Serenbe

I have dogeared countless pages in my Southern Living magazine collection. A few months ago, Southern Living did a feature on a 900-acre sustainable community just outside of Atlanta called Serenbe. We did a little research but did what we commonly do and just loaded up the car one day and headed north. Pecan trees and a rustic barn greet you as you enter Serenbe.


We immediately pulled up to The Farmhouse, located at The Inn at Serenbe, and made it just in time to catch "Fried Chicken Sunday". With their welcoming wrap-around porch and cozy decor, we felt like we were walking into a family member's house. We even looked at each other while we were walking up and said, "Are we sure we're allowed to just walk into someone's house?"
We picked a great time to visit as they had a beautiful Christmas tree and cracking fire in the "living room". We heard the faint clanking of dishes and mumbled voices as we walked down the hallway to the dining room. The Farmhouse is truly beautiful restaurant and I'm sure that was evident by how many times I said "oh, I love that!" as I was looking around. If I remember correctly, before Serenbe was a community, The Inn was a bed and breakfast run by Marie Nygren and her husband. They still use all of Marie's recipes and base the menu options on what is available on the Serenbe farms.

We were seated and given a menu with two main course options, pot roast and fried chicken, but neither of us were leaving without a belly full of fried chicken! We started with the fried green tomatoes (this may be my only complaint of the whole visit..I wish they were served with homemade ranch instead of pimento cheese) and perfectly made bloody marys. If fried chicken could ever taste fresh, it did. And someone in particular who swore to not like rutabagas may have stolen a few bites off of my plate. We spent a little more on lunch than we usually do (about $50) but that is to be expected when the produce is locally grown in a sustainable community. It was well worth the price.After lunch we ventured into the actual "town". There is still a lot to be developed (and will hopefully pick up the pace as they were just approved for a charter school to be built on site) but we easily spent the next few hours exploring.

Repurpose is a great shop with an eclectic owner, Keith Robinson, who has taken everyday objects, many of them antiques, and given them a new purpose. I found a big beautiful dining table that luckily wouldn't fit in the car!

The Bilt-House is right across the street from Repurpose in one of the beautiful townhomes available in Serenbe.I should have brought my overnight bag because I wanted to curl up on the couch right then and there and stay forever! The shop is filled with neat accessories and it was an extra treat to be able to see the interior of one of the townhouses there.

We made it to the Serenbe Stables just as the sun was going down. The temperatures were dropping and the only person around was a man cleaning one of the stalls who didn't even seem to notice us exploring the stables.
I could write an entire blog post on the homes throughout Serenbe. Every home is very different but they all go together perfectly. There are small cottages and large estate homes, modern homes and classic southern style and town homes for those who want to be in the center of it all. Every time I thought I had found my favorite of the bunch, I saw another that made me gasp.
Our first trip (and there will be more) out to Serenbe did not disappoint. We've made our "to-do" list and are already planning a return trip in the spring when the farm is at it's peek and we're able to spend more time out there. That gives me a little time to figure out which organs I can sell so I can buy that three-story Victorian with the spiral staircase...