Accommodations Lifestyle

A Collaboration between Asheville Farms, Artisans and Inns

Asheville Farms, Artisans and Inns

Beaufort House

Asheville Inns Offer Fall Farms and Artisans Tour Package

Lovers of the bed-and-breakfast experience will be excited to learn about the Fall Farms and Artisans Tour Package, a new collaboration between local farms and inn owners. Created by the Asheville Bed & Breakfast Association (ABBA) and running through November 13, the tour allows visitors to revel in the crisp weather and emerging colors, visit working farms and artisans, then rest in the comfort at one of Asheville’s top bed-and-breakfast destinations.

Asheville Farms, Artisans and Inns

When guests book two nights at a participating ABBA inn, after a gourmet breakfast, the innkeeper sends them off with a picnic lunch along the tour route. The independent driving tour winds through the Sandy Mush community in Leicester—about 30 minutes from downtown Asheville. It includes access to four farms, five artisans, Addison Farm Vineyards and Long Branch Environmental Educational Center. Participants can enjoy a free wine tasting, buy fresh eggs or meat at a local farm, see nationally known pottery, broom making, quilts and paintings and meet the artisans who make these wares.

“Our guests love to explore and get off the beaten track so this tour is the perfect match for them,” says Emily Flynn McIntosh, ABBA president and owner innkeeper of A Bed of Roses Bed & Breakfast. “They get to sample the local food scene up close and personal as well as see the crafts and artwork that our mountains inspire.”

Artisans on the tour include Laurie W. Brown’s quilt studio; painter Christine Hield at Sky Dance Art; fiber artist June Hawkins at Sandy Hollar Farms; broom makers Diana and Marlow Gates at Friendswood Brooms; and Jones Pottery, the studio of nationally recognized potter Matt Jones. At Reeves Homeplace Farms, guests can see pigs, beef cattle, ducks, turkey and chickens. Conserved by a land trust, Long Branch Environmental Education Center is an environmental sanctuary that includes solar farm buildings and a tobacco barn, as well as the chance to buy apples and cider.

Asheville Farms, Artisans and Inns

Reynolds Mansion

“I love that we are building a strong collaboration with this community of farmers and artisans,” said Christina Muth, co-owner and innkeeper, with husband Jim, of Beaufort House Inn. “For guests, the enjoyment comes from experiencing Asheville in a new way, through the lens of personal experience and interactions with the community of Sandy Mush. Without this tour, they would have absolutely no idea that this area—rich in history, scenery and especially talent—even exists.”

ABBA is a group of diverse inns located in Asheville and surrounding areas. Each inn meets the high standards of superior quality, ambience, guest service, amenities and host integrity and hospitality.

Package prices range from $147 to $431 per night, depending on the inn. Work with your innkeeper to customize your personal tour. Learn more at ashevilleabba.com/fall-tour or call 877.262.6867.

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