Archive for B&B
October 24, 2009 at 5:57 am
· Filed under Asheville, Asheville B&B, Asheville activites, B&B, B&B alternative, B&Bs, Fall Foliage, Lovers' Loop Retreat, free things in Asheville, newsletters, vacation rental ·Tagged Asheville NC, Asheville, Asheville activities, Blue Ridge Parkway, Lovers' Loop Retreat, Asheville festivals, free stuff to do, alternative B&B, free things to do
Lovers’ Loop Retreat November muse-letter
The view from Lovers’ Loop Retreat here in Asheville, N.C., is looking like lollipops, with the trees doing the orange, yellow and red foliage dance, and our mountain views re-emerging as the leaves in the distance drop from their tethers. For the next few weeks, there should be nice color around our Asheville vacation rental and in the surrounding mountains, so it’s a great time to come and embrace Asheville’s autumn.
The foliage, of course, is FREE to view, and Lovers’ Loop Retreat is within a minute of one of the very best viewing routes, the Blue Ridge Parkway. Treat yourself with a stay at our guest suite, and experience the splendor! We have events posted through December and into 2010 on our Web site, www.loversloopretreat.com. Use the Web site to check out what’s going on whenever you plan your trip to Asheville and Lovers’ Loop Retreat, an Asheville bed and breakfast alternative. You can link to our blog, http://loversloopretreat.wordpress.com, on the home page.
In addition to the foliage and the Halloween happenings listed on our home page’s events calendar, November brings a cool mix of music to downtown Asheville. The Asheville Civic Center (and its Thomas Wolfe Auditorium) and the Diana Wortham Theatre host troubadours Leonard Cohen on Nov. 1, Jackson Browne on Nov. 12, Nanci Griffith on Nov. 14 and George Winston on Nov. 21.
If film is your fancy, the Asheville Film Festival will be Nov. 5-8 with its diversity of films political and dramatic, quirky and comedic, weird and wonderful. This festival is growing and gaining acclaim, so come and enjoy the range of entertainment.
Catch the holiday spirit at the “Christmas at Biltmore Estate” extravaganza, which runs Nov. 6- Jan. 3, 2010. This annual transformation of what claims to be America’s largest home draws lots of people who find magic in the setting and the decorations.
For art lovers, the River Arts District Studio Stroll just outside downtown Asheville on Nov. 14-15 is a must-see, and it’s FREE. Dozens of artists open their studio doors to visitors, who can watch art being created and get some good deals sometimes, too.
If you’re ready for more Christmas events, the Asheville Lyric Opera’s annual Christmas concert will be Nov. 20 downtown. Asheville’s Montford Park Players perform “A Christmas Carol” Dec. 3-6 and Dec. 10-13, and there’s a Christmas festival Dec. 4-6 in the historic Biltmore Village outside downtown Asheville.
All of these events and activities and more are listed on our Web site. Please pass along our muse-letter to your friends. And join us at Lovers’ Loop Retreat. See you in Asheville!
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September 1, 2009 at 6:13 am
· Filed under Asheville, Asheville B&B, Asheville activites, B&B, B&B alternative, Lovers' Loop Retreat, free things in Asheville, vacation rental ·Tagged alternative B&B, Asheville, Asheville activities, Asheville NC, free events, free stuff to do, free things to do, Lovers' Loop Retreat
With Labor Day coming up this weekend, we’re taking stock of a few fun, free things to do in Asheville, N.C. We love holidays!
Guests at our Lovers’ Loop Retreat, an Asheville bed and breakfast alternative, are close to all things free in the Asheville area. One of our favorite events, the Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival (LAAFF), happens this Sunday, Sept. 6 downtown. It’s a blast, a circus that’s not really a circus, a zoo without animals. It’s the best people-watching opportunity in the city each year, and it has a terrific mix of live music and dance – and it’s all FREE! It’s all local, too—planned by local people with local vendors and local performers, so it offers the best authentic taste of Asheville’s heart-felt funkiness that there is.
Another free annual event is the North Carolina Apple Festival in Hendersonville, just south of Asheville, this coming weekend, starting Friday, Sept. 4 through Sept. 7. Hendersonville is North Carolina’s biggest apple-producing area in a state that’s among the top apple producers in the U.S. Live music, a parade, crafts. Check it out with the apple of your eye!
Another great, free activity for the holiday weekend is hitting the Blue Ridge Parkway, the beautiful scenic road just around the corner from Lovers’ Loop Retreat, one of the Asheville vacation rentals. The parkway is the perfect place for hiking, biking, taking photographs and just cruising on a fabulous holiday weekend. You’ll be in nature, and you’ll see some great mountain views. The parkway leads to Mount Mitchell State Park, not far from Lovers’ Loop Retreat, where you’ll find the highest peak in the eastern U.S. Shouldn’t miss it!
