Blackberry Mountain and Blackberry Farm (Tennessee): October 2020 stays
Oct 25, 2020, 9:22 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: New York City
Posts: 408
Blackberry Mountain and Blackberry Farm (Tennessee): October 2020 stays
I stayed for 6 nights in October 2020, 3 nights at Blackberry Mountain and 3 nights at Blackberry Farm.
Summary:
Blackberry Mountain is an amazing achievement, to my surprise the best resort I’ve ever experienced in the US of A, and the only one competitive with the best of what the rest of the world has to offer. It’s the most like an Aman of any US property, and I’m including Amangiri when I say that.
Blackberry Farm, on the other hand, is a disappointment on every level – the service is strained and grudging, the food uneven, and the design is tired and dull. It’s not all terrible – but it’s not great, and certainly not worth the stratospheric prices.
Blackberry Mountain: Grade: A. 5 out of 5 stars.
Their tagline is “your own private national park,” and it’s a perfect description of this resort, as the sweep and scale of Blackberry Mountain are awesome. Your accommodation comes with its own golf cart, and you’ll drive it all around the mountain, up and down the quiet, private roads, stopping to see a waterfall here, an epic viewpoint of the Great Smoky Mountains there, to visit the family pool and tennis courts in the valley below, or the library and Firetower restaurant on the ridge above. All around the property are fresh water stations, from which you can fill your brilliant Yeti water bottle that you receive on arrival, avoiding the need for plastic water bottles altogether. Wooden Adirondack-style chair appear wherever you would find yourself wanting to sit with a novel and gaze at the view.
When you come back to your golf cart after a meal, you’ll inevitably find it freshly stocked with towels (for the morning dew) and blankets (for the evening chill), perfectly rolled and stowed, and your cart will have been reversed out of your parking space and turned around to simplify your departure. It’s that sort of proactive, humble, and quiet service that shows up over and over again at Blackberry Mountain, where the staff are clearly proud of what they have achieved, without the constant self-congratulations that you must endure at the over-rated sister property, Blackberry Farm.
I can’t remember ever having more consistently delicious fare at a resort than what we were served up at Blackberry Mountain. Breakfast is served at the main lodge’s Three Sisters restaurant or at the Firetower restaurant, a great reward for the daily, guided one-hour “hike to breakfast” up the mountain. Both venues were superb, but the spread is more lavish at Three Sisters, including the most delicious Southern pastries – scones and cinnamon rolls, etc. Lunch and dinner are served daily at both venues as well. The Firetower is a historic structure that has been beautifully integrated into a view-some restaurant, with a terrace
overlooking the national park, and indoor dining overlooking the vast Tennessee River valley below. It’s more casual than Three Sisters, where the dining is truly world class – and so generous. We couldn’t decide between entrees on our final night, and the server simply indicated that both options were so great that she’d bring us both of them to try.
There’s a spa and an adult-only pool at the main lodge, and a short golf cart ride away is the “Hub,” a building housing the various fitness spaces, a terrific shop, a ceramics studio, etc. Each morning, the resort offers a half-dozen free classes, and the ones I attended each day were superb – yoga, stretching, HIIT, etc.
The accommodations are stand-alone cottages, each with a terrace with daybeds and an outdoor fireplace, overlooking the valley below. The bathrooms are spacious and full of light, with heated floors and the main room, has comfortable reading chairs and superb beds and linens. The one quibble here is that it’s not possible to read in bed without your own lighting, as the bedside lamps are dim and surprisingly, there are no reading lights.
If weather is good, you could spend weeks here and never exhaust all the activities on offer, from hiking to horseback riding to off-road driving and would leave Blackberry Mountain a very healthy and sated person. We got extremely lucky with the weather – no rain at all, a gorgeous October week. I think that may be somewhat rare, as the Great Smoky Mountains have the highest annual rainfall of any place in the Southeastern United States – more even than the Everglades. So that’s a risk with booking a stay (nonrefundable) at Blackberry Mountain. Thankfully, the number of classes and the quality of the food could nonetheless make for a good stay, even if the rain interferes with outdoor plans.
