Sylvan Valley Lodge And Cellars

A sophisticated tapas bar in Georgia wine country. We had a wonderful Sunday lunch on the patio under the big trees. There are only eight choices on the menu. We shared two of them, the smoked salmon with dill cream cheese on flatbread and the cheese and charcuterie platter. Either would have been sufficient, but we were curious. Plenty of delicious food, expertly presented. Our server said they have a new chef. Let 's hope they keep her/him. This more than made up for all the touristy food we had in Helen. We 'll have to return to try the other tapas!

We stayed in the Forest Glen cabin, we were told on the phone both the serenity and Forest Glen were identical, sadly that is not the case. Firstly they have a very strict non smoking policy (see photo), and the first thing I see upon the porch of the cabin was a cigarette that someone left (see photo). The cabin it's self had a weird smell even though they had 2 room air fresheners one behind the TV and one on top of microwave. The bedroom was the worse part, in order to get in and out of one side of the bed you must climb over the foot board or across your sleeping partner (see photo). The bed is a 4 poster bed and between the queen bed and a giant jacuzzi tub in the bedroom (see photo) the door clearance is really tight it was better to walk through the bathroom to go to the bedroom. On our first night I dropped an earring, I'm trying to find it and my husband grabbed a flash light and started to help me and when we shined the flash light under the toe kick of the kitchen area we found a live scorpion. My husband (bless him) killed it and removed it. I was at this point a bit freaked out I've never really delt with scorpions before, and I lived in Show Low Arizona for a few years. My husband started to look around and found another in the bathroom that one was dead (see picture) but still freaked me out. Didn't someone just clean our cabin? We are avid outdoor people I don't expect to be terrified to sleep in a cabin. I ended staying up all night due to fear, I have no idea if I have a reaction to scorpion sting we are in the middle of woods I have no idea if we needed medical attention if we could have received it no cell signal or gps. We left at first light and located another place to stay we have a 9 hour drive and needed a decent night's sleep. I received a text from the lodge later in the day asking about our experience my husband told them what had happened, they called us they did not put their response in writing, but basically we were told oh scorpions are common the caller stated she has them in her own home. Are you freaking serious shouldn't this be some type of disclaimer, seriously I live in Florida and to have palmetto bugs in your home IS NOT NORMAL even though they are abundant here. We never had scorpions in Arizona either. We were not issued a refund, I expected that buyer beware.

Glad to find this off-the-beaten-path lodge and tasting room. They are tied into Kaya Vineyards with some reserve wines not available at Kaya. Overall, the wines were OK; the Reserve Munua was my favorite. However; the General Manager, Luke, is a gem and treated us wonderfully. Hopefully, his vision for this place comes to fruition; excited to try the tapas restaurant when it opens in the fall.

Luke is doing GREAT business here. His vision for the future is so exciting. There is so much to see here. The back garden area is SO amazingly beautiful. The view is stunning and simultaneously relaxing. If you want a place to contemplate life's deep and beautiful mysteries. We did the (tasting of course) and the sweet Rose was absolutely perfect. Sherm had a flight and everything Luke picked for hom was amazing. Is it too soon to think about another vow renewal? What of it is destination themed? In the future Sylvan Valley lodge will feature a tapas menu, live music and group event Specialty catering. This is all according the their savant General Manager who will take you under his wing and make you feel like you are the only people who matter. I am really not sure what else to say. If the above descriptors don't let you know why you should visit this place I am not sure what would.

We kind of got 'stuck ' at this place because it was the only place with vacancy as we were late in booking. However, for $250 a night, we were not impressed. The inside of the cabin was very cheap feeling: linoleum floor, plastic/fiberglass shower, toilet wouldn 't flush u less you held the handle down, loud noises from the highway, but the worst was probably the hard mattress. Also it poured rain 1 night and it sounded like a tin shed. The hostess/waitress was less than friendly. The 2 nice things were the jacuzzi tub in the bedroom and the breakfast, although it was less than accommodating as it 's only available for 1 hour. I wouldn 't recommend unless you can get it for way less than the $575 total we paid for 2 nights.