A Quick Trip to Serenbe
In early December, the King family was starting to get a little restless (I feel like to Covid stress comes in waves). We needed to get out of the house and just breath some fresh air and rest. Luckily, I had dropped enough hints over the years to my husband that he surprised little lady and I with a 48 hour getaway to Serenbe! Was I worried that the average temperate was looking to be 35 degrees and this was most likely going to be a lot of outside time? Certainly! However, when the husband makes fun plans like this, you jump for joy at the opportunity to not have to schedule a thing and just soak up a socially distanced vacation outside of the city!
I have heard people talk of Serenbe since I was a student at Woodward Academy. The founders of Serenbe also sent their three daughters to Woodward, and their family was and continues to be very involved in a school I hold so dear. I remember not fully understanding what the Nygren family was starting, but I could tell it was something special and knew that one day I would investigate this countryside oasis.
Fast forward 20 years, and I finally got the chance to step foot on this amazing development. What a joy it was! I’m not going to be able to fully explain this wonderful place, but I will try my best. As noted on their website, “At Serenbe we value nature, passion, creativity and community. We believe people can live more fully when connected to the wonder of nature. We value people for who they are, not what they are or what they do. This is a community where people live, work, learn and play in celebration of life’s beauty. A place where connections between people, nature and the arts are nourished.”
I went to Serenbe with lots of questions. Having very little knowledge of what it actually was, I looked forward to exploring. I knew if was a very eco-friendly community that served as both a home to many and a vacation spot to even more. I imagined it would be some sort of sustainable utopia, and I wasn’t too far off. I discovered that there are four “hamlets” or small towns that are all connected on the property. I thought there were three, but their website says four so I’m going to go with them.
“The master plan for Serenbe calls for multiple hamlets based on English villages, all designed on sacred geometry principles with buildings clustered along serpentine-like omega forms fitted to the undulations of the land. This method of arranging the community requires minimal land disturbances and allows the community to reserve large areas of undeveloped green space.”
Each hamlet that I drove through had a different vibe. I imagine Selbourne was the first area to get developed. Let me just preface this and say that every home on Serenbe property is pure perfection. Each one can stop you in your tracks. It is a real estate lovers guilty pleasure. If it wasn’t for the chilly weather, I would have strolled for hours and hours browsing! This is a major generalizations, but the homes of Selbourne were mainly detached (there was a nice strip of brick townhomes) and have a more modern cottage or farmhouse feel. The Moda hamlet has much more modern properties, smaller lots, townhome options and it seemed that they had some smaller detached home options available. The Grange hamlet seemed to be the section with bigger lots for the homes. These homes had a larger estate feeling to them. Again, every home was stunning, but the styles varied widely from modern to traditional. If you have any interest in Serenbe real estate, please reach out to me. There are options for investing, owning, building and leasing. I would love to explore this beautiful community with you!
I’m assuming that the fourth hamlet is the Inn, but I’m not certain. That is where we stayed. The Inn at Serenbe has a total of 27 rooms. Rooms 1-16 are in the main house. The main house is a restored Farmhouse from 1905 and reserved for guests over the age of 16. A restored horse barn now serves as a 3-bedroom, 4-bath guest house with a full kitchen. There is a beautiful 4-bedroom Lake House that also has a full kitchen, 4 bathrooms and views of the lake. The remaining rooms are located in three cottages that have kitchenettes, screened porches and fireplaces. We stayed in one side of the Dogwood Cottage. It was a perfect one bedroom set up with a large living room with kitchenette and fireplace. We brought our pack n play for our daughter with a Slumber Pod to keep the early early morning light from waking her up. It was the perfect fit for our family. The Inn website can also assist you in finding a home located in another section of Serenbe to stay in.
We arrived on a Sunday and stayed until Tuesday. These are not the ideal days to attend structured events around Serenbe, but we still found plenty of ways to pass the time. Check out their events calendar to see some of the things they offer. During our stay, we ate dinner at the Hill one night and ordered to go from The Farmhouse. Both were amazing!! Since we were staying at the Inn, we were able to enjoy a complementary breakfast at The Farmhouse each morning.
The rest of our trip was enjoyed playing with the farm animals on the property of the Inn, going on a long hike around Serenbe, playing on the outdoor entertainment at the Inn (basketball, large chess board, treehouse, etc.) and just soaking in the “unplugged” feeling. I did get the chance to slip away to the Spa at Serenbe located in Moda. I had a delightful facial before heading next door to the Halsa for a little afternoon snack and cocktail. I also popped in to Resource and bought a pair of earrings for myself! It was a fabulous afternoon to say the least.
I recommend checking out all of the offerings in Serenbe. The restaurants, gyms, educational opportunities, etc. are just too many to name. Here is the community directory to browse!
Lastly, the 2021 Serenbe Designer Showhouse is scheduled for September 10 - October 3, 2021. No doubt that I will be there, and I hope you will join me!
