USA: Feather Down Farms – Offering One-of-a-Kind Family Farm Stay Experiences.
Create your own free range family getaway. Stay in your own Feather Down safari like tent in the middle of a working farm. Each location offers authentic, organic, back to basics fun for families. The units have no electricity, no televisions, video games, computers or even a telephone. Too good to be true, right?
I am thrilled when a fresh, timely vacation idea crosses my desk. And my favorites include ways for families to get “real” with their kids. Family vacations need not be complicated nor need they involve one more gadget or gimmick. My advice is ‘keep it simple’ and stress will melt away. So, I am happy to pass on a “farm fresh” idea that is both clever and worthy of mention. For now only found in New York and Illinois, it is an idea with family vacation merit - as new locations appear we will definitely post them.
Here’s the deal. Imagine leaving the frenzy of urban life and sinking into the restorative rhythm of rural living. Imagine watching the evening sky fade from the comfort of a spacious tent, and then gathering around a candle-lit table to enjoy a dinner prepared from local, fresh-picked ingredients without cell phones, email, or pay-per-view to distract from conversation. Imagine waking up to clean country air and the opportunity to gather fresh farm eggs for the morning’s breakfast. Imagine a vacation that allows you and your family to actually slow down rather than feeling pressured to race from one tourist site to another. That sweet dream is now a reality as Feather Down Farm Days, a one-of-a-kind agritourism concept new in the United States.
Europe has a long-held tradition of families choosing to vacation on beautiful working farms. Recognizing a renewed longing for that authentic experience, Feather Down Farm Days was founded in the Netherlands in 2004. Since then it has expanded with great success to Great Britain and France. Feather Down kicks off its first season in the U.S. with farms in upstate New York and the greater Chicago area. The genuine, simple, and honest setting provided at each and every Feather Down Farm allows guests to reconnect with nature and the simple pleasures of a lifestyle most of us remember from our grandparents’ generation and wish to share with our children.
Feather Down Farm Days is the concept for our challenging economic times, a chance to be rejuvenated through an honest, affordable and authentic experience. You’ll only find Feather Down Farms on small family farms, where the farmers are passionate guardians of the character of the surrounding countryside. The farms are typically located 2-3 hours from major urban areas.
Feather Down Farm Days primarily targets urban families with children aged 2-12. The farm vacations allow families to develop a deeper connection with rural living and their food sources by participating in various aspects of farm life—collecting eggs, petting animals, picking vegetables for dinner, exploring local flora and fauna and more. What a great way for kids to learn that milk comes from cows and not cartons in the supermarket. Through hands-on experience, children learn the values of conscious, responsible living.
All Feather Down tents sleep up to six people (maximum 5 adults) in three quaint sleeping areas and are equipped with wood floors, comfortable beds, wood-burning stoves for cooking and heating, hand-cranked coffee grinders and oil lanterns and, mercifully, indoor plumbing.
Feather Down Farms provides a genuine, eco-friendly getaway: there is no electricity in the tents, so the rhythm of days and meal preparation slows down, encouraging families to interact with each other and appreciate their surroundings. The result is an experience that is worlds away from the corporate holiday package. The concept also helps farmers earn an often much-needed supplemental income.
Guests can easily spend their entire weekend or weeklong stay having fun on the farm, but Feather Down properties also make an ideal home base for hiking and biking and exploring local music and art festivals, antique shops, historical sites, fishing holes, vineyards, and State parks of a scenic region.
On Feather Down Farms, families can prepare their own meals—sauté in a skillet on the wood-burning stove, simmer soups in a kettle over a campfire, smoke fish in a barrel and more. Each farm features a farm shop where guests can purchase produce and other items raised on the farm, as well as local foodstuffs and camp staples. Each Feather Down “hamlet” of tents also features a wood-burning oven where at least once a week the farmer bakes crackly artisan breads, crisp, bubbling pizzas, roasted meats or other items.
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