I HAVE A CONTRACT!!!
I don't think I've ever worked as hard to obtain a contract as I have this time. Amish Acres is very organized and detailed with their events and our coordinator, Susan, is an amazing person. She knows her stuff and has worked extremely hard to make sure we get an experience that we all will enjoy. BUT...there is a difference between what we've always done in past retreats and what we are about to do this time! Hopefully you will like all of the changes.
This retreat will mark our jump into adulthood. No longer will we be in that awkward teenage years of scrapbooking retreats. Plastic covered foam mattresses, sleeping with 10 strangers in one room, eating frozen and reheated processed food, scrapbooking on rustic doors that someone thought would make a great table. We've grown up and Amish Acres should fit us well!
NOVEMBER 11, 12 & 13, 2016 AMISH ACRES NAPPANEE, IN
Introducing...the Amish Acres scrapbooking retreat experience! We will be using the Barn Loft Wine Tasting Room (sorry, wine not included!) for our scrapbooking area. This is an authentic barn complete with beams, wood floors, quilts and even a canoe suspended from the rafters!
 |
| The Loft with outside access doors at end |
Awesome eh? The loft is accessible from the outside of the building next to the parking lot or from the inside staircase which has a nice landing to break up the steps. There is no elevator so less might be more when packing for this trip!
 |
| Back entrance from outside |
Each scrapbooker will have use of a roughly 4x4 ft table. Yes, this is different from the 6 and 8 ft tables we've had in the past. But evidently it is "impossible" to add or remove tables to the loft so beggars cannot be choosers! My dear Auntie sat at a table for me and agreed to allow me to share this photo. (Thanks Auntie...you're the best!)
 |
| Auntie at a typical table |
As you can see they are a nice deep table for storing supplies while still giving you enough space to work. We are also allowed to bring small side tables if you feel you might need a bit more space for your cricket, computer, paper stash (yeah, I'm talking to a few of you!!) The loft has enough room to move with ease so we shouldn't be crowded like in years past.
This is an authentic barn that was built well over 100 years ago. Evidently they didn't take into account that in 2016 thirty-five women would descend like locus with their Crickets upon this barn! With that being said please plan to bring an extension cord WITH a power strip if you plan to bring any electronic devices. It was also suggested that you will want to bring a desk lamp. The barn lighting is beautiful for a wedding...but probably not the greatest for doing scrapbooking tasks at night. There is a lot of natural light from the windows during the day. But twinkle and rope lights probably won't be enough for us once the sun starts setting.
Your overnight stays will be at the Inn which is a hop, skip and a jump from the barn loft. This photo was taken from the parking lot and shows the Inn in the distance. It's not far and can be walked or driven to depending upon the weather! Each guest can choose to sleep one, two, three or four friends per room. A standard room will include plain, pine furniture, replica Amish quilts on the beds and hand-signed autographs on the walls--this is what sealed my deal. (who advertises that?)
 |
| The Inn and Round Barn |
Anyway...each room has two double beds which are extra long. So you can sleep up to 4 people per room and save money! Or if you want this to really be a vacation then get a single room and pay a bit more. If you plan to split a room you must find and list your room-mates when you register. Since this is a regular hotel everything is included...towels, sheets, soap, coffee makers, ironing board, etc. plus a private bathroom.
Our meals for this weekend will include two Continental breakfasts at the hotel. They have waffle irons, cereal, bagels, donuts, fruit...your standard continental breakfast. Lunch will be on your own either at the barn restaurants or in town. There is a restaurant below our scrapbooking area that has Amish style meals (lunch is $10-12 for soup/sandwich type of meal) or you can go into town (only a 5 minute drive) for anything and everything under the sun! All the typical fast food places, pizza, local coffee shop fare, grocery stores and local sit-down restaurants are all available. For our suppers Amish Acres will be doing the catering for us! Friday night's meal will be a Hearty Supper and Saturday night's meal will be the Thresher's Meal. Both menu's will be finalized at a later date but they look AMAZING! The Thresher's Meal is served family style, all you can eat and I know nobody will go to bed hungry that night!!
 |
| Dining Room |
Amish Acres also requires a 1/3 deposit down immediately to reserve our hotel rooms, the meals and the scrapbooking room. In the past the deposits have been manageable with $300-500 down and remaining balances due two weeks prior to arrival. I'm currently looking at a $1300 deposit due immediately so that we can hold our block of hotel rooms. Since there will be several weddings during our stay at Amish Acres we have to reserve our hotel rooms early. So I will be opening up reservations immediately so we do not miss out on hotel rooms.
Need a break from scrapbooking? Amish Acres sits on an 80 acre historic farm that includes farm tours, on-site gift shops, round barn theater (extra costs!) and a fudge and soda shop WITH ice cream!!
 |
| Yummy! |
We will begin arriving at The Loft on Friday, November 11 at 10:00 am. This just happens to be Veteran's Day so many of you might have the day off already! I loved the fact that they can allow us to get started right away so that we have a full day of scrapbooking. Check-in at the Inn will begin at 3:00 pm.
Each evening we will have supper at 6:00 pm and then the barn will close at 11:00 pm. They are unable to keep the barn open all night so this was a compromise that we had to make. But since we have two a half days of scrapbooking I figured it was a good compromise!
Sunday the barn opens back up at 8:00 am and we have until 3:00 pm until we have to leave.
SINGLE OCCUPANCY
$297
DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
$210
TRIPLE OCCUPANCY
$186
QUAD OCCUPANCY
$175
Each registration includes:
Two continental breakfasts,
Two Amish Style Home cooked Meals
Individual Table
Private Hotel Room
So there you have it! I'm really excited to be offering a special experience for our scrapbooking retreat this fall. Any questions? Just let me know!
~Jinger
No comments:
Post a Comment