If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD499.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Just south of Nashville, on once-neglected land has sprung Southall Farm & Inn, which has sown itself into Franklin community’s fabric. Started as a philanthropic project to grow food for the needy – like its orchards of heirloom apples, woodland mushrooms and crops in hydroponic greenhouses – it’s flourished into a 400-acre wonderland that’s eco-friendly as can be. Fly through treetops on the aerial rope course; sling axes and arrows; try everything from mineral-boosted soaks to tea ceremonies in the spa; and let each impassioned staff member show you their area of expertise, be that bee-keeping, elevated Southern cuisine, or bird-of-prey wrangling.
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 4pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £454.53 ($568), including tax at 13.75 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional resort fee of $113.75 per room per night prior to arrival.
More details
Rates don’t include breakfast. A $100 a day resort fee covers a farm tour; beekeeper meet and greet; morning yoga, sound baths and meditation sessions; fishing, canoe and paddle-board gear; and high-speed WiFi.
Also
There are 11 accessible rooms, adapted to ADA standards, and staff can ferry guests about the grounds in electric golf carts or a Cadillac Escalade. And all rooms are allergy-friendly.
At the hotel
Farm and orchards, lake, fitness centre, beauty salon and shop, farmstand, cruiser bikes for hire, charged dry-cleaning and laundry services, and concierge. In rooms: 55-inch TV with an interactive Sonifi system, Bluetooth soundbar, mini fridge, smart climate-control, free newspaper, bathrobes. The Premiere Tennessee Suite has a full-size fridge.
Our favourite rooms
We’re not qualified to comment on the state of modern farming, but the state of the hotel’s modern-farmhouse rooms is exceptional, with wallpaper with patterns that reflect the scenery, luxe fabrics, all the tech you’ll need and spa-style bathrooms with large soaking tubs. The cottages are built to be as private as possible – we like Arbor, where you can swing on the deck’s day-bed together as the alfresco fireplace crackles late into the night. And the Tennessee Suite feels extra special, with its vintage trappings.
Poolside
Guests who've booked a spa treatment (or paid for a day pass) can get their daily dose of 60 minerals in a heated lake-view pool. And there’s a larger, seasonal, unheated pool for all guests if you’re lining up laps.
Spa
The land provides spiritual nourishment here, too – at the 15,000-square-foot spa (open 8.30am to 6pm). You can get a day pass for $50 or have access to all facilities if you book a treatment. Ingredients for therapies are sourced from the farm or medicinal herb garden, and there’s greenery to meditate in. Enter its reclaimed wood gate and you’ll find 10 treatment rooms (some for couples, one with a soaking tub), a eucalyptus-scented steam room, Himalayan salt sauna, mineral pool enriched overlooking Lake Mishkin, thermotherapy circuit, and relaxation lounge. You could have a simple botanical massage or Naturopathica facial, or try crystal healing, smoke smudging, sound and forest baths, or tea ceremony. There’s mani-pedis to finish and aftercare can go on and on here, with mindfulness therapists available to book for Zoom sessions after your stay and recipes for healing potions passed on. And, alongside workouts at the fitness center, there are sound baths and meditation sessions, and sunset yoga on special occasions.
Packing tips
Southall is very manicured as farms go, but unprecious outfits of dungarees, sturdy denim, rubber boots, and layers for weather turns will come in handy (as will lake-frolicking gear). And save packing space for the farm’s spoils and Tennessean goodies.
Also
The hotel's boutique sells local products.
Pet‐friendly
One good boy or girl (under 50 pounds) can stay for $250 a room. They must be leashed and accompanied, and they can’t enter the dining spaces. See more pet-friendly hotels in Tennessee.
Children
Juniors to teens will love the outdoorsy activities (especially the aerial adventure, archery and axe-throwing), and there are some interconnecting rooms with two queen beds, and babysitting on request.
Best for
Kids aged five and up, and tweens and teens, will have a great time here.
Recommended rooms
Some of the Polk and Cumberland rooms sleep up to four and some interconnect.
Activities
Outdoorsy activities have an all-age appeal, whether you’re biking through the woods, zip-lining through the trees, tackling the aerial obstacle course, or trying your hand at bee-keeping.
Swimming pool
Kids can swim in the pool, but it’s not especially child-friendly.
Meals
Sojourner’s more casual eats will appeal to kids, and they’ll love the poolside popsicles.
Babysitting
The concierge can help to arrange this; it’s best to book in advance.
Sustainability efforts
Sustainability is sown into the land here, with heritage seeds and heirloom varietals planted, eco-friendly farming techniques in place, invasive plant species removed, wild-mushrooms encouraged, and nitrogen-fixing cover crops fertilising the soil. Natural pest management is in place, with wildflower meadows to attract pollinators, and an apiary with millions of bees, which produce 1,000 pounds of honey a year. Seasonal farming cycles keep the landscape healthy; savannas and meadows are maintained with controlled fires; and wells and underground systems have been dug for geothermal heating and cooling. The property is almost entirely self-sufficient when it comes to water, collecting rain in roofs and gutters and terracing the land and building swales to capture run-off. Renewable materials are used in constructing rooms, furnishings are reclaimed or handmade, and HVAC systems conserve energy. Smart tech means rooms switch on and off as needed and can be operated remotely, the kitchen has strong connections to local farmers, and recycling and composting are duly carried out, while plastics have largely been replaced by glass (guests get a water bottle on arrival and there are refill stations throughout).
