Autumn Fest at Old Edwards

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: 2020/10 - October

A great conundrum of the pandemic is that while it has restricted travel abroad and even in places in the U.S.,  one of the psychological effects has been the strong desire to be elsewhere.  

Surely it’s true that now both the need for refuge and the beguilements of a bucolic setting closer to home have never seemed stronger.  

The demand is so high for car travel that Relais & Châteaux, the luxury association of hotels and restaurants that includes Highlands’ Old Edwards Inn,   added three new United States road trips to its decades-old Routes du Bonheur, or “Roads of Happiness,” program.   

Throughout the month of October, would-be travelers seeking to satisfy their wanderlust could do so when  Old Edwards Inn celebrates Autumn Fest.  A place of absolute luxury, the charming and nature-focused  inn  is a coveted destination for its extra dreamy rooms, pampering spa and sublime cuisine. As one writer said “it’s a place to return to again and again.”

Entitled Escape to Autumn in the Mountains, the month-long celebration features delicious wine and food, indulgent experiences and the spectacular sea of colors of October’s Blue Ridge Mountains.  

The Wine Garden, the inn’s outdoors plant-filled oasis, will be transformed into an Autumn Festival. There, regional lunch and dinner specials created to celebrate the season are certain to surprise and delight the palate with their mix of new and familiar flavors.    

For lunch at Madison’s Restaurant, where European style and elegance extravagantly convene,  Executive Chef Chris Huerta promises a thoughtfully curated farm-inspired fall menu in keeping with the one enjoyed by acclaimed restaurant critic and author John Mariani, who, in an article for Forbes, described Madison’s as “one of the finest restaurants in the South with a menu that features as much sustainable, local provender as possible from purveyors with regional names like Sunburst Trout Farm, Painted Hills Farm, Anson Mills, Benton’s Country Ham and Sequatchie Cove.” 

Cocktails, autumn beers and ciders will carry out the fall theme. Immerse yourself in wellness,  solace, and stress-relief at the inn’s world-renowned spa at Old Edwards.   

Offerings will include organic facials with Rawceuticals Salvation Serum. Romany Botanicals Autumn Mist—blended for and sold exclusively at The Spa at Old Edwards—and Mersea fall scarves will be on sale at the The Spa Boutique. On October 12, at The Salon at Old Edwards, Curly Girl Master, Judi Lyons-Picard, will be available for 80-minute appointments. 

Acorns Boutique will present special offerings to include the purchase of one P. Taylor shirt to receive one Banaris complimentary scarf.  Also scheduled at Acorns Boutique are two trunk shows: P. Taylor October 1–31, and Erin Gray Jewelry, October 9–11. 

Visit oldedwardsinn.com/AutumnFest for more information.