Hidden In Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains Is An Incredible Farm To Sample Fresh Bites And Meet Animals

With views of the Smoky Mountains right out of a storybook, Blackberry Farm is best known as a destination for a romantic stay in its Relais & Châteaux lodging. But it's possible to save money on the pricey overnight accommodations and still have a beautiful day meeting animals and partaking in fresh bites, like dumplings made from the farm's own Brebis cheese. Brebis is a soft, chèvre-like cheese, crafted from the milk of resident East Friesian sheep, fuzzy friends that visitors will meet across the fence of the farm's pasture.

That dumpling dish appears on Chef Cassidee Dabney's menu at The Barn, the farm's flagship restaurant that has won several James Beard Foundation awards. It's one of three dining outlets at Blackberry Farm: The Barn serves dinners of four courses and leaves a few tables each night for diners who aren't staying at the resort, and the other restaurants at Blackberry Farm are reserved for overnight guests, who can start the day dining on farm-fresh eggs from the on-site chickens.

By booking a less expensive lodging in nearby Knoxville (the small city's McGhee Tyson Airport is about half an hour away), travelers to east Tennessee can profit from the best of both worlds with an escape from the college town to quiet Walland. Those laying hens? Visitors can meet them, along with all their friends. The best way to do it is by scheduling a Farmstead Tour.

The tours take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day. There, a guide leads participants through nearly every aspect of the working farm, from the dairy barn to the field populated by sheep and a pair of braying donkeys. Dog lovers will meet the rare, curly-coated Lagotto Romagnolos bred at the farm. The tour closes with farm-fresh bites produced at Blackberry Farm, including cheese and preserves, such as strawberry-ramp and blackberry jam.

An ideal day will end at The Barn, where the indulgent meals might include creative uses of local ingredients such as a smoked pork short rib with house-grown onions and wild ramps or mountain trout with grilled and pickled spring vegetables. Travelers who have visited Vermont's Inn at Shelburne Farm on Lake Champlain or Blue Hill at Stone Barns, along the Hudson River in Tarrytown, New York, will recognize the theme of a gorgeous farm with unforgettable restaurant meals. But for many, Blackberry Farm stands out as the best in the category for its unique Southern fare and unusual heritage animals.