This past weekend I visited Asheville, NC for the annual Brewgrass Festival. The festival features over 30 American breweries showcasing more than 100 different beers. Now add a great lineup of national and reginonal bluegrass musicians and a variety of local area food vendors, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a great day! So what’s the Arts and Crafts experience?

Well, there’s the obvious lodging avilable at the Grove Park Inn, which is just minutes away from the Martin Luther King, Jr. ball field, were the Brewgrass fesitval is held. Or you could go a little off the beaten path and stay at the Ponder Cover Bed and Breakfast for a much more personal and one-on-one Arts and Crafts experience.

Ponder Cove offers three very well-appointed rooms; or you can rent an entire bungalow! Inn keepers Martha and Gary have mastered the art of southern hospitality and exceptional cooking to the extent that they have been featured on PBS’s North Carolina Weekend show. Perhaps the greatest treasure tucked into this mountain side B & B is contemporary furnituremaker (and part-time Inn keeper) Gary Rawlins. Gary studied woodworking in England and is heavily influenced by their greatest Arts and Crafts leaders. His work can be seen at Ponder Cove, The Grovewood Gallery, and in many private collections.