The Farmhouse Inn

A Michelin-starred restaurant with 25 rooms attached, on a 1873 farmhouse property in Forestville, west Sonoma County. The Bartolomei family has run the property for generations; the current iteration — small luxury inn plus serious kitchen — has been the West Sonoma destination since the early 2000s. Russian River Pinot country, a kitchen pulling from the family farm, and a property tight enough that you can hear the rooster at six.

It is one of the few American small inns where both halves — the rooms and the food — are at the level the price implies.

The setting

Forestville sits in the Russian River valley, fifteen minutes inland from Jenner on the coast and an hour and forty-five from San Francisco. The Farmhouse Inn is on River Road, on a working-farm parcel with apple orchards, a kitchen garden, and a few outbuildings. The neighbors are vineyards. Korbel and Williams Selyem are five minutes away; Healdsburg is twenty minutes east.

This is the cool, foggy, redwood-and-Pinot side of Sonoma. Different climate from Healdsburg's warm-night Cabernet country.

The building

The original 1873 clapboard farmhouse forms the core, with sympathetically built additions for the dining room and recent room expansions. Public rooms include the dining room (in the original farmhouse), a small bar, the spa, and a wine cellar used for private dinners. Materials are clapboard, white-painted wood, oak, and the kind of restrained antique furniture that doesn't perform "country." The aesthetic is country-estate without any of the regrettable rusticana.

The rooms

Twenty-five rooms across the main farmhouse, attached cottages, and a recent expansion. Categories include barn rooms, the historic farmhouse rooms, and luxe King Cottage rooms with private decks, fireplaces, and outdoor showers. Beds are kings; bathrooms are stone-and-tile, generously sized, several with soaking tubs. From-rates open around $895 in season — peak Sonoma rate. Wi-Fi is fine; cell is normal.

Food & drink

The Farmhouse Restaurant — Michelin-starred, currently held — runs prix-fixe-style dinners with a tasting and a market menu. Chef-led, intensely sourced from the property and surrounding Sonoma producers. The wine list is one of the best in California, deep on Russian River and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, with a serious selection from elsewhere. Non-guests book months ahead in season. There's a separate bar program; breakfast is included for guests.

On the property

The Farmhouse Spa — full body work, facials, a small steam and sauna setup — is one of the better hotel spas in Sonoma. A heated outdoor pool with hot tub. A working kitchen garden that supplies the restaurant. Bicycles to borrow for the ride into the vineyards.

• Heated outdoor pool, hot tub
• Full-service spa (Farmhouse Spa)
• Michelin-starred restaurant on-site
• Working kitchen garden, orchards
• Bicycles, dock for the river
• Open year-round

Who it's for

• Diners who'd plan a trip around a single Michelin-starred dinner
• Couples on a serious anniversary or milestone
• Pinot drinkers — west Sonoma is the right region
• Anyone who appreciates a property where the kitchen is the lead artifact

Who it's not for

• Travelers who want a casual budget Sonoma weekend — this is the high end of the local price band
• Families with young kids — the property is sized for adults
• Pet owners (verify policy with the front desk)

Nearby

The Russian River Pinot producers — Williams Selyem, Rochioli, Gary Farrell, Hartford Court — are five to fifteen minutes east. Korbel Champagne Cellars is five minutes for a free tour. Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve is fifteen minutes for old-growth coastal redwoods. The town of Healdsburg is twenty minutes for restaurants and shopping. The Pacific at Goat Rock and Jenner is twenty-five minutes west.