The area surrounding Lexington is certainly one of the most beautiful in the country and it seems that whatever direction you go, there is something to see. One of the loveliest roads is Old Frankfort Pike, which runs both north and south of Lexington and combines beauty with history. Along the Pike (the old road between Lexington and the state capital, Frankfort) you can get a dose of culture at the Headley-Whitney Museum; get some good grub at Wallace Station, and of course, admire the rolling fields of numerous horse farms.

View of Donamire from Old Frankfort Pike (A. Beckstett)
  Headley-Whitney Museum (4435 Old Frankfort Pike) is a jewel of a museum and an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.  It actually encompasses four separate areas. For a single ticket price ($10 for adults), you get entry to the Jewel Museum, where the exquisite bibelots of the late jewelry designer George Headley are on display; Headley’s Library, with its eclectic collection of oddities; the Decorative Arts Gallery, with both permanent and temporary exhibits, and my favorite, the Shell Grotto. Headley, a man of unlimited imagination, turned a three-car garage into a veritable underworld paradise, using thousands of shells and corals.  If you go in the warmer months, you can also wander through the Mary Lou Whitney Garden.
   Old Frankfort Pike is the place for picture postcard views of horse farms: Donamire and Darby Dan are two of the most beautiful and Airdrie Stud is one of the most historic, occupying part of the original Woodburn Farm, considered by many to be the birthplace of the American breeding industry