TURNING 20? It can feel especially auspicious. You're fully done with that gotta-get-started first decade, and you've said goodbye the teen times, and there's nothing ahead but making your own path, setting your own goals, and filling up the wonderful well of life. All of that can go for people, yes, and for places, too. And when a 20th anniversary for such a place is on the horizon? It isn't just about a single day or sole celebration, not if you've catered to a caboodle of cosseted visitors over the last two decades; rather, you're going to give a full calendar year to the gleeful goings-on. And it just so happens that, in gorgeous Carmel Valley, the elegantly rustic...
BERNARDUS LODGE & SPA... is on that perfect, next-decade doorstep. The 20th-themed to-dos have already kicked off, for 2019, but the year is young and there's lots to come, including several festivities involving some of the hallmarks of the destination: lavender, heirloom tomatoes, white truffles, bees, and wine. Indeed, the expansive property is home to a buzz-buzz aviary, and Chef Cal's Summer Garden Tour, which is gratis for guests, will visit the 180,000 honeybees that call Bernardus home (those happen each Saturday, at noon, beginning on Memorial Day Weekend and wrapping on Aug. 24). And from the summery yum department? A Lavender Harvest Celebration July 13 will include a "unique grand lavender-inspired buffet lunch with ingredients culled from our garden and vineyard."
THERE'S LOTS MORE... on the swanky, bee-buzzy, tomato-juicy schedule, including an Heirloom Tomato Lunch in late summer, a Rose Soiree the day after the summer solstice, and Chef Cal's 5th Annual Pure Decadence Event in December (oh yes, there shall be black truffle martinis). Are you a Bernardus buff? Been wanting to visit the storied Carmel-close spot? Or do you simply love a 20th-anniversary to-do that is set to happen over several celebratory months? Check out what's happening at Bernardus Lodge & Spa now.
