Abbey Road Farm

Disclaimer: Our one night stay at Abbey Road Farm was comped.

Our room is round and out the window, there are llamas grazing. “OH MY GOD! I HAVE TO SAY HELLO TO THE LLAMA!” I squeal and I bounce out to the corner of the fence where the chocolate and white critter stands. She looks down her nose at me, twitches her ears a little, and wanders off to the opposite corner of the paddock from where I stand. I’m a little offended. “HEY! I AM A FRIEND TO LLAMAS!” I shout at her, but she doesn’t even lift her long neck to turn my way. I am not good enough for this particular llama.

We are guests at the Abbey Road Farm, a bed and breakfast where the rooms are in converted grain silos. “Well, that’s exactly the wacky kind of thing I like,” I told the people at Travel Oregon when they suggested it, not expecting the rather elegantly appointed inn. The farm grounds are immaculate — as is our room — and the owners are nowhere near as standoffish as the llama. Because we’re the only guests on the night we stay, we poke our noses into all the other rooms, they’re equally as lovely as ours. Oh, and in case you were wondering, it’s called Abbey Road because yes, indeed, there’s a Trappist Abbey on the road.

When the sun goes down the frogs start singing in the wetlands that are just outside our room. We have the windows open to let the breeze in because it’s been a very warm day. There’s no other noise, no cars, no TV crackling in the distance, it’s just frogs and crickets, all night long, until the birds take over when the sky starts to lighten.

Over breakfast our hosts, John and Judi tell us about the farm. John’s rather golden hued view of American farming is expressed in his property, in the repurposed silos and the manicured grounds, in the small herd of livestock and the working grass fields. Guests can help milk goats or pitch in on other farm chores and there’s a short walking tour that familiarizes you with the property, the gardens, the barns, the animals.

The upper Willamette Valley, where the inn is located, is home to dozens of wineries and there are lots of good places to eat in nearby Carlton or McMinnville. It’s about an hour to the ocean, less than that to Portland, so there’s plenty of good day trip exploring to be had. We wandered the grounds with a camera, of course, before heading out to see what there was to see.

I’d recommend Abbey Road Farm for those in the Pacific Northwest looking to feel like they’ve got away from it all without going all that far, for wine lovers, and for those looking to eat their way through McMinnville and Carlton’s foodie offerings. Romantic? Totally, though the bathtub is not quite big enough for two, and yes, I’m telling you that from experience. That’s all I’m going to say about that. John and Judi both insist that there’s no noise between the rooms. I can’t confirm or deny that, but given their exacting attention to detail everywhere else on the property, I’m inclined to take their word for it.

Want to stay? You can make reservations online. Things get busy in high tourist season, so if you’re thinking summer getaway, book now. If you end up going, leave a comment, I’d love to know what you think.