While restaurants are constantly touting their farm-to-table ingredients, it isn’t often that diners actually get to see where their meals are coming from. But a growing number of hotels are giving guests a chance to peek behind the curtain, with working farms located right on property. Here, how four hotels across the country are incorporating a true “farm fresh” movement into their visitors' stays.
Chatham Bars Inn (Cape Cod, Massachusetts)
With eight acres of farmland and two greenhouses, the farm at Chatham Bars Inn supplies almost all of the produce for the resort’s seven restaurant concepts. The inn takes its gardening very seriously, with an incredibly vast harvest of more than 30 varieties of heirloom lettuce and 75 varieties of tomatoes. We hear that guests might even be able to taste the inn's very own tomato variety in a year or two. In the meantime, they're encouraged to visit the farm, where they can pick their own fruit and vegetables for a picnic on the beach -- or hand the produce over to the hotel’s chef for expert dinner preparation. From $270 per night, excluding taxes.
The Inn at Dos Brisas (Washington, Texas)
The intimate family-owned Inn at Dos Brisas recently expanded its USDA-certified organic farm, which now boasts more than 400 different varieties of fruit, vegetables, and herbs. Over 42 sprawling acres, find everything from squash and okra to cilantro and leeks. Guests can take self-guided tours throughout the farm and greenhouse, or pick and taste their own basket of veggies as they go ($100 per couple). For even more immersion, the Organic Gardening 101 course lets participants plant their own herb garden ($200 per person). From $400, excluding taxes.
Los Poblanos (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Guests at this historic 20-room hotel are immediately greeted by the calming scent of lavender upon arrival, which comes from the 25-acres of lavender fields on the property. Los Poblanos is also home to an organic farm that produces crops like kale, heirlooms beets, and radishes, depending on the season. Farm tours aside, the hotel offers Meet the Farmer classes, which promises take-home tips about gardening and seed starting. In June and July, Lavender Labs take visitors behind the distillery scenes, while cooking classes using farm ingredients await in the fall and winter. From $165 per night, excluding taxes.
Carmel Valley Ranch(Carmel Valley, California)
At this 500-acre, all-suite property in California’s Santa Lucia Mountains, the farm -- and its friendly resident farmer, Mark -- are arguably the biggest draw. The ranch offers a number of farmstead opportunities including a Signature Bee Experience, where daring guests can get a glimpse inside the on-property apiary that houses 60,000 Italian honeybees, and soap making classes using lavender from the farm ($35). There are also complimentary weekly garden tours with Mark, plus monthly Garden Parties featuring chicken greetings, beer tastings, and more. From $300 per night, excluding $30 resort fee and taxes.
