Travel Wishes – Destination "F"
by admin on Feb.18, 2010, under Destinations
“F” is for “Farm” Vacations…
Okay, I am cheating a bit by making the “F” destination a farm stay. However, when I started doing research, I quickly realized that your expectations about your farm stay need to be thoroughly identified so your vacation will not be disappointing.
Contrasting Expectations
First, many accommodations come up in an internet search under the keywords “farm” and “vacation.” A quick review of those shows that while many bed and breakfast inns are located on what was or is a farm, if you want your family to have a “hands-on” experience of farm life and farm animals, you will not find them there. While these farm destinations offer beautiful scenery and a peaceful country vacation, they will not expose you to much more than observation of animal life – which is more than sufficient for some.
The Relaxing Farm Vacation Experience…
A good example for those NOT requiring a 6am “feed the chickens and milk the cows experience”, but who want a farm accommodation might be WhistleWood Farm Bed and Breakfast, located in Rhinebeck, New York, USA.
Just two hours north of Manhattan in the historic Hudson Valley, Whistlewood Farm has much to offer the country-oriented traveler. Cozy up to the fireside with a good book, play a little tennis, tour the beautiful flower gardens, get a massage, or just sit and renew and relax in the solarium. Watch the ponies frolic in the pasture, and just be…
Feeling a bit peckish? WhistleWood Farm has that well covered!
Have a seat near the 1904 cookstove at your table adorned with fresh flowers and get ready. Homemade baked good, fresh fruit compotes, and a hearty country breakfast (included), accompanied by coffee, tea, or fresh juices, will keep you well-fed and happy. Afternoon coffee and cake are also available and included for any who manage to miss the French toast, bacon, sausages and scrambled eggs served from 8:30 to 9:30 each morning.
Have a pet of your own who likes to travel? You’re in luck. Unlike some other bed and breakfast destinations, Whistlewood Farm allows pets – well-behaved pets of course…good news for us pet owners.
Reservations are accepted by phone, (845) 876-6838. Book now for a quiet, restful, rejuvenating stay at WhistleWood Farm and welcome to your country farm vacation.
Working Farms – A Different Vacation Perspective…
Want to feed a goat, milk a cow, feed some chickens? Maybe you don’t but your kids DO! Then a working farm vacation is what you are looking for.
I grew up in an agricultural area and live in one now (neighbors shown above!), so the fact that there are so many children around who have never seen a chicken, or a goat, or a horse, or a pig, seems a little sad to me. Such is the nature of the urban and suburban lifestyle, but you can do something about it for your family.
Just 45 minutes southwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA in Avella is Weatherbury Farm. With it’s 100 acres of farmland, sheep, pigs, chickens and bunnies, parents and grandparents have an awesome opportunity to teach children a respect for animals and to provide an understanding of farms and the food they provide.
Families staying more than two nights are invited to take part in the Weatherbury Farm Kids Program. Up and at’em after a hearty country breakfast, your kids can help Farmer Dale with the morning’s farm chores and they even receive a certificate at the end of their stay. If idle hands are the devil’s playthings, and the “There is nothing to do” comments are something you’ve heard on past vacations, no worries about either of those at Weatherbury Farm. Fresh air, chores, and sunshine – what better way to spend a family vacation?
You won’t be sleeping in the barn either – although I could think of worse places to sleep! Check out the many options on the Weatherbury Farm web site or read some reviews from prior happy visitors. Phone Weatherbury Farm at: (724) 587-3763 for more info on reservations and availability.
So, decide what taking a farm vacation means to you and then take full advantage of the country vacation experience. Whether to just relax and unwind or to experience rural life on a working farm, destinations are available to make this your next perfect vacation.
More farm stay ideas and info also can be found at Farm Stay USA. You’ll also find some great info on agritourism posted there.
6 Comments for this entry
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Small Farm Central – a great idea! « Rose Cottage Ltd
February 25th, 2010 on 11:05 am[...] more about vacations on working farms here. :ecommerce, farm products, small farm central, small farm [...]
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Agritourism on the rise – A Great Trend - Country Vacations & Resorts
March 9th, 2010 on 6:27 am[...] my prior post on the subject: “Travel Wishes – Destination “F” and consider a farm/agritourism visit for your next country vacation. :agritourism, country [...]
