Our Story
Cair Paravel has been a family place since 1968. It has changed shape many times, but the through-line is simple: love the land, tend it gently, and leave the porch light off to see the stars.
Cecil & Jeanne Cullander bought 83 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains and made it the family’s home ground. The land had originally been settled by the Breeden family, who were displaced during the creation of Shenandoah National Park. We still walk their old lanes and think of them often.
Their children — Christopher, Eric, Martha, and Nicholas — grew up spending summers and holidays at the farm. There were barns to hide in, creeks to splash through, and long evenings when the ridge turned purple before dinner.
After Jeanne passed, Whitt and Martha (Cullander) Ledford returned to Virginia and took over the day-to-day life of the farm. They brought with them a love of good food, good teaching, and the patience it takes to keep an old place alive.
Whitt and Martha’s daughter Madi and her partner Grant moved to the farm. When their son Cy was born, the place became a fourth-generation operation — still small-scale, still learning, still stubbornly itself.
Long-term tenant Mark has maintained the farm’s trails since 2014. He knows where the path gets muddy, where the best mushrooms hide, and which bend catches the morning sun. Around here, that makes him family.
Meet the family today
We’re a small crew, each with our own corner of the farm. If you visit, you’ll probably meet most of us — and definitely the dog.
Retired chef. Loves the barn animals and cooking for anyone who happens to be hungry.
Retired educator. Tends the gardens and makes what Whitt calls "food magic."
Works the bees, the machines, and the website — sometimes all before lunch.
Usually found in the woods or the workshop, fixing something that wasn’t broken until it needed to be better.
The family’s goldendoodle puppy. Loves greeting guests near the pool and being told she is, in fact, a good girl.
Peace · Permaculture · Preservation
We’re a small family farm doing our best by 68 acres of Blue Ridge mountainside. None of this is complicated — mostly it’s a handful of habits we’ve grown into over the years, and we are happy to share them with you. Try one out- over time habit become practice as well all work towards a better future.
Straight from the mountain
Our water falls on Shenandoah National Park and travels down into deep wells right here on the farm.
Layers over furnaces
Old buildings breathe. We keep them comfortable without asking too much of them.
Cloth, not paper
Every unit is stocked with cloth napkins and rags. We’d love for you to reach for those first.
Nothing goes to waste
Your leftovers have somewhere to be: the animals are waiting.
What’s under the sink
We’ve spent years swapping things out. Here’s what stuck.
Every rinsed jar, every bowl of scraps carried out to the animals, every extra sweater instead of an extra degree — it all adds up on a farm this size. We notice, and so does the land.
Lambs, honey harvests, and the odd sunrise over the ridge.
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