Blackberry Farm — Hotel in Maryville

I have been wanting to visit BBF for the past 10 years and finally able to schedule a trip for our 37th wedding anniversary. Perhaps I built up in my mind how perfect it would be that we ended up having a very good time but definitely underwhelmed. ||Pros-|The staff are amazing. Friendly and on top of any problem. From wait staff to guides just exceptional. Kudos, to Lisa at the Barn and Rencey at the Main House.|The 4200 acres are just gorgeous. Ponds, fields, farm, pool and even the fishing shack all memorably beautiful. Sporting clay club area also beautiful.|The pastry program at both dining venues just delicious.|The whisky selections, as well as the staff, shout out to Cameron, are the best we have ever encountered. We are not wine drinkers but we understand it is also unmatched.|Front desk generously gave us a late check out as we had a late flight out but we ended leaving room by 12:30 anyway which I believe is still past normal check out time.|Great snacks available at all times and delish hibiscus tea at the pool.||Cons-|The food at all meals was good but nothing special or memorable- except for the dessert course. We even felt we had more delicious food prior to our arrival at some fine dining restaurants in Nashville. You are able to request a recipe of an item you enjoyed. I did request a dessert recipe through the email address given to me by wait staff for that purpose but never received a response.|Housekeeping was a mess. We had only 2 towels upon arrival in our room. This was quickly remedied with a call to front desk. We received turn down service only for the first two nights of a three night stay- we didn't bother to call. We were left the exact same Pate de Fruits at turn down both nights which was disappointing. Housekeeping threw out my eye glass cleaning cloth left on night table.|The resort wants you to reuse your water bottle but in your room you get disposable aluminum-like screw cap type bottles you buy in bulk at Costco. Let alone do they have a sharp edge to drink out of but it also difficult to clean between uses.||The price for activities is per person but if you are a couple then you only receive one guide, hiking, fishing and at sporting clays, despite paying the full price per person- resulting in a marriage penalty of sorts. BFF is famous for their farm but they charge $198 pp, including tax and service fees, for a group guided tour that didn't actually include a stroll into the crop area. I think you are able to walk around the farm and maybe even see the puppies, Lagotto Romagnolo breeding program, without signing up for the guided tour but no one told us that beforehand. I feel a farm tour at a farm should be included.||While we were at BBF it seemed very full and as I booked one year out the resort may always be at or near capacity. Perhaps that was the reason for some of the issues we experienced. I regret pointing out these issues but at a resort that bills itself, with support from the media, as the best in the US it was just disappointing. During the same days we were at BBF, friends were at Blackberry Mountain. They had a wonderful time and said the food was delicious, housekeeping perfect and they even got true reusable Yeti drinking bottles. They did say that staff told them they were only at 50% capacity that week. Also commented that they thought they had more included activities at BBM then were offered to us.||Again we did have a very good time and we will fondly remember BBF for its beautiful...