I wholeheartedly recommend Blackberry Mountain – quite easily the best resort the US has to offer these days.
Blackberry Farm: Grade C+. 3 out of 5 stars.
My first impression of Blackberry Farm was asphalt. Asphalt and secondarily, white picket fences. A public asphalt road bisects the property, but when you leave that public road you find yourself in a bit of a traffic jam around the check-in building, guests’ baggage stacked on the margins, SUVs piled up and awaiting their turn to deposit guests beneath a cramped overhang. Asphalt is omnipresent, with some white clapboard buildings stacked up around all the driveways.
The contrast with the bucolic fantasy depicted on Blackberry Farm’s gorgeous website was jarring, and only continued with the check-in process, where you are herded into a low-ceiling and dated room to provide your credit card, placed into the Blackberry, Inc. assembly line by staff on autopilot. Simple requests, like “Can I provide you with a new credit card” seem to require the staff to exert every effort not to roll their eyes and grimace at the way this request slows down their factory for guest processing.
We were staying in a Holly Glade Suite – so were paying more than $2000 a night, well above their entry-level accommodation. These are duplex accommodations, so we walked up the asphalt path to our door and looked straight into the neighbors’ large bathroom window that abutted our entryway . . . a strange design choice indeed, as depending on which way the blinds were closed, it was essential to keep your eyes focused on the asphalt pathway to avoid compromising your neighbors’ privacy. Our front porch had two rocking chairs on it, so that we could sit and look at the asphalt parking lot with all the golf carts in it.
The interiors are tired and outdated – and we had to request that they stop spraying the incense-like air freshener that gave us headaches. There are no outlets for charging devices near the bedside tables, so you have to crawl on the floor and unplug other things in order to find a way to charge your devices. And the air-conditioning vent was irritatingly located right above one side of the bed. The beds, however, are excellent – supremely comfortable with good linens.
Meals are included, and the quality is generally good, but uneven. Their premier dining venue is the dinner-only “The Barn.” If you don’t like everything smoked, from cheese to meat to ice cream, you’ll need to pick and choose your way through the menu, as smoke-infusing is their obsession. Nothing in the Barn held a candle to the quality of preparation at the nearby Blackberry Mountain, which was surprising. But the Barn’s food was significantly better than the food in the “main” restaurant, so if you’re staying for three or more nights, you’ll want to insist on at least two of your dinners in the Barn, where some of the cooking was excellent. The main restaurant, by contrast, is dour and dowdy, tartan everywhere. My companion said, “This looks like the interior of a Cracker Barrel.” Tables were not adequately spaced, and bizarrely, they have not invested in outdoor heaters for the dining terrace, so everyone is cramped into the indoor dining area, unlike Blackberry Mountain, where heaters enable terrace dining in cool weather. Breakfasts were disappointing at the Farm, soggy and uninspired pastries compared to the brilliant cooking up at the Mountain. Uninspired oatmeal in contrast to the creative flavor combinations at the Firetower.
The staff ‘s primary job responsibility seems to be to tell you how lucky you are, how beautiful the views are, and how great every morsel of food is. I actually heard one of the staff telling guests at lunch, “At Blackberry Farm, everything from our kitchen is perfect.” It’s as if they believe that if they say it enough, you’ll have to agree. The hunger for compliments becomes an annoyance – you feel as if you’re constantly being prodded and poked to praise everything before you.
There’s just an attitude among staff that guests are an annoyance, that anything you ask is an inconvenience, that you should feel lucky you’re there and leave them all alone. This started prior to our arrival, where multiple emails to the concierge went unanswered for days. Finally, we only received a response after the intrepid Lucie, head of Dorsia Travel, intervened. (And by the way, if you haven’t yet worked with Dorsia Travel, they are amazing – by far the strongest advocates I’ve ever had in planning hotel and resort stays. If you ever need a Virtuoso or Four Season Preferred Partner travel advisor, I recommend them highly.)
