Growing up on a farm, I’ve kind of lived in my own private nature reserve. Whenever I was feeling worried or stressed, I would go on long walks through the woods, through the fields, to visit my favorite trees or wildflower patches. I’d visit the barnyard, too, and just sit with my chickens and ducks. And that’s what I did every day during the pandemic lockdown.

At the time, I didn’t know that what I was doing had a name.

One day, on one of those walks, as I looked at the big sky above me and the green fields around me, my head and heart were just full of all the people who were in lockdown in their apartments and houses, feeling anxious like me, and who didn’t have access to this nature, to this healing environment.

Four generations of my family live on the farm with me. For decades, we’ve pondered how we can share the farm with more people in a way that helps keep the farm a farm (as I’m sure you’ve heard somewhere, agriculture is a tough business and making enough profit to be sustainable is even tougher). Maybe it was time to figure out how.

At some point, back at my computer, I Googled “nature” and “therapy” together. And I discovered that what I’ve been doing intuitively my whole life is a thing! With a name! And . . . I could get certified as a guide who helps others do it, too. I signed up the next day and six months later I was a certified nature and forest therapy guide.

Over this same course of months, my husband and I were completing the build of our new white barn, which started as a structure for our solar panels and farm animals (which started with our pursuit to live more sustainably). And as our beautiful barn came to completion, we started receiving A LOT of interest in renting it as an event venue.

Between my “aha!” moment with nature therapy, the interest in the barn as event space, and my husband’s recent pandemic decision to step away from his corporate career to pursue more personal ventures, I felt like the universe was holding up a big sign that read: “This Way Toward Your Dream.” And Bonne et Belle was born.

You may ask, “How did you pick the name Bonne et Belle?” Well, this farm, this land has been in my family my whole life. It’s basically a fellow family member to me. And my whole life, I’ve experienced the feeling that it gives me, and I’ve watched every person who’s stepped foot here experience a similar feeling. You can see it on their face and in the way they hold their body when they’re here. And I discovered that the clever French had an expression for such a feeling: “good and beautiful” or bonne et belle.

And that feeling is what I wanted to share with the world and the reason for opening our doors. Hence, every service Bonne et Belle offers is rooted in our desire to connect people with nature. Because, as I’ve experienced my whole life, nature is the setting for life’s BEST bonne et belle moments.

So whether you’re relaxing body and mind with a walk in our woods, bonding with friends around the fire at sunset, or gathering under the market lights inside our White Barn to celebrate life’s special occasions, I hope you’ll discover that life is good and beautiful at Bonne et Belle.

We look forward to welcoming you soon!