Late Summer Getaways at 5 Country Hotels


It’s late summer season, when farm stands are bursting with colour, piled with vegetables and fruit within the weeks earlier than the season attracts to an in depth. And the place higher to take pleasure in a summer season harvest — or to strive your hand at actions like beekeeping, foraging, even the artwork of ax-throwing — than at a farm or winery lodge?

Whether or not you wish to escape to a working farm simply outdoors of Nashville; a farm and winery with an inn and “yurt village” within the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia; or a restored distillery and boutique lodge on a river in Cognac, France, these getaways for epicures and country-lovers await with recent eggs, jams and meals for the soul.

Wander this 450-acre farm and winery amid the Blue Ridge Mountains (its viognier, chardonnay and merlot have been winners of the Virginia Governor’s Cup competitors) and also you’ll discover cattle, chickens, vegetable gardens — and a brand new 28 room-and-suite inn. Or you’ll be able to keep within the “yurt village”: 9 yurts made from cedar, making them really feel extra like cabins, located between the inn and the vineyard’s tasting room. Ebook a yurt and also you’ll have your individual kitchenette and rainfall bathe, in addition to a porch and again deck from which to breathe within the mountain air. Every yurt can sleep two to 6 individuals; pets are welcome, too (for a price).

As you may count on, meals at Nicewonder are farm-to-table affairs. Hickory, on the bottom ground of the inn, serves seasonal, Appalachian-inspired dishes — like whipped Spam with home pickles, nori, yuzu sizzling sauce and fried saltines — and overlooks a lake and the winery. There’s additionally a bar and, after all, a wine cellar. And you’ll store for flowers, greens, jams and jellies on the property’s produce market. In reality, you would spend a whole weekend simply consuming and imbibing. But there are miles of trails to sort out, main you previous bushes, over hills and close to a creek. You possibly can go for a swim within the infinity pool and, come September, work out in a brand new “health yurt” with spin bikes and train gear, or unwind with a spa remedy within the forthcoming “spa yurt village.” Costs from $335 an evening in August and September, together with breakfast.

A former stagecoach cease, this property, located close to the vineyards and farms of the Santa Ynez Valley, has been receiving visitors because the late Eighteen Eighties. Shuttered in 2018, it reopened this yr after a renovation that included new buildings and a brand new identify. You possibly can select from 67 rooms, 4 of that are restored cottages relationship to the early 1900s. There are new visitor rooms, every with a patio, terrace or solar porch, located in constructions known as Visitor Homes. Additionally new is the two-bedroom Courtyard cottage with a lounge and personal out of doors house the place you’ll be able to finish the day beside an outside fire or in a sizzling tub. The Homestead cottage has two bedrooms and personal out of doors house as nicely.

Past your sleeping quarters is the Tavern restaurant, the place most of the substances come from an on-site backyard and the menu focuses on grilled proteins and greens, served indoors or outdoors beneath a trellis. For dishes impressed by Chinese language delicacies — assume duck received tons, soy-braised Chinese language eggplant, crispy pork stomach, spicy peanuts, grilled shiitakes and shrimp toast — pop into Gin’s Faucet Bar, named for the property’s former chef, Gin Lung Gin. Want a caffeine repair? Attempt Felix Feed & Espresso, the place it’s also possible to order recent baked items and breakfast. For a cocktail or a glass of wine, head to the Bar. Or placed on a washing go well with and go to the Shed, a poolside bar with informal Mediterranean-inspired fare. After a chew and a dip, hop on a bicycle and go for a trip previous vineyards — or keep put and discover ways to infuse your individual olive oil with herbs from the backyard. Costs from $950 an evening.

Whereas France is understood for main wine areas like Bordeaux and Champagne, this restored distillery and boutique lodge goals to lure you to Cognac nation in southwest France, dwelling to main producers akin to Hennessy, Martell and Rémy Martin. The lodge opened in June in a belle epoque mansion by the Charente River and is a part of the Almae Assortment of resorts in addition to a member of the lodge community Relais & Chateaux. Its 12 suites are set amid 12 acres of gardens rife with fruit bushes, rose bushes and greens. Crack open a favourite novel, ease into the swimming pool, or observe the gardens towards the river. There, personal canoes await. Or you’ll be able to board the lodge’s boat and go to the city of Cognac. E-bikes are additionally obtainable.

