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Trip Report - RT Lodge & Blackberry Farm December Trip

Phoenix, Arizona
Level Contributor
87,101 posts
2,908 reviews
2,796 helpful votes
Trip Report - RT Lodge & Blackberry Farm December Trip
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This is my Trip Report for our December trip to Blackberry Farm, for their annual “Wine Geek” event.

This trip differed from our August BBF trip, for “Passing the Torch” food and wine event, but mainly in that we flew through Washington/Dulles (IAD), rather than through Chicago, plus we only did one overnight at IAD, at the Hilton Washington/Dulles Hotel. Unfortunately, because we stayed there earlier, I have to wait to write a Review of that hotel, but then it’s not in Tennessee, the point of this TR.

We flew United Airlines from Phoenix (PHX) to Washington/Dulles (IAD), and did the overnight there, prior to catching the late morning United flight into Knoxville (TYS).

We then stayed at RT Lodge, which is sort of BBF’s “cousin property,” in Maryville, TN, just a few miles from TYS. This trip, we rented a car at TYS, with a return to the airport, before flying back to IAD, and then home to Phoenix. Originally, we were scheduled to fly TYS-IAH (Houston), but that flight was cancelled, so United routed us back through IAD - no issues with that, other than that we did arrive home a bit later.

Once more, RT Lodge was nice, and we had dinner there, plus breakfast the next morning. As we had arrived at TYS a bit early to check into RT Lodge, we stopped at Sullivan’s Downtown, in Maryville, for a glass of wine, and did a driving tour of Maryville.

After a nice night at RT Lodge, we drove Hwy 321 toward BBF. As it was too early to check in there, we did a bit of exploring:

The Foothills Parkway, between Walland and Wares Valley (lovely, even in December)

Part of Rich Mtn Road, but not all of the way to Cade’s Cove

The Little River Railroad Museum

The Townsend Wye

Finally, it was time to head to BBF, as the event kicked off that evening, in the Dogwood, located in the Main House. We were in a different cottage, than usual, though one in which we had stayed, some years before - The Lancaster, in the Hill Cottage complex. Normally, we are in Speckled Sussex (named for a chicken), or the Nubian (named for a goat), in the Singing Brook Cottages, across W. Miller’s Cove Rd, from the Main House. It was lovely, and is quite spacious.

We attended events in the Dogwood, The Barn and Bramble Hall, the multi-functional events facility, across the lawn from The Barn. Then, we dined twice at The Barn, for non-event dinners. We did breakfast, and two lunches at the Dogwood, which were not part of Wine Geek. The event was great, we could not have asked for more, from the wine tastings, to the included meals. Attendance had been limited this year, and all events had well-spaced tables. All staff was masked, at all times. We did notice a few more precautions at BBF, since our August visit, but most were minor, such as plexiglas partitions between the booths in the main dining room at The Barn. Also, the steep, winding cart path between the Singing Brook Cottages and the main property, which crossed W. Miller’s Cove Rd on a tight curve, has now become a walking path, and is closed to carts - actually, the pavement was removed. One now needs to head toward The Barn, and cross W. Miller’s Cove Rd, about a 1/4 mile up, then circle the large meadow, to get to the other section of the property. Not a big thing, and as we had encountered ice (during snow storms) on that portion of the cart path, a positive change - now, one has only the slightly longer, but flatter path, and while they still have to cross the road, it is not on a blind curve.

Weather was fine, though the ground was still a bit soggy in places, from rain the week before. It was cool each day, but not quite “cold.” We had no snow.

On this trip, we were unable to get into BBF early, hence the night at RT Lodge, but we were able to extend by two nights, and took advantage of those with a “spa day” at The Wellhouse, just down from the Main House, and The Lancaster Cottage. This was welcome, as we have not been having spa days, for some time.

Every aspect of our stay at BBF was as we expect - perfect, and even in times of COVID.

Our flights back to IAD, and then PHX, were uneventful, and United did a nice job with all four flights.

I’ll link to the Reviews, with the airline flights last, just in case someone has questions about United Airlines, in these tough times. The Review of the IAD Hilton will not appear until mid-January, due to the time between Reviews for hotels - but even that stay was quite good, all things considered. We are now looking forward to our next trip to BBF, for both a culinary/wine event, a stop at The Inn at Little Washington, not too far from Washington/Dulles Airport, and then our 50th Anniversary celebration at Blackberry Farm. We are not planning on doing an overnight at RT Lodge in Maryville, on that trip, but with airline schedules, I will never say never.

I also tried to do a lot of photographs, to show the properties, the dining and the events, plus also the COVID precautions, as well.

RT Lodge - https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55184-d12063388-r779921764-RT_Lodge-Maryville_Tennessee.html?m=19905

Restaurant at RT Lodge - https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55184-d13008506-r779918927-The_Restaurant_at_RT_Lodge-Maryville_Tennessee.html

Sullivan’s Downtown - https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55184-d821765-r779921947-Sullivan_s_Downtown-Maryville_Tennessee.html

Foothills Parkway (Walland to Wears Valley) - https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g143031-d3320053-r779918432-Foothills_Parkway-Great_Smoky_Mountains_National_Park_Tennessee.html?m=19905

Blackberry Farm (Wine Geek event) - https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55398-d98008-r779888687-Blackberry_Farm-Walland_Tennessee.html?m=19905

The Barn (at Blackberry Farm) - https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55398-d7323113-r779924122-The_Barn-Walland_Tennessee.html

United Airline Flights:

TYS - IAD: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1-d8729177-r779926483-United_Airlines-World.html?m=19905

PHX - IAD: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1-d8729177-r779926090-United_Airlines-World.html?m=19905

IAD - PHX: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1-d8729177-r779924763-United_Airlines-World.html?m=19905

IAD - TYS: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1-d8729177-r779925309-United_Airlines-World.html?m=19905

Hope that this proves helpful to a few folk,

Hunt

1 reply
Birmingham, Alabama
Level Contributor
5,945 posts
54 reviews
39 helpful votes
1. Re: Trip Report - RT Lodge & Blackberry Farm December Trip
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Hunt, outstanding review as always. Love the photographs!

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