Like so much at Blackberry Farm, the spa is first and foremost a store selling overpriced wares; it’s only secondarily a spa, upstairs. But the quality of training and treatment there was very high – it’s just not in an environment that feels suitably spa-like: calm, relaxing, otherworldly. Behind the spa is an unappealing adult-only pool – which is strangely situated to overlook the tennis courts, so if you try to relax there, you’re serenaded by the grunting and cursing of frustrated athletes.
Now all this said, there are a few utterly lovely spots at Blackberry Farm. A row of white wooden rocking chairs on the back lawn of the main house has beautiful views of the valley. A boathouse on a small pond is a nice place to read.
But I don’t know what you’d do at Blackberry Farm when it rains, a real risk since this area gets the most rainfall of any place in the southeastern US, even more than the Everglades.
Our front porch at Blackberry Farm -- a whole lot of asphalt at this place!
The view from our front porch. Pastoral?
The arrival area at a relatively quiet moment.
The interior or a Cracker Barrel or Blackberry Farm's main dining room?
Summary:
Blackberry Mountain is an amazing achievement, to my surprise the best resort I’ve ever experienced in the US of A, and the only one competitive with the best of what the rest of the world has to offer. It’s the most like an Aman of any US property, and I’m including Amangiri when I say that.
Blackberry Farm, on the other hand, is a disappointment on every level – the service is strained and grudging, the food uneven, and the design is tired and dull. It’s not all terrible – but it’s not great, and certainly not worth the stratospheric prices.
Blackberry Mountain: Grade: A. 5 out of 5 stars.
Their tagline is “your own private national park,” and it’s a perfect description of this resort, as the sweep and scale of Blackberry Mountain are awesome. Your accommodation comes with its own golf cart, and you’ll drive it all around the mountain, up and down the quiet, private roads, stopping to see a waterfall here, an epic viewpoint of the Great Smoky Mountains there, to visit the family pool and tennis courts in the valley below, or the library and Firetower restaurant on the ridge above. All around the property are fresh water stations, from which you can fill your brilliant Yeti water bottle that you receive on arrival, avoiding the need for plastic water bottles altogether. Wooden Adirondack-style chair appear wherever you would find yourself wanting to sit with a novel and gaze at the view.
When you come back to your golf cart after a meal, you’ll inevitably find it freshly stocked with towels (for the morning dew) and blankets (for the evening chill), perfectly rolled and stowed, and your cart will have been reversed out of your parking space and turned around to simplify your departure. It’s that sort of proactive, humble, and quiet service that shows up over and over again at Blackberry Mountain, where the staff are clearly proud of what they have achieved, without the constant self-congratulations that you must endure at the over-rated sister property, Blackberry Farm.
I can’t remember ever having more consistently delicious fare at a resort than what we were served up at Blackberry Mountain. Breakfast is served at the main lodge’s Three Sisters restaurant or at the Firetower restaurant, a great reward for the daily, guided one-hour “hike to breakfast” up the mountain. Both venues were superb, but the spread is more lavish at Three Sisters, including the most delicious Southern pastries – scones and cinnamon rolls, etc. Lunch and dinner are served daily at both venues as well. The Firetower is a historic structure that has been beautifully integrated into a view-some restaurant, with a terrace
overlooking the national park, and indoor dining overlooking the vast Tennessee River valley below. It’s more casual than Three Sisters, where the dining is truly world class – and so generous. We couldn’t decide between entrees on our final night, and the server simply indicated that both options were so great that she’d bring us both of them to try.
There’s a spa and an adult-only pool at the main lodge, and a short golf cart ride away is the “Hub,” a building housing the various fitness spaces, a terrific shop, a ceramics studio, etc. Each morning, the resort offers a half-dozen free classes, and the ones I attended each day were superb – yoga, stretching, HIIT, etc.