You can practically see the ingredients grow from a seat on the terrace.. Sojourner’s fireplace is a warm hug of a spot – and it's the top spot if there's live music on. And you can ask for s’mores kits to toast by your fireplace or pit.
Dress Code
Farmhand made fashion: a buffalo plaid or tailored denim wouldn’t go amiss here. Switch to Southern sophistication for January.
Hotel restaurant
Southall has two restaurants, whose names sound like unreleased tracks off Taylor Swift’s Folklore: Sojourner and January. Both follow a seed-to-fork philosophy under the care of executive chef Andrew Klamar, and menus are an authentic taste of Tennessee countryside, with most ingredients picked, plucked and gathered on the farm, from the 60 kinds of apples in the orchard to morels and chanterelles in the woods, to the apiary’s honey, to the seasonal crops in the hydroponic greenhouses and kitchen gardens (with support from local farmers and fishers). Sojourner is open all day, with a fire to gather around and more casual eats (biscuit breakfast sandwiches and shrimp and grits in the AM; house-smoked meats, heirloom salads and a big-deal burger around lunchtime). While January, hidden behind a bookcase is for emotion-stirring multi-course meals, and only open in the evening. You’ll be greeted with a cocktail and some light bites first. The spa offers light healthy dishes too, and occasionally local wineries and growers hold pop-up meals (some cooked at the alfresco 100-year-old pizza oven).
Hotel bar
At the laidback seasonal Pool Bar (open around April till October, till 4pm), crack a can of Hogwash Rosé, vinho verde or a La Jaras botanical spritzer as you admire Lake Mishkin. Or order a bucket of locally brewed cold ones, ice-creams and popsicles for a full refresh. The cider is made on-site. Dottie’s feels a touch more discreet, spirited away in a house the owners decided to leave almost as is on the estate after they purchased the land. With its cozy corners and guitars to tinker with, it feels like hanging out in a friend’s home. Sojourner will also quench the thirst of any who travel there, and the lobby lounge has a soaring ceiling, huge windows and two fireplaces.
Last orders
At Sojourner breakfast is served 7am to 10.30am, lunch from 11am to 4pm, dinner 5pm to 10pm. Dinner seatings at January are from 5pm to 10pm.
Room service
If you’re too comfy by your fireplace or under your down duvet, in-room dining follows restaurant hours.
Southall Farm & Inn might be just south of Nashville, but here, in Franklin, the bluegrass banjos and wailing guitars fade out into birdsong and rustling grasses as you arrive at the estate’s 400-acre working farm.
Planes
Nashville International Airport is the closest to the hotel, around a 35-minute drive away. Keep an ear out – local acts often play live on the concourses here. The hotel can help to arrange transfers on request.
Automobiles
There’s no main train station in Nashville, and even fewer public transport options out towards Southall, so a car is essential, even if you’ll need to swap it for something more eco-friendly at Southall’s gates. There’s parking on-site (with electric-vehicle charging stations) and a valet service is included in the resort fee.
Worth getting out of bed for
Southall Farm & Inn might have wide-open spaces that roll out over 400 acres of Tennessee’s countryside, but its aim is communion and conviviality over food, nature and wild adventuring. First, get the lay of the land on a free farm or orchard tour, Beekeeping 101 session (with a spoonful of the award-winning honey), and learn about the hotel’s seed-saving program (with a look at the orangery and greenhouses); or take a seasonal tasting tour to get the flavor of what Southall’s all about. Take a deeper dive into bee-keeping by learning how to set up a habitat or don a suit and smoker and get to grips with a hive. Farm Fables cookery classes really dig into recipes, from the provenance of the seed to plating, and change by season; and you can master your mint julep, Manhattan and sazerac at a cocktail-making class. Make beeswax candles or paint the landscape with local artists Marriann Hough and Anne Goetze. If that’s too sedate, amp things up on the aerial adventure course through the forest, zip-line, mountain bike, follow hiking or running trails into the hills (guides available on request), or try your – steady – hand at archery and axe-throwing. Gong meditation and tea and honey ceremonies offer quiet contemplation, as do fly-fishing and canoeing at Lake Mishkin. A spot of falconry brings you even closer to nature, and there are season-specific events (from harvesting to solstice celebrating) throughout the year. (Some activities are for an extra charge.)
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 very agri-able outdoorsy stay in rural Tennessee and unpacked their jar of house honey and bushel of heirloom apples, a full account of their elysian break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Southall Farm & Inn…
We’re not sure who is better looked after at Southall Farm & Inn: the land or the guests. Sure, the estate’s 400 acres are very well-tended, with 60 types of apple now growing in the orchards, a flourishing kitchen and herb gardens, non-invasive plant species replaced with more beneficial ones and responsible farming methods followed to the letter. But, guests wake to a yoga session or sound bath, spend the day swinging about on the aerial adventure course, e-biking through woodland, hurling axes or shooting arrows, or perhaps peace-ing out to an afternoon of plein-air painting and tea and honey ceremonies (courtesy of the huge on-site apiary). This is all before the two eateries show true Southern hospitality through farm-fresh feasts and house ciders. Then it’s off to snooze, perhaps with a bespoke botanical tincture if there are any concerns keeping you up – although a stay here will quickly put paid to those. Who or whatever they’re turning their attention too, the staff brim with passion, and are perhaps as excited as you are about the spa’s mineral bathing and crystal healing, the oversized soaking tubs in rooms, the hybridised seed varietals your salad springs from, and getting everyone together, even in as sprawling a space as this.