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Dale’s Holiday Cottages
February 18th, 2010 on 2:38 pm
For more information about farm stays, also check out farmstays.blogspot.com and sleepinthehay.com. People have different ideas about what the term “farm stay” means. I use the term to describe any kind of accommodation on a working farm, whether interactive or not. And there is lots of variation! So yes, good point about that – it is important for people to know what the farm stay offers in advance.
February 19th, 2010 on 7:19 am
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll have at look at those two blogs you mentioned…
February 25th, 2010 on 7:22 pm
Pretty interesting post. Couldn’t of written any better. Browsing this post reminds me of my old friend. He constantly kept talking about this. I will send this post to him. Am sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
February 26th, 2010 on 6:10 am
Glad you enjoyed the post. I’m hoping more people will become interested in visiting or vacationing on a farm. I’ll be posting a story soon on the day my farmer/neighbor’s pigs escaped their pen…pretty funny I think.
June 22nd, 2010 on 3:42 pm
The Islander Inn of OIB in NC is perhaps the worst hotel on the island. We had a terrible experience at this nc beach resort. The room was not ready for 45 minutes after our check inn time. So we sat in the sweltering heat for about an hour with two young kids and a dog (which cost us an additional 60 bucks). You might say “why didn’t you guys go on the beach to kill a little bit of time”…which is exactly what we did and resulted in a fine from the OIB Police for having our dog on the beach before 6pm. Our bad, but you think there would be a sign on the hotels enterance to the beach…which is another disaster. You have to go through the pool area to get to the beach cross over…a pool area with two sets of outward swinging safety gates…guests and their kids running around, a maze of lounge chairs, and busted up concrete….did i mention the two kids, the wife, the dog , and bags of kid supplies..uggg. if you are even slightly handycapped i wouldn’t even consider touring this crap hole. All this aside, we finally get the mexican cleaning crew out of our room and decide to relax on the back porch to enjoy the view of the ocean …which was great so long as you ignore the ratteling humm of the rooms a/c unit which is as much a fixture of the decore as the stackable white (mildewed) form-molded pvc chairs. Then the gang of homeless cats arrived (I swear you can’t make this stuff up)…dog is going wild..kids now crying…wife about to freak out…i must react quickly so i go down to the gravel parking lot of the islander inn and shoe them away…but their retreat is just a transient ploy…as soon as i get back up to the porch they are back…only with reinforcemnets to boot…aah, but i am far smarter than a cat…even 10 of them…while the gravel lot was poison to my feet it provided me with some ammunition for a full on assault…i lined the stones along the porches edge just under the railing and waited for the perfect shot. The mangiest of the crew was in sight…my wife diles me in ..”a few clicks to the left”..”you are set”…my foot is drawn back like a driver…fire!!! Hit…Dismay…the vermin thought i was kicking food to them…Yet another defeat…i return inside with hopes that they dont start to nest in our van. The night fanally draws to a tylonol pm induced end and all attempts are made to ignore the rattle and humm of the out dated ac unit…after all who the heck would want to sleep to the sound of that silly ocean. 3AM…EEERT!….EEERT!…EEERT!…EEERT!!!…and i arose to see what was the matter “alarm clock?” “radio?”…”Fire?”…”FIRE!”…”FIRE!” no fire extinguisher in room …may have to exit off 2nd story porch…no fire escape latter…must go uot front door…alls clear we (me, wife, 2 small kids, dog, 2bags kid stuff) make our way to the parking lot. Our building is fine so i go back up get the rest of our stuff and we drive 2 hours home in a van that now smells of cat urine if you use the vents so i can get enough sleep to go to work in the morning. Realy freakin cool way to drop almost 300 bones on a room and about that on gas and food. We call the Islander Inn and are told a manager would contact us…he did not…and continues to avoid our calls…Thank god we put it on our AMEX…they are going to revearse the charges. Still managed to spend a bunch of money on gas, made our entire family miserable, and worked a 10 hour shift that following day on 3 hours of sleep. Thank you Islander Inn NC
June 23rd, 2010 on 6:34 am
Holiday stays from Hell. Sad, but they happen and I feel the pain of paying extra for the dog, and then the place not even being fit FOR a dog! Sometimes, despite all the checking and research, service and accommodation is still unacceptable.
I must say though that the way the story was told was pretty funny so even though it came in as spam, it is worth posting!