The accommodations are stand-alone cottages, each with a terrace with daybeds and an outdoor fireplace, overlooking the valley below. The bathrooms are spacious and full of light, with heated floors and the main room, has comfortable reading chairs and superb beds and linens. The one quibble here is that it’s not possible to read in bed without your own lighting, as the bedside lamps are dim and surprisingly, there are no reading lights.
If weather is good, you could spend weeks here and never exhaust all the activities on offer, from hiking to horseback riding to off-road driving and would leave Blackberry Mountain a very healthy and sated person. We got extremely lucky with the weather – no rain at all, a gorgeous October week. I think that may be somewhat rare, as the Great Smoky Mountains have the highest annual rainfall of any place in the Southeastern United States – more even than the Everglades. So that’s a risk with booking a stay (nonrefundable) at Blackberry Mountain. Thankfully, the number of classes and the quality of the food could nonetheless make for a good stay, even if the rain interferes with outdoor plans.
I wholeheartedly recommend Blackberry Mountain – quite easily the best resort the US has to offer these days.
Blackberry Farm: Grade C+. 3 out of 5 stars.
My first impression of Blackberry Farm was asphalt. Asphalt and secondarily, white picket fences. A public asphalt road bisects the property, but when you leave that public road you find yourself in a bit of a traffic jam around the check-in building, guests’ baggage stacked on the margins, SUVs piled up and awaiting their turn to deposit guests beneath a cramped overhang. Asphalt is omnipresent, with some white clapboard buildings stacked up around all the driveways.
The contrast with the bucolic fantasy depicted on Blackberry Farm’s gorgeous website was jarring, and only continued with the check-in process, where you are herded into a low-ceiling and dated room to provide your credit card, placed into the Blackberry, Inc. assembly line by staff on autopilot. Simple requests, like “Can I provide you with a new credit card” seem to require the staff to exert every effort not to roll their eyes and grimace at the way this request slows down their factory for guest processing.
We were staying in a Holly Glade Suite – so were paying more than $2000 a night, well above their entry-level accommodation. These are duplex accommodations, so we walked up the asphalt path to our door and looked straight into the neighbors’ large bathroom window that abutted our entryway . . . a strange design choice indeed, as depending on which way the blinds were closed, it was essential to keep your eyes focused on the asphalt pathway to avoid compromising your neighbors’ privacy. Our front porch had two rocking chairs on it, so that we could sit and look at the asphalt parking lot with all the golf carts in it.
The interiors are tired and outdated – and we had to request that they stop spraying the incense-like air freshener that gave us headaches. There are no outlets for charging devices near the bedside tables, so you have to crawl on the floor and unplug other things in order to find a way to charge your devices. And the air-conditioning vent was irritatingly located right above one side of the bed. The beds, however, are excellent – supremely comfortable with good linens.
Meals are included, and the quality is generally good, but uneven. Their premier dining venue is the dinner-only “The Barn.” If you don’t like everything smoked, from cheese to meat to ice cream, you’ll need to pick and choose your way through the menu, as smoke-infusing is their obsession. Nothing in the Barn held a candle to the quality of preparation at the nearby Blackberry Mountain, which was surprising. But the Barn’s food was significantly better than the food in the “main” restaurant, so if you’re staying for three or more nights, you’ll want to insist on at least two of your dinners in the Barn, where some of the cooking was excellent. The main restaurant, by contrast, is dour and dowdy, tartan everywhere. My companion said, “This looks like the interior of a Cracker Barrel.” Tables were not adequately spaced, and bizarrely, they have not invested in outdoor heaters for the dining terrace, so everyone is cramped into the indoor dining area, unlike Blackberry Mountain, where heaters enable terrace dining in cool weather. Breakfasts were disappointing at the Farm, soggy and uninspired pastries compared to the brilliant cooking up at the Mountain. Uninspired oatmeal in contrast to the creative flavor combinations at the Firetower.
