Background:
The beautiful large kitchen, cozy cabin vibes, and cute farm setting made me hooked on this place for a few years now. During the pandemic, I saw online that people were visiting June Farms for some nature and a socially distanced vacation. I put it on my list of places to visit in the future. I eventually ended up moving to New York City, so it made for a great weekend trip as June Farms is about a 20-minute drive from downtown Albany. And, when Amtrak is working as planned, which it did for our way there, but not our way back, it takes about 2 and a half hours by train from New York Penn Station to Albany/Rensselaer Station.
Location:
The lodge is located in West Sand Lake, New York. It’s located off a small road, and a bit hard to find at night since it’s so dark. But essentially, there are two entrances and they are both on Parker Road. One that leads to the main farm, and Pony Barn restaurant and one that leads to the lodge, airstream, and hobbit house. Even though we stayed at the lodge, we ended up just having our rideshares go to the main farm, as it was a short (but uphill) walk to our lodge cabin.
Uber gets the location wrong on the map, and they will end up on another property. One time this happened, the owner Matt happened to be around and checked in on us. He was nice enough to drive us to our Uber lol. On the other hand, Lyft has the correct location, which is nice. So, if you call an Uber, you’ll have to do some explaining! While it wasn’t necessary to have a car in our case since we were staying on-site most of the time and cooking our meals, you might want a car if you want to venture out.
There’s a Hannaford grocery store, Walgreens, and liquor store 2 miles away, and we were able to have a rideshare take us pretty easily.
The Lodge:
We stayed during the Veterans Day weekend, and it came out to about $480 a night including all taxes and fees for four people. The maximum occupancy for the Lodge is five (for an additional fee).
If you enter from the adorable front entrance, you’ll see a golf cart parked outside which you can rent for a fee (I believe it was $75/day) as well as a grill. Once you enter, there is a mudroom, a swinging door to the left leading to the cabin, a utility closet to the right, and a bathroom straight ahead.
The Lodge Cabin:
Kitchen:
When you walk into the cabin, you’re immediately struck by the high ceilings and huge kitchen. The kitchen was the star of the show for me, and it was great for cooking and entertaining,
There is a huge island with seating for seven. The kitchen was fully stocked with plenty of cookware and spices that are provided to assist with your meal prepping. The only issue I had with the kitchen was that the dishwasher seemed to not clean the plates so well. We cooked for most of our meals because we could not let the beautiful kitchen go to waste coming from New York City where we all have (tiny) kitchens.
Living Room:
Next up is the large living room, with two large sofas. There is a nice wood-burning fireplace and firewood was provided as well. In terms of TV, there is a small one propped up on an easel. We ended up not watching TV as this was supposed to be a trip in nature, conversing with friends, and unwinding a bit from technology. A nice touch was that the lodge provided board games, so we were able to play Monopoly.
Bedroom (Studio Style)
Just past the living room is the main sleeping area, with a large king bed. There is a lack of privacy as there is no door, so just keep that in mind. There’s a fan here, but the lodge also had AC if needed.
The Loft:
So I drew the short end of the stick and had to sleep in the loft (kidding). It had a nice King-sized bed and a portable fan. I slept quite well, although the lack of window shades did wake me up early in the morning.
The ladder was quite steep, and it took me a few tries before I felt comfortable climbing it. I still tried as much as possible to limit the number of trips I had to make up and down. One other thing was that it was a bit dusty/had some cobwebs, so perhaps it could be a bit cleaner up there, but I do bet it’s hard to clean the loft.
The Bathroom:
It’s not that large of a bathroom, with a sink and toilet to the left, a linen closet, and then a large shower. June Farms branded toiletries were provided with hand soap, shower gel, shampoo, and conditioner.
I didn’t get good photos of the outdoor shower, but it had large French doors that opened up to the forest. In theory, it sounded nice, but I don’t feel like there were enough trees/plants to provide privacy due to the proximity to the main farm and being able to see everything down there.
Outdoor Patio:
The covered patio was amazing, and perfect to read a book outside in the mornings. There was also a dining table out there, but our November stay was a bit cold to eat there. I think it would be great to have meals out there during the summer. The view felt like a postcard.
Outside the patio, there is a firepit with chairs which is perfect for smores. The chairs could have used some TLC, but it was still fun.
The Farm:
One day we walked around the farm and it was quite cute. They sprinkled around places for photo ops as well with nice holiday backgrounds given the current season.
Animals that live at the farm include cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, horses, goats, sheep, barn cats, and a couple of dogs. Paid activities around the farm include Morning Animal Activities, Guided Farm Tours, and Sheep Walking. Since we spent a lot of time in the cabin, we didn’t engage in any extra activities.
The Pony Barn is the onsite restaurant typically open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Outside of these months, they will open occasionally and for private parties. During our stay, it was open for some private events and a Wood Fired Pizza Experience. You can check the website for a calendar of events.
There are a few other cabin options onsite such as a Hobbit House, Wellness Huts, TimberTown Cabins, and an Airstream.
The Verdict:
Overall, I had a great time staying at June Farms and loved my weekend escape from the city. The Lodge was great to share with friends, and I loved the large kitchen.
Have you been to June Farms before? Or do you have any upstate New York getaway recommendations?
Cheers,
Ty
Have any questions? I’ve also started working with a travel agency, Fora Travel, and can assist in booking hotel stays or planning trips. Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!
