This Glamping Website Is Hidden in a Florida Backyard — With Cozy Tree Homes and a Stargazing Platform

Think about kicking again in a hammock set excessive on a stargazer platform in an open pine savannah. The sound of water wafts up from beneath and the evening sky above is affected by stars. It’s a second that Coldwater Gardens, an eco-resort north of Pensacola, Florida, goes out of its technique to create. 

Past the stargazer platform, which was constructed for tent campers and has a personal hearth pit and hammock chairs, friends come to Coldwater Gardens to bask within the tranquility of the 385 acres of gardens, orchards, and wetlands set alongside a creek that runs by the property.

The vibe is calm, meals is grown on-site, and the lodging is spectacular — and diverse. Friends can select between climate-controlled cabins, cabanas, and tiny homes, or ebook an evening above floor on the stargazer platform, in a contemporary tree home, or in one of many stilted cover cottages. A collection of glamping tents spherical out the lodging choices.

And whereas there are many locations to put your head — from primary tent websites to a tree home in a magnolia cover — the actual draw of Coldwater Gardens is the gardens themselves. The property is tucked within the pine forests and wetlands exterior the historic metropolis of Milton, one hour north of Pensacola. 5 acres are devoted to the cultivation of contemporary fruit, veggies, and honey, with particular consideration given to the flora, which is chosen to help native and migratory butterflies. An aquaponics system makes use of koi fish to fertilize the plant beds in considered one of Coldwater’s greenhouses, and there’s a hen coop and bunnies galore.

Past offering every visitor with a calming, tranquil expertise, Coldwater’s mission is to revive and rebuild the property’s ecosystem, thereby making the rivers, bays, bayous, and finally the Gulf of Mexico, cleaner and extra plentiful.

Along with peeping Coldwater Gardens’ restorative work — from the apiary to the aquaponic greenhouse — friends can cruise the property’s seven miles of mountaineering and biking trails or go to one of many 4 sandbar seashores that run alongside the creek, which is ripe for swimming, tubing, and kayaking. There’s additionally fishing and frequent sightings of white-tailed deer.

After you’ve spent sufficient time exploring the property, you may take a look at the neighboring Blackwater River State Forest or go to the butterfly backyard on the Panhandle Butterfly Home in Milton. The notoriously advantageous sand and calm waters of Navarre Seaside are an hour’s drive to the south.

If you happen to occur to go to over the vacations, you may spend Christmas at Holland Farms in Milton, which boasts a prepare and hayride to go to Santa on the “North Pole” — Florida type. Spring guests can take a look at The Strawberry Farm in Milton, which has u-pick strawberries for $3 a container.

An evening at Coldwater Gardens begins at $65 for a tent web site, $130 for a glamping tent, and $240 for an evening within the tree home.