The staff ‘s primary job responsibility seems to be to tell you how lucky you are, how beautiful the views are, and how great every morsel of food is. I actually heard one of the staff telling guests at lunch, “At Blackberry Farm, everything from our kitchen is perfect.” It’s as if they believe that if they say it enough, you’ll have to agree. The hunger for compliments becomes an annoyance – you feel as if you’re constantly being prodded and poked to praise everything before you.
There’s just an attitude among staff that guests are an annoyance, that anything you ask is an inconvenience, that you should feel lucky you’re there and leave them all alone. This started prior to our arrival, where multiple emails to the concierge went unanswered for days. Finally, we only received a response after the intrepid Lucie, head of Dorsia Travel, intervened. (And by the way, if you haven’t yet worked with Dorsia Travel, they are amazing – by far the strongest advocates I’ve ever had in planning hotel and resort stays. If you ever need a Virtuoso or Four Season Preferred Partner travel advisor, I recommend them highly.)
Like so much at Blackberry Farm, the spa is first and foremost a store selling overpriced wares; it’s only secondarily a spa, upstairs. But the quality of training and treatment there was very high – it’s just not in an environment that feels suitably spa-like: calm, relaxing, otherworldly. Behind the spa is an unappealing adult-only pool – which is strangely situated to overlook the tennis courts, so if you try to relax there, you’re serenaded by the grunting and cursing of frustrated athletes.
Now all this said, there are a few utterly lovely spots at Blackberry Farm. A row of white wooden rocking chairs on the back lawn of the main house has beautiful views of the valley. A boathouse on a small pond is a nice place to read.
But I don’t know what you’d do at Blackberry Farm when it rains, a real risk since this area gets the most rainfall of any place in the southeastern US, even more than the Everglades.
Our front porch at Blackberry Farm -- a whole lot of asphalt at this place!
The view from our front porch. Pastoral?
The arrival area at a relatively quiet moment.
The interior or a Cracker Barrel or Blackberry Farm's main dining room?
Last edited by Groombridge; Oct 27, 2020 at 5:19 pm
Oct 25, 2020, 10:40 am
#3
formerly htang333
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Wi-Fi
Programs: Virtuoso, Top Ranked: Four Seasons (Top 25 Advisor), AMAN (Top 50), Rosewood, Hyatt Prive, etc.
Posts: 1,455
Thanks so much for the write up and glad to hear at least B.M. hit it out of the park for you!
I've not booked Blackberry Farm much as of late. Just once this Summer and feedback was good but they didn't see B.M. to compare and could have changed the verdict.
However, had a few clients stay at Blackberry Mountain in the Fall and got the same feedback that it's a very pleasant surprise for a U.S. property.
Planning my visit to B.M. for December and will extend the stay there and likely pass on B.F. (as I was already on the fence about it so I'll just go for a tour). The new B.M. property really stands out from its sister property due to the luxury farm house aesthetics.
Thanks again for the review!
I've not booked Blackberry Farm much as of late. Just once this Summer and feedback was good but they didn't see B.M. to compare and could have changed the verdict.
However, had a few clients stay at Blackberry Mountain in the Fall and got the same feedback that it's a very pleasant surprise for a U.S. property.
Planning my visit to B.M. for December and will extend the stay there and likely pass on B.F. (as I was already on the fence about it so I'll just go for a tour). The new B.M. property really stands out from its sister property due to the luxury farm house aesthetics.
Thanks again for the review!
Oct 25, 2020, 10:41 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: New York City
Posts: 408
Blackberry Mountain was slightly less expensive -- and included free activities classes, breakfast, dinner, but not lunch. Blackberry Farm did not include any free activities, but included all three meals.
Oct 25, 2020, 10:46 am
#5
formerly htang333
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Wi-Fi
Programs: Virtuoso, Top Ranked: Four Seasons (Top 25 Advisor), AMAN (Top 50), Rosewood, Hyatt Prive, etc.
Posts: 1,455
Again, I'm just ball parking it based on various bookings across various times.
