Slowing down is the mantra and sales pitch at the historic Hotel Fauchere, reopening this month in Milford, PA after a 30-year hiatus.

Following an extensive multi-million-dollar renovation and restoration, the 16-room luxury boutique will be promoted as a refuge and destination dining site — its 80-seat restaurant serves a modern take on traditional cuisine with fresh ingredients, in keeping with the Slow Food Movement.

Milford, located 75 miles from New York City and 125 miles from Philadelphia, is on the Delaware River nestled among lakes and mountains. Exclusive guest offerings at Hotel Fauchere include llama picnics, consisting of half-day hiking excursions into the woods, complete with gourmet lunch and hammocks; lunch or dinner served at the private waterfall exclusive to the hotel; and a private mile of trout fishing, with guides available.

Local entrepreneurs Sean Strub and Dick Snyder retained husband and wife team Michael DiLonardo and Jennifer Hazen as GM and rooms division manager, respectively. They bring to the property a level of luxury and standard of service honed by years at Amanresorts in Southeast Asia and most recently at Italy's Vigilius Mountain Resort.

“I like to create lifestyles,” says DiLonardo. “Here I want to create a lifestyle like a European inn, very comfortable and focused on providing guests localized experiences.”

The original Hotel Fauchere was opened in 1852 by Louis Fauchere, the Swiss-born master chef at New York City's Delmonico's restaurant. Run by the Fauchere family for 125 years until 1977, the hotel's guest book registry boasts such luminaries as Robert Frost, Sarah Bernhardt, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, D.W. Griffith and several Carnegies and Rockefellers.