Owner Favorites

True Confession: We both love to cook, so we eat most of our meals at home. But everyone needs a quick meal sometimes, and we like to patronize other small businesses. There are so many great eating options nearby, but these are our top choices:

  • PIZZA: West First (Their Artichoke Goat Cheese & Spinach Dip alone is reason to eat here. We also love the Goat Cheese Pizza, BBQ Chicken Pizza, and Roasted Chicken Calzone.)

  • WINERY: Point Lookout is hands down our favorite — bonus points for being close to the campground, having amazing views, and being kid and pet friendly.

  • BAGELS / SANDWICHES:

    • Joey’s New York Bagels (Michelle grew up in New England in bagel country, and this is the best bagel she’s found down South.)

    • HenDough — you really can’t go wrong, but the Southern Sandwich with a side of brussels sprouts is an easy favorite.

  • FINE DINING: Shine (Literally everything we tried was amazing - but we can’t say no to the Thai Curry Beef and Scallops.)

  • FOOD TRUCK: Taqueria El Chuy (We recommend the pastor burrito - which is the size of your head!)

  • BBQ:

  • BAKERY:

    • McFarlans in downtown Hendersonville (you can’t go wrong, truly!)

    • Flat Rock Village Bakery (they also have a location in Fletcher). The Veggie Melt is incredible. And they have a great selection of cookies, breads, and treats.

Restaurants

Hiking

Hiking is one of our favorite shared activities and we are so lucky to live in an area with abundant trails of all difficulties and lengths with a wide variety of views. It would be impossible to list every trail we’ve hiked, but here are a few of our favorites:

In general we really enjoy hiking in the following areas:

  • Green River Game Lands

  • Pisgah National Forest

  • DuPont State Forest

  • The Foothills Trail

  • Jones Gap State Park

  • Caesar’s Head State Park

And more!

We love living in an area with endless entertainment opportunities. We work hard, but we make our time off count. These are a few nearby places we really love to explore:

  • Malaprops Bookstore and Cafe

  • Asheville Chocolate

  • Carl Sandburg Home and National Historic Site (Don’t miss the Goat Dairy.)

  • Blue Ridge Parkway

  • The Appalachian Trail (Michelle has thru-hiked, so she’s potentially biased, but this provides thousands of miles of connected hiking and some of the best views are in this area.)

  • Travelers Rest, SC (great restaurants, cute shops, and the Swamp Rabbit Trail where Doug ran his first half marathon)

  • Brevard, NC (great restaurants, cute shops, live music galore, white squirrels, and hiking)

  • Saluda, NC (hiking, ziplines, restaurants)

  • Flat Rock Playhouse

  • Sugar Mountain Ski Resort and Beech Mountain Ski Resort

  • The Biltmore — it’s not just the house. Walk the trails, sample the wine, visit the barnyard animals and the playground.

  • Specifically for Littles:

    • Mountain Play Lodge - an amazing indoor play space. There are tables for parents to bring a book or laptop, and they even serve beer!

    • Sunny Day Play Space - a sweet, small indoor play space for littles

    • Hands On! - a Children’s museum in downton Hendersonville

To enjoy the many local attractions, you’ll need somewhere to stay, so go ahead and