Their full sized, 3 - 5 bedroom homes are stunning and goes between $4,000 - $6,500++/night on average.
At Blackberry Farm, the entry level rooms (dated and small) can be had at $800/$900++/night at times but the decent suites (really like Jr. suites) are $1,900-$2,100++/night. As OP mentioned above for theirs. And it's not standalone suites like the cottages at B.M.
Last edited by BESVISOR; Oct 25, 2020 at 6:13 pm
Oct 26, 2020, 6:51 am
#7
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: UA1K, *G & Wife of UA1K MM
Posts: 3,431
Fantastic review. Thank you!
Sorry to hear about Blackberry Farm. We did a family trip here several years ago and had wanted to return. Maybe not.
Definnitely have Blackberry Mountain on our bucket list though. Right up our alley. We almost did it this year but didn’t want to have to deal with flying during covid.
Sorry to hear about Blackberry Farm. We did a family trip here several years ago and had wanted to return. Maybe not.
Definnitely have Blackberry Mountain on our bucket list though. Right up our alley. We almost did it this year but didn’t want to have to deal with flying during covid.
Oct 27, 2020, 2:54 pm
#9
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 857
We planned to go to BM in July and chose it over BF based on a friend whose comments were very much like those of the OP. Given the make up of our group, we decided to cancel this and several other trips. Hands down,
BM was the most responsive and quickest to refund....we were still in the cancellation period for most of the reservations, but many dragged out the refund process. I look forward to going when it feels safer for us.
How is occupancy? Has it become the Giri of the East?
BM was the most responsive and quickest to refund....we were still in the cancellation period for most of the reservations, but many dragged out the refund process. I look forward to going when it feels safer for us.
How is occupancy? Has it become the Giri of the East?
Oct 27, 2020, 5:13 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: New York City
Posts: 408
We planned to go to BM in July and chose it over BF based on a friend whose comments were very much like those of the OP. Given the make up of our group, we decided to cancel this and several other trips. Hands down,
BM was the most responsive and quickest to refund....we were still in the cancellation period for most of the reservations, but many dragged out the refund process. I look forward to going when it feels safer for us.
How is occupancy? Has it become the Giri of the East?
BM was the most responsive and quickest to refund....we were still in the cancellation period for most of the reservations, but many dragged out the refund process. I look forward to going when it feels safer for us.
How is occupancy? Has it become the Giri of the East?
Oct 28, 2020, 6:26 am
#11
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA GGLfL, WoH Lifetime Globalist, HH Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 711
What a difference a year makes. We stayed at BF in July 2019 also in a Holly Glade Cottage Suite. Views from the suite (porch & lounge) overlooked woodland although the bathroom windows did face the access road. Electric sockets for powering devices in the kitchen/larder. Food in the 'Barn' was top notch, as was service, although I can't recall too much reliance on smoking back then. Excellent wine list! We didn't use 'Dogwood' for dinner but did use the bar terrace (great views) for breakfasts and lunches; thoroughly enjoyed those meals. If I am being picky there were a few downsides: the check-in and check-out process, the former rather chaotic and the latter OK but rather formulaic, and service in the bar was below par, by that I mean there were occasions when no-one was available. Staff were excellent throughout. Overall, an excellent stay and we'd have gone back this year (if only we could get to the USA!).
Doc Copper
Doc Copper
Oct 28, 2020, 4:13 pm
#12
formerly htang333
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Wi-Fi
Programs: Virtuoso, Top Ranked: Four Seasons (Top 25 Advisor), AMAN (Top 50), Rosewood, Hyatt Prive, etc.
Posts: 1,455
Got a great offer that was cheaper than the public rate in December at BM so booked couple clients and about to book myself as well.
