Then it's back to my cottage suite, where a soak in the whirlpool renders me sufficiently mellow to face another exquisite dinner. Only a 20-minute drive from Knoxville, Tennessee's McGhee Tyson Airport, Blackberry Farm faces the Great Smoky Mountains. There's lots of it, rather formally delivered. But an automatic 15 percent service charge ends worrying about tips. Weather Glorious color in the long fall, wide open vistas in the mild Southern winter.
Spring starts early and lasts.
Gear Hiking boots, tennis and fishing gear if you partake. Men are asked to wear jackets, but not ties, at dinner.