Take a restored 200-year-old horse farm on 236 acres of gardens, biking and hiking trails, ponds, and streams. Add delicious organic gourmet meals, stylish accommodations, a yoga barn, and a spa with old school cedar steam cabinets and new age treatments. The result is pure bliss.
When Sherry Kahn and her late husband, Stu, first envisioned what they called their “field of dreams,” they intuitively knew that when they built it, people would come. Over the years they tackled different parts of the property: the horse barn with indoor and outdoor riding rings, the yoga barn (complete with a grand piano!), and Pop’s Kitchen, the restaurant. Last summer, the final piece was completed, a renovated barn house with 10 guest rooms, named after the resident horses and filled with antique wind vanes, hooked rugs, quilts, and all manner of horse-themed art. And when Old Stone Farm welcomed its first guests—I was lucky enough to be one of them.
I had trusted my GPS (first mistake) and became so engrossed in an audio book (second mistake) that I got totally lost and arrived nearly three hours after I was expected. But the staff was so gracious, whisking my bags away and quickly offering wine and a delicious braised chicken dish with veggies and polenta. Despite the late hour, Kahn joined me at the table in the cozy communal dining room. As she told me of her journey from vision to reality, the memories of traversing roads over a truly embarrassing number of counties, drifted away.
After her husband died in 2012, Kahn continued with her mission to create a healing space for the mind, body, and spirit. And when you turn off Route 9G and up through the gate that opens to a pasture dotted with horses, you can’t help but start to relax. Fabulous meals by chef Matt Gaines warm the body and soul (I still crave his Davenport Farms Corn Soup with avocado, jalapeno, cilantro, lime, and queso fresco, possibly one of the best things I’ve tasted in my life). A couple of excellent yoga classes balanced my chakras (which I hadn’t realized were out of whack). Then a massage that the therapist called “a combination of Buddhist, tribal tradition, and good old fashioned love and kindness;” I just called it extraordinary. Many times over. And after you sink into bed at night—with an organic mattress, Frette linens, and a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie—the transformation was complete. This stressed out editor, was stressed no more.
For those looking for more enlightenment, Old Stone Farm offers numerous workshops and retreats on such varying topics as astrology, dream decoding, equine facilitated psychotherapy, and memoir writing to name a few scheduled for this summer. Namaste.
Details: Rooms range from $395 to $995 a night; a four-bedroom guesthouse is $1,295 to $2,495. All meals, yoga classes, guided hikes, and time with the horses is included. There are no televisions, but Wi-Fi is free; www.oldstonefarm.org.