Also booked myself 4 nights in spring already at BM before it's all booked up again
Also booked myself 4 nights in spring already at BM before it's all booked up again
Oct 29, 2020, 9:57 am
#13
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 75
Stayed 4 nights in August at Blackberry Mountain. Overall outstanding stay. Stayed in one of the Thunderhead cottages. One of the better designed hotel rooms/suites/villas we've stayed in. Location is mid mountain which is important as the overall property is massive. The entry level room, Watchman cabin is located at the top of the mountain. As it's a 10 - 15 minute buggy ride to mid mountain I would not recommend these rooms.
Service was great. Ran into one hiccup at dinner which they more than compensated for. Food and beverage are definitely a highlight especially if you're into wine. Great wine lists with somewhat reasonable prices.
Facilities and activities were a highlight and reason to book. Lots of hiking, gym options (we did a private spin class that was COVID friendly), sporting clays (expensive but lots of fun) and my wife enjoyed some spa treatments. If being active isn't a focus then you're paying for things you won't use. The pool is nice however not the type of pool to lounge at all day. They just opened a new family friendly section called the Valley. There's a separate pool, tennis, pickle ball and lake with beach/water slide. Great option for families.
Only drawback would be the price. The fees/taxes/activities/food/wine greatly increase the bill v. room rate. I looked at this ahead of time thus had an idea of what to expect but if one didn't do this there could be some sticker shock at check out.
Service was great. Ran into one hiccup at dinner which they more than compensated for. Food and beverage are definitely a highlight especially if you're into wine. Great wine lists with somewhat reasonable prices.
Facilities and activities were a highlight and reason to book. Lots of hiking, gym options (we did a private spin class that was COVID friendly), sporting clays (expensive but lots of fun) and my wife enjoyed some spa treatments. If being active isn't a focus then you're paying for things you won't use. The pool is nice however not the type of pool to lounge at all day. They just opened a new family friendly section called the Valley. There's a separate pool, tennis, pickle ball and lake with beach/water slide. Great option for families.
Only drawback would be the price. The fees/taxes/activities/food/wine greatly increase the bill v. room rate. I looked at this ahead of time thus had an idea of what to expect but if one didn't do this there could be some sticker shock at check out.
Nov 14, 2020, 9:21 pm
#14
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 104
Another option in the area is Dancing Bear Lodge, which was originally the cheaper sister property to BF. For 300 bucks or so, you get a detached lodge with big forest views, and a very nice restaurant. Honestly, looking at the photos from the BF review above, something must have gone drastically wrong to charge 5x that price for what doesn't looking like a superior experience.
Jan 3, 2021, 2:09 pm
#15
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Wi-Fi
Programs: Virtuoso, FSPP,STARS, PEN Club,Bellini , Dorchester Diamond, Rosewood Elite, Rocco Knight,Prive,etc.
Posts: 42
Blackberry Farm stays sold out in part because it is more attractive to families and multi generation families because of the homes. (and you can buy out a multi bdrm building)
They get a large % of repeat business and although this year is a little different it also tends to be popular with companies/incentives.
Blackberry Mountain has beautiful views over the tree tops & very private. Because it is fairly new and thus unknown to many , it is easier to find availability.
Expect both of these to be highly sought after and selling out well in advance.
There is not a lot of options in the SE drive market.
There is another little hidden gem I send my clients to is the SWAG.
It is a wee closer than BF to Atlanta... rustic upper tier experience.
I have not been yet but I have multi clients who return year after year.
More for couples or couples traveling as friends together.
Holly Lombardo
Atlanta, GA
Virtuoso
They get a large % of repeat business and although this year is a little different it also tends to be popular with companies/incentives.
Blackberry Mountain has beautiful views over the tree tops & very private. Because it is fairly new and thus unknown to many , it is easier to find availability.
Expect both of these to be highly sought after and selling out well in advance.
There is not a lot of options in the SE drive market.
There is another little hidden gem I send my clients to is the SWAG.
It is a wee closer than BF to Atlanta... rustic upper tier experience.
I have not been yet but I have multi clients who return year after year.
More for couples or couples traveling as friends together.
Holly Lombardo
Atlanta, GA
Virtuoso