Meals will be had at Notes, a fine-dining restaurant with a four-course or seven-course tasting menu that makes use of herbs and greens from the property’s gardens, in addition to substances from Cognac distilleries and native farms. Alternatively, head over to the outdated distillery constructing, which is now Brasserie des Flâneurs, the place the French brasserie menu highlights seasonal produce like ceviche with citrus fruit from the property’s greenhouse. There’s additionally the Bar and Tea Room, linked to a terrace the place you’ll be able to have a pastry (or two) along with your tea or espresso. Must you desire one thing a bit stronger, you’ll be able to order a cocktail, wine or — what else?— Cognac. Costs from 450 euros, or about $490, an evening, together with breakfast.

This storied Hudson Valley nation property about two hours north of Manhattan has attracted an extended checklist of writers and thinkers, together with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois. Within the early 1900s the property was purchased from its authentic house owners, the Benton household, by Amy and Joel E. Spingarn, one of many founders of the writer Harcourt, Brace & Co. and a former president of the N.A.A.C.P. (he was the originator of the Spingarn Medal, awarded yearly by the N.A.A.C.P.). At the moment the 250-acre property is a member of Design Accommodations and has 37 rooms and suites. Just lately, it opened Benton Home alongside Webutuck Creek, the place you’ll discover 13 visitor rooms, every with personal out of doors house amid grasses and wildflowers. All look to nature for inspiration, with grass fabric wallpaper and beds by the Connecticut-based furnishings maker Ian Ingersoll.

Head to the barns — that are coated in timber reclaimed from the outdated Tappan Zee Bridge Hudson River crossing — for a health or yoga class, or to make use of the health club and sauna. Outdoors you’ll be able to play tennis, swim within the pool, stroll via a walled backyard inbuilt 1916, or take a personal falconry session. You possibly can hike and bike on the property, too. Or enterprise somewhat farther for a fly-fishing tour, or a visit to close by Maitri Farm, the place you’ll be able to browse produce and flowers (personal excursions are additionally obtainable). Birders could wish to take a look at the Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy. Different visitors, within the custom of Troutbeck, could merely wish to sit again and converse over a meal. Settle right into a sales space within the Eating Room for seasonal dishes with native substances, like spelt ricotta cavatelli with chanterelles and garlic scapes. For bites on the go and late-night snacks, the Pantry provides temptations like salted chocolate chip cookies, espresso cake, brownies and blondies made in-house and obtainable 24 hours. Costs from $400 an evening.

Simply 25 miles south of Nashville’s buzzing music scene, this nascent farm and inn provides a buzz of a unique type with seven apiaries that home thousands and thousands of honeybees, together with some 1,300 apple bushes, greenhouses (together with an orangerie), formal kitchen gardens, crops and loads of land for foraging fungi and berries. Whereas the property calls to thoughts a historic farm, it has the comforts of a contemporary escape. You possibly can select from 62 rooms and suites, 16 cottages and lots of locations to savor the land’s bounty. For informal meals, strive Sojourner, the place you’ll be able to start every day with pastries and eggs (lunch and dinner are additionally obtainable). Even the cocktails are made with freshly harvested herbs and juices. Cease by the Farm Stand for produce, picnic baskets and preserves. And later this yr, be looking out for January, a restaurant with a eating room and out of doors patio that plans to supply multicourse menus with substances grown at Southall.

If the pastoral views usually are not sufficient to shed your stress, head over to the 15,000-square-foot spa to decompress with remedies that use botanicals and substances, some from the farm. You possibly can work out on the health heart, float within the 104-degree mineral pool (there’s an outside pool, too), strike a pose on the property’s hilltop meditation and yoga spot, or problem your self on the ropes-and-obstacle course. Runners and hikers can reap the benefits of greater than 5 miles of trails. And there’s no scarcity of extra out of doors actions (some for a price), together with falconry, fishing, bee preserving, archery and ax-throwing. Costs from $559 an evening in August, and from $839 starting in September.


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