If you’re willing to brave a short, twisty stretch of gravel road, you’ll be rewarded with a shaded, serene sanctuary. This rental must be one of the quietest spaces I’ve entered in the last twenty years. Once the patio and bedroom windows are open, you’ll hear the gentle wind and occasional rain shower filtered through thousands of fluttering leaves (in the summer, anyway!). Several birds hopped through the balcony in the few daylight hours that we were in the rental, and I even saw a decent-sized black bear meander past the kitchen window!
At the insistence of my traveling partner (my mom), I’m typing the following: “The pictures don’t do the actual place justice!” The owners (lovely people who live in the neighboring house!) have furnished the rental both comfortably and artistically; everything feels like a handmade or collectible item, and there’s a considerable amount of unique art on the walls. Still, the place has every modern convenience that you’d require - fast Wi-Fi, good shower, new washer/dryer. The kitchen is functional, logical, and well-equipped; since the location is five minutes away from Merrimon Avenue, which seems to have every grocery store in Asheville, this is a great place to stay if you like to cook for yourself!
Keep walking up the remainder of the gravel road for about a mile and you’ll hit the Blue Ridge Parkway, as well as a couple of adjoining hiking trails. These appear to be popular trails on the weekends, but we took one on a weekday and only ran into five people over the course of three hours. It was my first time to this region, so this style of trail, almost completely shaded and dotted with rocks and miniature streams, was novel and delightful.
I’d easily recommend this place to anyone looking to decompress from hectic city life. It would be especially good as a writing retreat. All in all, we were thrilled with our stay and would return in a heartbeat.