Serenbe

Our 10 year wedding anniversary was earlier this summer and since we went on a big trip last year for our anniversary, we decided to keep it low key and stay close to home this year. So I surprised Meg with an overnight trip to Serenbe just south of Atlanta. For those of you who are not aware of Serenbe it is a 1,000 acre community located under 30 minutes from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. It is a national model for the future of balanced development in the U.S. focusing on land preservation, agriculture, energy efficiency, green building, walkability, high density building, arts and culture, and community living for multiple generations. With a projected 70% of future building occurring in the greenfield, Serenbe demonstrates how urban development models can succeed on the edge of a metropolis while preserving a vast majority of the greenspace. To sum it up, it is a Green community that believes is sustainable farming, building and living. Also, it is pretty cool!


View of the community from the Top of the Hil restaurant

 Meg was truly surprised since she didn’t think I could pull something off without her knowing about it and she didn’t figure it out until we were just outside the entrance to the community and saw a sign. Once we found the turn we passed the Inn (which is where we were supposed to check in) and drove around the community taking it all in. We loved the beautiful countryside with pastures of animals and ponds full of ducks. Then we hit the community area and loved the wonderful architecture of the different areas of the small urban feeling town full of residences, shops and restaurants. Again, it was a pretty cool place!

One of the many pastures just as the moon was coming up

Here is the pool house and pool at the Inn

At Serenbe you can stay at the Inn which includes the main house which is like a B&B, some of the outer houses which are more like lodges or in the community which are more like lofts or small apartments. I picked a loft over the real estate building and it was great. The location was great; it was walking distance to most of the shops and restaurants. It was designed wonderfully. On the inside it felt like a NYC loft while on the back balcony we felt like we were in Provence overlooking a French courtyard. Each different area of the community had a different feel to it and the residences in that area all fit together.

Here are some pictures of where we stayed:



View from the bed



Kitchen view

 

This was our view from the back balcony

We spent the day exploring the community and checking out all of the shops. We had a nice lunch at the Blue Eyed Daisy with Newman from Seinfeld. Yes, Wayne Knight (who played Newman) sat right be hind us! Then that evening we went to dinner at the acclaimed Farmhouse Restaurant at the Inn. The restaurant has an ever changing menu and is limited to a couple of options for each course. This made it easy to choose but it didn’t take away from the quality of the meal. It was delicious and reasonably priced!

Front entrance to the Farmhouse Restaurant



Inside the Farmhouse Restaurant

 The next day, we slept late and then went to get massages at the spa in the community. That was very nice! After that we had lunch at The Hil on the hill, the other really nice restaurant in the community. Another delicious meal! After that we went and toured the HGTV Green Home which was really cool. I am still a little unhappy that we didn’t win the house, but we did get some great ideas if we ever build another house!



View of the front of the HGTV Green Home

In conclusion, we had a great trip to Serenbe and a great anniversary! I recommend making a trip to Serenbe even if it is just a day trip. The community is really neat and it is growing rapidly. There are new shops and restaurants going in as well as different living communities. It is totally worth the short drive from Atlanta.