In 2009, after two trips to Vegas (once for our honeymoon and one more for our anniversary), Mandy and I were looking for somewhere different to go.

She wanted to go somewhere tropical, but I didn’t.

I wanted to go somewhere with snow, but she didn’t.

This is partly how we decided on Vegas for our honeymoon, but that’s a story for another day.

I remember a coworker had just come back from Asheville, and I was reminded how much I always wanted to go. Largely in part because of the memories I gained from watching Richie Rich as a kid!

After chatting it over with Mandy, figuring out some things we’d do while there, we decided that this would be our next adventure. Now it was time to figure out where we’d be staying. Heading to the mountains, we naturally wanted to stay in a cabin, so I headed to google and typed in something along the lines of ‘cabins in Asheville.’ I flipped through a few websites and, for a reason I don’t remember, one site caught my eye: www.ashevillecottages.com

Fast forward 14 years and more than a dozen trips up there (sometimes twice in one year), this is the only place we stay and recommend to others.

I’ll never forget that first trip up there. After getting the rental car from the airport, we followed the personally emailed directions (with a printed map from MapQuest) from the owners. We pulled up a bit earlier than our stated check-in and, much to our amazement, we saw what looked like an entire army cleaning and preparing our cabin for arrival. The owners, Tracie and Marshall, came out to greet us and were so welcoming and after introducing us to their cleaning crew (most of whom were their family), they told us that we’d be the first to stay in their newest cabin. How exciting!!

To top off their level of care, both Tracie and Marshall have personally reached out over the years just to say hello and see how the family is doing. We’ve exchanged book recommendations with each other, they’ve indulged my curiosity about their cabin layout and shared building plans with me, and told me where I can buy the exact bed we sleep on because it’s so fantastic.

Since that first trip, we’ve stayed in six or seven different cabins that they own. They use to have two different ‘sites’ or groupings of cabins, but now they own a plot of 14 acres where all their cabins reside. It is the most well kept, gorgeous, and peaceful place to spend a vacation. Actually, this may seem weird to say, but it doesn’t even feel like we’re on vacation, away from our home. To be honest, staying with Asheville Cottages feels just like home.

For you ladies out there, Mandy asked me to make sure I relay this message: “It’s the only place where I don’t feel like I have to reorganize and clean right when we get there. It is spotless. I can get right to nesting! They think of everything, they have everything – even those things you never think to bring but always need on vacation.”

The other nice thing about staying here is the proximity to everything you could want to do. It’s super close to the Blue Ridge Parkway, minutes from downtown and the Biltmore Estate, and depending on what waterfalls you want to hunt down, within 30-60 minutes of some of the best memory making outdoor adventures you could imagine. All while being secluded enough to feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.

I’d be failing our two kids if I didn’t make mention of a few things they love about staying here:

• Rabbits, deer, bears, and foxes. We’ve seen them all around the cabins.
• Fireflies…or are they called lightening bugs? See these too!
• Hot tub and grill on every private back patio
• Softest, most giant beds, that we’ve ever stayed on
• Ditto for the robes in every bathroom
• Heated toilet seats – now personally I don’t like this, so of course when my kids found that out, they kept pranking me by turning it on every time they could

So if you’re headed to Asheville and wondering where to stay, look no further than Asheville Cottages. Tell em’ the Martin family sent ya.