My wife and I celebrated our twenty-third anniversary at the Barnsley Gardens resort last week.
This most improbably located gem in north Georgia is only a few miles outside of Adairsville, about an hour north of Atlanta and south of Chattanooga with roughly the same traveling time.
My general rule of thumb for vacations is that I steadfastly refuse to stay anywhere that isn’t nicer than where I live.
No problems there.Barnsley Gardens far exceeded my wildest expectations.
In fact, I had only one complaint about the whole experience, if that’s what you would call the purpose of my call…for the first time in memory, I called the resort after we left with my concern about being under-billed for our stay.
The package we selected came with a complimentary round of golf for two OR a one-hour massage in the spa as part of the deal, or so I thought.
Since my wife doesn’t play golf and doesn’t like massage, I took the freebie that came with the package, but also booked a one-hour facial for her. When the smoke cleared from billing, it was clear to me that no charges for the facial showed up on our bill, even though I signed a slip of paper charging the service to our room bill.
It turned out that we didn’t plan a long enough stay to include golf, anyway. As you can see from the pictures, we had plenty to see, walking the breathtaking gardens and exploring the ruins of the old Barnsley manor.
Of course, “room” is a euphemism for the one bedroom standalone cottage we had to ourselves. When the staff found out it was our anniversary, we were showered with gifts, including balloons and a bottle of champagne in addition to the bottle of wine comped to our room every night of our stay.
Because I feared the spa employee getting short-changed for services received and thoroughly enjoyed, I believed it was the right thing to do, calling the billing department to call to their attention the additional charges omitted from our final bill.
Imagine my surprise when it was explained to me that we simply misunderstood the full benefit of the package. The deal wasn’t a round for two on their gorgeous but challenging golf course, or one free massage–it was one free massage per day.
We just happened to use both on the same day. The pleasant memories of our vacation were not marred by the reality of what it cost, they were accentuated by the exemplary service we got from everybody who worked there.
No, sir. You’ve paid enough. We won’t take any more of your money.
What a concept!
Needless to say, if you are looking for a serene, private setting for a first class vacation, I know just the place…
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