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July 25, 2009 at 5:49 am
· Filed under Asheville, Asheville B&B, Asheville activites, B&B, B&B alternative, Lovers' Loop Retreat, free things in Asheville, vacation rental ·Tagged alternative B&B, Asheville, Asheville activities, Asheville NC, bicycle, bicycling, Blue Ridge Parkway, free stuff to do, free things to do, kayak, kayaking, Lovers' Loop Retreat
Asheville is a popular place to kayak on the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers. And the Blue Ridge Parkway, a stone’s throw from our Lovers’ Loop Retreat, an economical Asheville vacation rental, is a great place for cycling. The moderate climate here allows these pursuits for most of the year.
Some guests at our Asheville bed and breakfast alternative bring toys to explore our waters and roads. Our guest suite is great for that because you can leave your bikes, kayaks and canoes safely here when you’re not using them.
The best part is that you can kayak and bike for FREE. Long stretches of lovely river await you, and the many scenic miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway attract many cyclists to check out the wonderful vistas.
Come activate yourself in Asheville from Lovers’ Loop Retreat.
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July 13, 2009 at 6:10 am
· Filed under Asheville, Asheville B&B, Asheville activites, Asheville art, B&B, B&B alternative, Lovers' Loop Retreat ·Tagged alternative B&B, Asheville, Asheville activities, Asheville NC, Lovers' Loop Retreat
One of Asheville’s biggest events happens this coming weekend, July 16-19. Do yourself a favor, and check this out when you visit our Asheville bed and breakfast alternative, Lovers’ Loop Retreat. It’s the heralded Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands at the civic center downtown. This is a wonderful gathering of more than 200 crafters from around the Southeast. It’s impossible not to be attracted to at least some of the crafts displayed. The variety is huge, and this is a juried show, so you won’t see flimsy offerings here. There also is live music by local musicians throughout the day.
This is a twice-a-year event, sponsored by the Southern Highland Craft Guild. The next show will be Oct. 15-18. One of the cool things about this event is that the craft guild is one of the oldest in the United States. The guild is based in Asheville and represents artists in a bunch of Southeastern states. The guild’s main gallery is on the Blue Ridge Parkway just five minutes from our Lovers’ Loop Retreat. The gallery is worth a visit, too.
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March 10, 2009 at 5:34 am
· Filed under Asheville, Asheville Weather, Asheville activites, Asheville seasons, B&B, NC, accommodations, nature, the weather, vacation rental
Lovers’ Loop Retreat March ’09 muse-letter
Hurray and yeeeeeoooowwww! March is our favorite month. And why not? It boasts the first day of spring and the beginning of Daylight Saving Time, when the days start to become longer.
By now, we don’t have to look far to see signs of spring at our Lovers’ Loop Retreat vacation rental here in Asheville, N.C. The forsythia in the backyard has started to sprout, and that’s one of our most treasured blooms: we love how it shouts out its yellowness, happy to be what it is. Daffodils are blooming down the street, and soon we’ll see them scattered sunny side up around our yard.
Though Asheville is hopping all year long, activities start to crank into a different gear in March. Be sure to visit our Web site, www.loversloopretreat.com, which contains lots of information, including a growing list of events in the area, photos of our Asheville bed and breakfast alternative and our contact information. Our home page has a YouTube link to videos about Asheville.
Food is big here. And there’s a new Foodtopian Society, which capitalizes on the area’s many farmers’ markets, independent restaurants, breweries, cooking classes, forest-to-table adventures, specialty food items, handcrafted kitchen wares and foodie souvenirs. That said, we’re happy to offer an affordable bed and breakfast alternative that gives our visitors the option of preparing meals in the guest suite.
Part of the ongoing food affair in Asheville is the first National Truffle Fest—who knew?— with cooking demonstrations, a cook-off and dinners at the Biltmore estate March 5-8. The Organic Growers School’s annual spring conference, which includes cooking workshops, is March 21-22 just south of Asheville. March also offers a variety of musical events, from the Asheville Symphony March 14 to Ani DiFranco March 13-14 and John Prine March 28, all in downtown Asheville. This is the month of the Grove Park Inn’s annual comedy classic weekend March 13-15. And for orchid lovers, the annual orchid show at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville is March 27-28; it’s worth a visit to see those fascinating flowers! There’s a new festival on the block here, too. The first annual Asheville Jewish Film Festival is March 21-26. See more about all of these events on our Web site.
On a personal note, four members of the women’s poetry group we facilitate —including one of your hosts at Lovers’ Loop Retreat—will read their work at Holy Ground in Asheville on March 22.
