Briar Patch Bed & Breakfast Inn

thing was set up how we asked and they even threw in an extra night for me and my bridesmaids to stay in the cottage before the wedding. We loved everything about our experience with The Briar Patch and can’t recommend it enough as a wedding venue!

h immaculate views of the mountains and surrounding area. The breakfasts we had in the morning were incredibly nostalgic of the breakfasts I had growing up in the countryside of central Virginia. If you’re looking for a country-style venue in the heart of Virginia’s countryside, Briar Patch is the place for you!

therwise all photos you see online are dated & inaccurate. For starters, the place is wildly unclean and not kept up with whatsoever. The owners are rude & snarky when you ask for anything at all. We asked that handprints be cleaned off of dirty windows in the ceremony space & was then called OCD by the owner (see emails below for some horrifying responses from the owners). We quickly realized that the windows were the least of our problems when we went through or guestrooms the week of the wedding, and found that there was a stink bug infestation. There were so many stink bugs that when my little sister tried to use the iron in a closet, they crawled out of the iron. Then, another wedding party guest opened up a towel to shower, and five stink bugs, fell out and crawled on her legs. In the hill house, every single drawer and cabinet had mouse poop in it. There was a mouse nest in the kitchen cabinet. My mom and I cleaned mice poop out of that spot of the venue for 2 hours. Every room, bathroom, and reception space on the property is extremely filthy. When I confronted the owner about the stink bug, infestation and asked for help to clean them up, he bluntly said “it’s called a vacuum.” There was zero cleaning done prior to our arrival with our guests, so my mother & I spent 3 days leading up to the wedding scrubbing the walls of the reception hall, vacuuming up 400+ stink bugs, spraying a stink bug deterrent on the windows of the guest houses, and replacing shower curtains that were covered in pink mold. These are things the owners should have taken care of themselves. Particularly the stink bug infestation — to reiterate how bad this problem was, we had to clean behind every picture frame hung on the walls of the main house because there were 20+ bugs behind each one. Dan, married to owner Ellen, was on site all weekend and couldn’t be bothered to clean up the rotten food that he left in the kitchen sink. This is a communal space for wedding party to get ready and eat breakfasts together, but nobody wanted to be in the space because there were bugs flying around the dirty sink and the smell was horrendous. Dan’s desk is absolutely filthy and disheveled, conveniently it’s located right where guests walk in through to get to their rooms. This should’ve been our first red flag of just how messy and gross this place would be. Dan also showed up in our reception after being rude to my mother and other wedding party members all weekend, and makes himself a plate. It’s convenient that he can come eat free food off us after he did NOTHING to prepare his disgusting venue for the weekend and treated his customers horribly (again, see emails below). You will be treated poorly & ridiculed for asking for basic cleanliness if you book here. Run away like your hair’s on fire. I will not be recommending this spot to anyone and in fact plan on warning everyone we know with upcoming weddings to stay far away from Briar Patch. Aside from the scenic views, this place is a joke of a venue and is a biohazard that should be closed down asap. Lastly, I hope Dan & Ellen take care of the horses that are dilapidated and have burs stuck all over them.

s quick to respond to emails. While Dan and Ellen were out of town the weekend of our wedding, Dan’s brother, Doron, stepped in and was absolutely wonderful. He made us a delicious breakfast both Saturday and Sunday, always offered to help with setup and takedown, and was all around a very genuine and sweet guy. His adorable dog, Brownie, followed him everywhere and even stopped by the reception and totally stole the show! We loved having them both around and we are so glad we chose Briar Patch for our wedding. The pictures we have are gorgeous, and those of us who stayed on the property slept well in very quaint bedrooms. We’re definitely planning on spending the weekend there sometime to celebrate a future anniversary!