Connecticut , United States

GrayBarns

Price per night from$1,006.25

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD1,006.25), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

GrayBarns Photos

Style

Mod-colonial

Setting

New England nostalgia

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Nestled in a leafy Norwalk neighbourhood filled with historic houses, boutique hotel GrayBarns is a charming countryside retreat just an hour’s drive from the Big Apple. Having served as a stagecoach stop, operated as a 1920s speakeasy and hosted newlyweds Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher on their honeymoon, this historic New England inn has quite a few stories bound up in its shiplap walls. Charming touches like black rotary phones and twin-bell alarm clocks gently nudge you to stash away your smartphone and get into the nostalgic spirit, but there's enough modern design mixed in to ensure there’s no hint of stuffiness.

Smith Extra

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A bottle of wine on arrival

Facilities

Photos GrayBarns facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Six suites.

Check–Out

11am and check-in is 3pm; both are flexible upon request. The hotel will happily store luggage for guests who arrive early or depart late.

More details

Rates include breakfast, a buffet spread of yoghurt, fruit, granola and home-baked croissants.

Also

The ground-floor suites and common areas are wheelchair accessible.

At the hotel

WiFi throughout. In rooms: air conditioning; in-floor heated bathrooms; 47-inch LCD televisions; Bose speakers; free minibar treats, including beer, wine, champagne, and sweet and savoury nibbles; and Le Labo bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Our pick is Hutchens. Affectionately known as the inn’s ‘artist quarters’, the suite opens onto a private porch with bird’s eye views pretty enough to inspire even the least creatively-inclined lodger. But if you want to spend your evenings curled up in front of a roaring fire, then you should opt for a first-floor room like Webster.

Spa

Spa treatments, yoga and personal training are available in your room.

Packing tips

Iron your linens and dust off your boat shoes.

Children

GrayBarns is an adults-only hotel.

Food and Drink

Photos GrayBarns food and drink

Top Table

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a bad table at Tavern, but we suggest asking for a seat with a river outlook: in the best case scenario you’ll catch a glimpse of the hotel’s resident river otter, at worst you’ll have a picturesque view.

Dress Code

Relaxed country chic.

Hotel restaurant

Tavern at GrayBarns serves seasonal farm-to-table fare in what looks like an elegantly-converted boathouse, with a roaring fire on one end, a grand piano on the other and a burly timber wine station in the centre that could have burgeoned from the floorboards. Executive chef Ben Freemole’s menu is refreshingly down-to-earth – nothing’s been ‘deconstructed’ and there’s no mention of ‘foam’ in sight – and champions New American cooking and fresh ingredients from local farmers and suppliers. We’d go back for the Tavern double cheeseburger with gouda and pickles; and the fettuccine served with crab, rock shrimp and lemon, both of which are well worth the indulgence. Impulsive diners should note that the restaurant is astir with locals on a daily basis, so it’s worth booking ahead.

Hotel bar

There’s no separate bar for an evening tipple, but Tavern has a timber-clad bar area serving up an extensive wine and cocktail selection, including their signature Grayhound cocktail, a medley of Ketel One vodka and grapefruit juice served with a sprig of rosemary.

Last orders

Breakfast is served from 7.30am to 10.30am; dinner is served between 5pm and 10pm from Tuesday to Saturday, and 5pm to 8:30pm on Sundays. You can treat yourself to a lazy brunch between 11.30am and 3pm on Sundays.

Room service

Available on request.

Location

Photos GrayBarns location
Address
GrayBarns
194 Perry Ave
Norwalk
06850
United States

The hotel is in the city of Norwalk, an hour’s drive from New York City.

Planes

LaGuardia Airport is an hour’s drive away; those flying into JFK should add 15 minutes to their transfer time. Our Smith24 team can arrange your flights and transfers for you; call anytime, day or night.

Trains

Metro North services nearby towns New Canaan, Norwalk and Darien with local and express trains running hourly within the area, as well as to and from Grand Central in New York City. Step off the train and a 15-minute drive will have you on GrayBarns’ doorstep.

Automobiles

Transfers are easily arranged to and from nearby airports and train stations, so you won’t need your own car unless you want to go exploring further afield. There’s onsite parking if you do decide to hire.

Worth getting out of bed for

GrayBarns’ grounds are well worth a wander when you first arrive, and those on a short stay may find no need to stray from them at all. Within them you’ll find a kitchen garden and the inn’s namesake, a towering old barn that was deconstructed in upstate New York and painstakingly reassembled on site; it now hosts to a pop-up bakery each weekend. In warmer months, there's a rosé wine bar in the gardens too. Guests are also welcome to cast a line in the waterfalled river that curves beside the site’s old mill. If you feel like exploring further afield, the hotel provides a stylish bike fleet so you cruise through the town’s sleepy suburbia. Spend an afternoon in South Norwalk – SoNo to the locals – and peruse the boutiques and restaurants that line the main street. A fifteen-minute drive will drop you at The Glass House, a sprawling residential gallery showcasing fourteen works by famed architect Philip Johnson. Tours are offered from May to November, and tend to get busy during the warmer months, when it’s best to book ahead. Golf devotees will likely have heard a thing or two about the legendary Pound Ridge Golf Course, a 20-minute drive away. It’s worth setting aside a day to chip this one off your bucket list.

Reviews

Photos GrayBarns reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this clapboard-clad retreat in the heart of New England and unpacked their boat shoes and jars of cranberry relish, a full account of their rustic break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside GrayBarns in Connecticut…

To think that the streets of New York City hum just an hour away from GrayBarns seems absurd, but this only adds to its magic. This six-suite retreat is nestled in a quiet neighbourhood beside the inky Silvermine River in the sleepy town of Norwalk, Connecticut, and has a patchwork quilt of a history and old-world charm in droves. The ideal backdrop for a recharging weekend away, the inn manages to be luxurious yet comfortingly homey, there are picturesque grounds to explore and the restaurant is just as likely to be brimming with locals as hotel guests. It’s like a New England town  in miniature, so once you’ve settled into your room and flung open the French windows, there’s no shame in pulling up a rocking chair, pouring yourself an apple cider and planning to stay exactly where you are.

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Price per night from $1,006.25

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