Indigo Girls fans will appreciate a heads-up that the duo plans an appearance in Asheville on April 8. That’s on our Web site, too. The word is that one of the Indigo Girls has a sister who lives in Asheville, so they play here with some regularity.
Join us at Lovers’ Loop Retreat! Please pass along our muse-letter to your friends. And visit our Web site to check out upcoming events. See you in Asheville!
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February 6, 2009 at 4:43 am
· Filed under Asheville, Asheville B&B, Asheville Weather, Asheville activites, Asheville adventures, Asheville seasons, B&B, B&Bs, accommodations, free things in Asheville, vacation rental
Welcome to the F Month. When we lived in Massachusetts in the 1990s [during a couple of their “worst” (that is, messy) winters on record], some residents fed up with snow and ice labeled February the F Month. That label doesn’t fit Asheville, N.C., where winters are much milder. If we lack some of New England’s snow, we sure don’t lack a beautiful wintertime mountain view here at Lovers’ Loop Retreat. The mountains are to the east, which means our sunrises are that much prettier when they spill over the hills.
There are many activities and fun things to do here in winter. This month, the options include a Mardi Gras party and parade in downtown Asheville, a bluegrass festival, a Beatlemania concert and funky, improvisational comedy. Be sure to visit our Web site, www.loversloopretreat.com, which contains lots of information, including a list of events in the area, and a few new photos of our Asheville bed and breakfast alternative. Our home page has a YouTube link to videos about Asheville.
One fun pastime in winter is also free—gallery hopping. Asheville’s many art galleries offer an inspiring variety, and the Asheville area’s reputation as an arts destination brings many visitors. Most of Asheville’s galleries are downtown. But one of the best collections of art and crafts is at the Southern Highland Craft Guild gallery at the visitors’ center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The visitors’ center and guild’s gallery are a scenic five-minute drive along the parkway from Lovers’ Loop Retreat.
Asheville’s history reputation is significant, too. Biltmore Estate, just 10 minutes from Lovers’ Loop Retreat, again was ranked as the most visited historic attraction in North Carolina in 2008. Biltmore is the historic home and grounds of George Vanderbilt. The house and gardens are amazing. Also ranking high on the state list of historic attractions for 2008 were the North Carolina Arboretum, 10 miles down the Blue Ridge Parkway from Lovers’ Loop Retreat, and Chimney Rock Park, North Carolina’s newest state park, a pretty 30-minute drive from our vacation rental.
Another outdoor activity easily accessible from Lovers’ Loop Retreat is the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, a state park that will encompass 1,000 acres across North Carolina when it’s finished. Land is still being acquired for the trail, part of which already is in place along the Blue Ridge Parkway a stone’s throw from Lovers’ Loop Retreat.
We’re happy to offer an affordable bed and breakfast alternative that gives guests the option of preparing meals in the guest suite. Asheville has several independently-owned grocery stores and food coops with a good selection of organic foods, and many of our guests have shopped at these stores.
Join us at Lovers’ Loop Retreat! Please pass along our muse-letter to your friends. And remember to visit our Web site to check out upcoming events. See you in Asheville!
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February 2, 2009 at 5:23 am
· Filed under Asheville, Asheville B&B, Asheville activites, Asheville art, B&B, B&Bs, accommodations, vacation rental
Asheville is, among other things, a city of art galleries. Not only do the arts (dance, theater, literary arts, music—not just visual arts and crafts) significantly boost the area economy but they are a major tourist attraction.
One nice thing about exploring Asheville’s art galleries is that it’s free—you don’t have to buy a thing. For many people who visit our Lovers’ Loop Retreat vacation rental in Asheville, it’s fun to browse the galleries, most of which are downtown or in the River Arts District, a collection of renovated warehouses made into art studios and galleries west of downtown. If you want to buy art here, there’s plenty to chose from: glasswork, jewelry, handcrafted furniture and other items, paintings, textiles and other media.
Four times a year—April, June, August and October—people gallery hop during Asheville’s popular art walks, when galleries stay open later on a Friday night and serve refreshments as visitors view art.
One of our favorite galleries is downtown’s Blue Spiral, which feels like a museum (in a good way). Blue Spiral focuses on high-quality art made in the Southeastern U.S. Another gallery, Ariel, across the street from Blue Spiral, is an artists’ collective that we enjoy. Grovewood Gallery is north of downtown beside the Grove Park Inn. Grovewood is among the more upscale galleries in Asheville and has a huge amount of display space, which includes a large showroom of handcrafted furniture. It’s hard not to have fun at New Morning Gallery, south of downtown in Biltmore Village. New Morning may have the largest variety of items—and prices—of any gallery in Asheville. It’s owned by the owner of Blue Spiral and has a large floor of handcrafted furniture.
When you stay at our Asheville bed and breakfast alternative, consider adding gallery hopping to your agenda.
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