SERENBE

A FUN FILLED AFTERNOON...

Early this afternoon, MC and I decided to find Serenbe, Georgia. Melanie Turner, the Designer I met at the Atlanta Symphony Showhouse, suggested we take a trip to this Community!!!!

The drive, which took about an hour, was beautiful, going through small towns on country roads. Then ...what seemed like the middle of Nowhere..............sat SERENBE !

This community is like no other I have ever been to! It is on 900 acres with a master plan that calls for 80% green space."They base their approach on a belief that quality of life is more than simply a place to live. It is designed to be fully a part of its natural surroundings". The residences are certified EarthCraft houses within walking distance to shops and restaurants.

The housing styles range from townhomes to Grand Victorian homes. The property consists of a fabulous Inn, stables, fine restaurants, a day spa, art studios, unique shops, a working organic farm, an equestrian center, and a biological wastewater treatment system rather than sewers...the first in Georgia.! Unfortunately, most of the shops and restaurants are only open from Thursday through Sunday!!! We did find the Blue Eyed Daisy Bakeshop where I had the best scone ever!! MC and I will surely venture back to "Me..JANE", a quaint shop, selling wine, gifts and chocolates. Bloom, a shop filled with treasures for the home.....is also on my return visit. Oh, I can't forget there is also... the Serenbe Playhouse with an outdoor theater and a Farmer's Market with all the sustainable organic foods from their grounds!!!

We drove all over the property not wanting to miss a thing!! We pulled up to the parking lot for " The INN at Serenbe" and proceeded to walk around the grounds. As we started to ascend the stairs to the building, a man, friendly with a smile.....stopped us in our tracks. He informed us that there was a "Group" staying at the INN and we could not mingle with them. We asked how we could make plans for a group we were putting together and he graciously showed us the way off the Inn grounds, and directed us to an outbuilding with a sign reading..."Guest Information". A lovely, young lady, greeted us and handed us some pricing for the Inn. She quickly showed us away from the grounds, reaffirming that they had a "Group" and we had to respect their privacy!!!

MC and I thoroughly appreciated this fact, but I must say we started to imagine all sorts of intriguing scenarios about what this Inn, in the middle of nowhere, really could be..........That friendly man looked a lot like "Jack Bauer"!!!!

With visions of secret hideaways and who might be in the "Group" we continued our tour of the Community. Driving through the little neighborhoods of different home styles we came upon a Grand Victorian Home. Smack in the front yard was a sign that read......
OPEN............

Need I say more!! You know that I was up the long stairs and trying the front door in a second! It was OPEN!!!!!!!! I immediately waved to MC, who was cautiously sitting in the car, to join me. We walked through a newly constructed, gracious, Victorian home! Oh, the Kitchen was fabulous! There were three floors and an unfinished raised basement. Which would make a perfect "Terrace Level" a "term" I will try to remember when I describe finished lower levels! The third floor.............. a Grand Ballroom with a Stage. All levels were reached by a circular staircase with a grand chandelier at each level....all hanging on one continuous chain!!! .....(Wish we had three levels...that was very dramatic!!!!)

I immediately was reminded of my Grandmother's home. Grandma related many stories that she remembered to a "T", of the home she grew up in, which was in the "tony" section of Flatbush, Brooklyn in the early 1900's. Grandma loved to tell me about how she would sit, hidden from view, and watch the carriages approach the circular drive to their home. Ladies and Gentlemen, dressed in formal attire would enter the grand foyer and proceed to the third floor for the "Party"!

Can you just imagine .........




These pictures are from brochures we found at the bakery. They show the property much better than my camera shots.....especially since we couldn't get into some of these places.......................

You can get all the info at the website:

http://www.serenbecommunity.com/home.html

http://www.serenbeinn.com/

ENJOY