At $3,000 a night, luxury farm resorts are the next glamorous getaway
CNN
Celebrities and influencers have transformed the image of farm living from backbreaking labor and mucked-up boots to romantic cottage dresses, sunlit ranches and tablescaping. A new wave of farm resorts are capitalizing on the agrarian rebrand.
Before the rise of homesteading influencers, picturing farm life would have likely brought to mind an arduous and messy day: wheelbarrow loads, pig troughs, late-night calving, and long hours spent seeding or harvesting. But the visual markers of a back-to-the-land lifestyle have changed. “Living off the land,” as depicted in viral Instagram posts and TikTok videos, comes with a farmhouse-style open kitchen with Williams-Sonoma appliances. Family meals are curated with sunlit tablescaping. Sturdy jeans and mucked-up boots have been replaced with cottagecore dresses and “clean girl” makeup. Now, a new set of Arcadian luxury resorts are offering a taste of farm life — or a more permanent stay — with all the bounties of organic, locally grown crops, and without the daily 14 hours of labor. In the foothills of Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, for instance, guests can stay at the idyllic 4,200-acre Blackberry Farm and partake in fly fishing, horseback riding and the property’s 170,000-strong wine cellar. In Portugal’s São Lourenço do Barrocal, visitors retreat to a pastoral setting with livestock and olive trees, as well as proximity to a nearby stargazing haven. Within Mexico’s resort town of San José del Cabo, Flora Farms offers guest rooms and homes to culinary enthusiasts on an intimate family-run property. And on the eastern side of Puerto Rico, the forthcoming 1,100-acre property Moncayo will offer 400 residences, 68 guest rooms, a 100-acre farm and golf courses along its mountain ridges, valley and coastline. Many of these properties’ rooms cost between $1,000 and $3,000 a night, with built residences on Moncayo starting above $12 million. “There will be rounds of golf, there’ll be games of tennis, there’ll be island hopping on boats,” said Carter Redd, the president of the Moncayo development project, for the firm Juniper Capital, on a video call. “But I would be surprised if most days don’t start or finish with the trip to the farm.” Influencers have played a role in leading the rebrand of farm life, with Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm — one of homesteading’s most visible acolytes — attracting more than 10 million followers on Instagram alone. Aspirational posts from her Utah farm often show Neeleman picking fresh vegetables from her garden with her children (she has eight), and whipping up turmeric lattes with creamy milk straight from the cow’s udder.
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