contemplative walks through Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna.
This is the kind of place where you half expect to turn a corner and find someone in a period costume declaring their undying affection while standing dramatically near a lake.
Though most of the people you’ll actually encounter will be wearing sensible walking shoes and taking photos with their phones, which is significantly less romantic but much more practical.
Meadowlark Botanical Gardens covers 95 acres of land that looks like it was designed by someone who read every romantic novel ever written and thought, “You know what? I can do that in real life.”…