City slickers
If you want to get away from it all, you can’t beat returning to the farm. The experience is about getting in touch with America’s roots.
Watching a new-born calf take its first steps, or smelling the earth as a farmer plows the land, or picking fruit side-by-side with workers- it’s what staying at a bed and breakfast farm is all about. Many of us never had the opportunity to grow up on a farm, but often wondered what it would be like. Or, at some point, we had forgotten what it was all about. Spending a few days at a bed and breakfast with acres of hay and a barnyard full of animals can give you a taste of farm life.
Cows with an Ocean View
Far from the urban scrawl, north of San Francisco and on the Mendocino coast, the Howard Creek Ranch is a 40-acre farm with a sweeping view of the Pacific. Most people come for the view, but there is plenty of farm life to sample. The farm, which is in Westport, California, is just south of the Sinkyone wilderness area. Innkeeper Sally Grigg says guests can see plenty of wildlife and more than 100 birds have been identified on the property.
A 75-foot bridge spans a creek that flows past barns and outbuildings to the beach, which is 200 yards away. There’s also a 10-mile trail for walking or bicycling. The farmhouse is surrounded by green lawns, an award winning flower garden, and grazing cows and horses. Children can help feed the animals. Although you may find yourself in a rustic, rural location the comforts of modern life- like a hot tub and sauna- add enjoyment to your stay.
Flower Farm, Wagon Rides Through the Woods
A different kind of farm can be found in Bainbridge, New York, a town on the southern tier of the state near the Pennsylvania border. Instead of a barnyard full of animals, you’ll find acres of flower and herb gardens at the Berry Hill Gardens B&B. The gardens provide more than 100 varieties of annuals and perennials. The fruit trees bloom in May and flowers include tulips, poppies, lilacs, and sweet peas.
By advance reservation you can arrange for a horse-drawn wagon to take you through the 100 acres of woods and meadows. For those who choose to go on foot, there are also all kinds of trails to go looking for plants.
Goat Milking, Bottle Feeding the Calves
The innkeepers at Olde Fogie Farm in Marietta, Pennsylvania, know their farm holds an attraction for people which can best be felt as a hands-on experience. Tom and Biz Fogie encourage guests to help with the chores and they ring the bell to remind you. There’s goat milking, bottle feeding the calves, gathering eggs, feeding the turkeys, guineas, pot-bellied pigs and a peacock.
The Fogies would like you to know that this not a jacuzzi-restored farmhouse experience, but rather, a real, working, organic farm operation. You may choose accommodations from the two B&B rooms (Sunny Room or Pig Pen) or efficiency apartments (Chicken Coop or Hayloft).
Many a family farm has been saved by opening it as a “Farm Stay” or Bed and Breakfast business in the last few years. This is true around the world, as agritourism attests. A recent French film, The Girl from Paris, highlights this same phenomenon playing out in the French countryside. To find bed and breakfasts or farms go to www.iloveinns.com and put the word “farm” or “ranch” in the “find inn by name” search and you will find 165 B&Bs.
For reservations and further information on the mentioned inns:
Howard Creek Ranch
P.O. Box 121
Westport, California 95488
Rates: $75-$198
www.iloveinns.com/bed_and_breakfasts/california/howardcreekranch.htm
Berry Hill Gardens B&B
242 Ward Loomis Rd
Bainbridge, New York 13733
Rates: $110-$165
www.iloveinns.com/bed_and_breakfasts/new_york/berryhillgardens.htm
Olde Fogie Farm
106 Stackstown Rd
Marietta, Pennsylvania 17547
Rates: $95
www.iloveinns.com/bed_and_breakfasts/pennsylvania/oldefogiefarm.htm
About American Historic Inns and iLoveInns.com
American Historic Inns, Inc. (www.iloveinns.com), founded in 1981, is the leading publisher of Bed & Breakfast Guidebooks, with more than 2.5 million bed & breakfast guidebooks sold, and runs iLoveInns.com, the top bed & breakfast and country inns online directory listing 19,500 properties
Note: For photos or interviews, please contact Barbara Naylon at 949-497-2232, ext. 305.
