Photo courtesy Brasstown Valley Resort
Brasstown Valley Resort and Spa
Young Harris, Ga.
With 134 rooms, Brasstown Valley Resort and Spa is not a large property. But what the resort lacks in size, it makes up for in distinctive lodging opportunities.
“One hundred two of the rooms are lodge-style rooms, and 32 of them are made up of eight cottages, all with individual access points,” said general manager Charles Burton. “When you bring in a leisure group, reunions or groups of couples, they can stay in houses with kitchens and wood-burning fireplaces. You can stay up later and enjoy one another’s time without bothering other guests.”
When groups do stay in the cabins, they often disperse during the daytime, with some members going to the spa for massages, facials, body treatments and manicures while others go out for golf or hiking.
The resort — with 503 acres of land hidden in the north Georgia mountains — has nine miles of manicured hiking trails and an additional six miles of equestrian trails that guest can enjoy alone or as part of a group.
“We do glow-ball golf at night for groups and hayrides for groups that are very popular,” Burton said. “We have a college planetarium here on the property, and on Friday nights, the college will do a demonstration. Then we take people up to our observatory and host a party.”
Because Brasstown Valley Resort is some distance out in the country, a number of onsite restaurants serve meals for visitors. A casual restaurant and sports bar serves everyday fare, and the formal dining room serves high-end steaks. Weekends bring special culinary opportunities as well.
“Friday nights we have a seafood buffet,” Burton said. “It’s all-you-can-eat crab legs, oyster and fried shrimp. We’ll have a fish entre like mahi or snapper. And on Saturday night, we have a prime rib buffet.”
www.brasstownvalley.com
Fearrington Village
Pittsboro, N.C.
Just minutes from the Raleigh-Durham area in Pittsboro, N.C., Fearrington Village combines an agricultural history with five-star, five-diamond luxury to create a one-of-a-kind guest experience.
“We used to be an old dairy farm going back to the 1700s,” said Juan David Cure, corporate sales representative for the Fearrington House Inn, Restaurant and Spa. “It belonged to the Fearrington family and was passed down from generation to generation. When our owner bought the land, he had the idea of building some type of English village around the farm.”
Designers kept many aspects of the original farm when creating the new resort village. The original barn still stands, and the family farmhouse is now the Fearrington Inn and Restaurant.
The old granary serves as the resort’s casual bar and grill, and other small outbuildings from the farm serve resort purposes as well.
“The Fearrington House restaurant is our fine dining restaurant,” Cure said. “It’s kind of French and European cuisine with a mixture of Southern flavors.”
The resort has 32 rooms, each individually decorated in an English countryside style. The rooms are spread out among several buildings, including individual cottages and the main house.
Visitors have plenty of activity options in the village, including bike treks and visits to see the farm’s family of fainting goats. The fitness-conscious can take advantage of tennis courts, an outdoor pool, a croquet lawn and an exercise center with a track and an indoor pool.
“We have a couple of shops as well,” Cure said. “One is a bookstore that is privately owned.”
In the spring, summer and fall, the resort staff sets up an outdoor beer garden, which features live music on the weekends.
www.fearrington.com
Coushatta Casino Resort
Kinder, La.
The Coushatta Indians, a small tribe in southwest Louisiana, have found big business with the Coushatta Casino Resort. Opened in 1995, this property features a full-service casino, an events center and two different lodging options.
“We have a little over 100,000 square feet of gaming space,” said spokesman Bryan Williams. “We have 70 table games and 2,800 slot machines. We also have an 18-hole championship golf course called Koasati Pines.”
Gaming fans will find plenty of action, including a custom poker room, which has 16 tables and can accommodate tournaments of up to 160 players. There’s more excitement in the events pavilion, a 3,600-seat indoor theater that hosts headlining musicians such as Willie Nelson and Trace Adkins.
Groups can choose from two different accommodations at the resort. The Grand Hotel, attached to the main casino, has 208 rooms and an indoor pool. A second facility, the Grand Inn, sits just off of the main complex and has an additional 200 rooms. Dining variety abounds as well.
“We have six different dining options,” Williams said. “We have Big Sky Steakhouse, with a relaxed atmosphere, and Gumbo’s Sports and Oyster Bar, where we have about 40 plasma televisions.”
