I rarely post a photo essay on GirlsGetaway.com but the grounds of Barnsley Resort are so lovely I wanted to try to capture the look and feel of the place in picture form. Welcome to Barnsley – a grand southern estate.

Cottages

Barnsley Resort’s lovely cottages are intended to make you want to stay and sit awhile. Each cottage is unique, large and luxurious. Built in the style of a European village, parking is in the back to preserve the quiet idyll of country life. Click here for GG writer Jan Ross’s review of her stay at Barnsley Resort.

Inside, the cottages are beautifully decorated with all the comforts of home, that is, if your home resembles a 5 star resort.

Woodlands Estate Ruins at Barnsley Resort

The original manor, called Woodlands, was an estate built by a man—Godfrey Barnsley—for the love of his life, his wife Julia. Godfrey Barnsley began building the estate in the 1840’s in the north Georgia foothills near Adairsville Georgia, on land that had once been inhabited by the Cherokee Indians. Both the home and its lovley gardens were inspired by the work of Andrew Jackson Downing, a pioneering landscape designer and proponent of Italianate and gothic revival architecture. Julia never saw the completed home, as she fell ill and passed away. Godfrey stopped construction when Julia died.