I have been wanting to visit BBF for the past 10 years and finally able to schedule a trip for our 37th wedding anniversary. Perhaps I built up in my mind how perfect it would be that we ended up having a very good time but definitely underwhelmed. ||Pros-|The staff are amazing. Friendly and on top of any problem. From wait staff to guides just exceptional. Kudos, to Lisa at the Barn and Rencey at the Main House.|The 4200 acres are just gorgeous. Ponds, fields, farm, pool and even the fishing shack all memorably beautiful. Sporting clay club area also beautiful.|The pastry program at both dining venues just delicious.|The whisky selections, as well as the staff, shout out to Cameron, are the best we have ever encountered. We are not wine drinkers but we understand it is also unmatched.|Front desk generously gave us a late check out as we had a late flight out but we ended leaving room by 12:30 anyway which I believe is still past normal check out time.|Great snacks available at all times and delish hibiscus tea at the pool.||Cons-|The food at all meals was good but nothing special or memorable- except for the dessert course. We even felt we had more delicious food prior to our arrival at some fine dining restaurants in Nashville. You are able to request a recipe of an item you enjoyed. I did request a dessert recipe through the email address given to me by wait staff for that purpose but never received a response.|Housekeeping was a mess. We had only 2 towels upon arrival in our room. This was quickly remedied with a call to front desk. We received turn down service only for the first two nights of a three night stay- we didn't bother to call. We were left the exact same Pate de Fruits at turn down both nights which was disappointing. Housekeeping threw out my eye glass cleaning cloth left on night table.|The resort wants you to reuse your water bottle but in your room you get disposable aluminum-like screw cap type bottles you buy in bulk at Costco. Let alone do they have a sharp edge to drink out of but it also difficult to clean between uses.||The price for activities is per person but if you are a couple then you only receive one guide, hiking, fishing and at sporting clays, despite paying the full price per person- resulting in a marriage penalty of sorts. BFF is famous for their farm but they charge $198 pp, including tax and service fees, for a group guided tour that didn't actually include a stroll into the crop area. I think you are able to walk around the farm and maybe even see the puppies, Lagotto Romagnolo breeding program, without signing up for the guided tour but no one told us that beforehand. I feel a farm tour at a farm should be included.||While we were at BBF it seemed very full and as I booked one year out the resort may always be at or near capacity. Perhaps that was the reason for some of the issues we experienced. I regret pointing out these issues but at a resort that bills itself, with support from the media, as the best in the US it was just disappointing. During the same days we were at BBF, friends were at Blackberry Mountain. They had a wonderful time and said the food was delicious, housekeeping perfect and they even got true reusable Yeti drinking bottles. They did say that staff told them they were only at 50% capacity that week. Also commented that they thought they had more included activities at BBM then were offered to us.||Again we did have a very good time and we will fondly remember BBF for its beautiful...

This was my third visit to a Blackberry property; I'd been to Farm and Mountain once each. We went for the Brandi Carlile event. My overall impression is that it has gone downhill. When we first went to Blackberry Farm, I couldn't stop talking about it when we got home. This time missed the mark across the board.

We stayed in the farmhouse and it is beautiful and plush, but we had roof leaks and ants. In addition, the bathroom on the first floor had no window coverings, which made it uncomfortable to shower in at night.

The food was mid. I feel there weren't enough choices and not enough variety of ingredients. One thing that really bothered me was that if you wanted in-room dining for any meal, it was not included. I can see adding a service charge, but to make it not included is really nickeling and diming and when you're paying that kind of money, it's really annoying.

Brandi was amazing, but the concert was really short. Tickets were $1000 each and during the performance, she said, "well, I'm only supposed to play for 45 mintues, but do you want to hear a couple more?" 45 minutes?? We went a few years ago to the Emmylou Harris/Sheryl Crow/Shawn Colvin show and they played for two hours. Felt super stingy.

We did the wine tasting, which was very lackluster. $450 each got us 6 pours and a cracker. One measly cracker. The wine tasting at Mountain was far superior, there was lots of cheese and crackers and that's what we were expecting. Part of the enjoyment is the pairing of the wines with the different cheeses. Felt very skimpy and the wines were all very dry, not enough variety as far as I was concerned.

We enjoyed the cooking demonstration, but it was far too long and they gave us each a bottle of water to drink while we watched someone cook for over two hours. Being right in the barn with a full kitchen and bar, I would have expected someone to come in to offer a variety of refreshments and maybe even a snack while we waited. The chef was entertaining, but had no assistance in chopping or prepping and did most of it in front of us, so it became boring and tedious. We also couldn't see the screen very well because grease had clouded the camera lense, seems like an easy fix, why didn't they address it.

Finally, as one final insult, both times we'd been before, they had sent us off with a boxed lunch on Sunday. Well, they stopped offering that earlier this year, but for $50, we could get a turkey sandwich and some chips to go. I even looked to see if they'd taken on PE because that would explain the stark contrast in the level of service, but they are still family-owned.

I'm supposed to go back in February for a design summit, but I'm seriously reconsidering it. I was just really disappointed. After filling out a thoughtful and lengthy review that they had sent, I got a boiler plate response, which really showed me that they might not be...