- [Rick] This is the Mills River location and headquarters for Barkwells Resort.
It's a privately, double-gated, and completely enclosed neighborhood.
- Have a good one.
- See ya.
- [Rick] And the site of Oscar and Archie's excellent adventure for this weekend.
Eight cute and practical cabins smartly equipped for our boys, as my wife Lisa and I like to call them.
- [Jack] The places here are really designed around dogs.
So the property's double-fenced, each house is fenced- [dog barking] Everything has a doggie door, dog sheets, dog towels.
- [Rick] As instructed by the resort, we used Barkwells clean dog sheets and towels to protect and prepare any surfaces which might look appealing to our pups.
Well, that pretty much means every couch, chair, bed, or a soft pushy surface available.
Oh, is this the one you want?
Next, Oscar and Archie make sure the outdoor facilities are up to their standards.
Big lawn for running, check, one-acre pond for swimming, check, friends to play with, check.
Archie even signs off on the yoga deck.
The boys agree, this place rocks.
Hey Oscar, how you digging Barkwells, huh?
Archie, you good with it?
- The biggest thing, in my mind, that makes this work is the staff.
- Working here has been a real blessing.
- Barkwells has been amazing.
- It's exactly how I feel.
[dog barking] You know, you feel like part of the family here.
- It's just a really positive environment.
- And we work together, constantly, 24/7, to make sure that it's the best place that anyone can come and enjoy with their pets.
- And the biggest perk of all is I get get to bring my little puppy to Lee to work most days.
- Trigger doesn't get to come with me all the time because my job is mostly to get dog hair out.
- It is not mandatory to have a pup, but it is- [water splashing] Mandatory to love them wholeheartedly.
- [Rick] Visitors to Barkwells appreciate that company mindset.
Karen and David Griner come back routinely with their three dogs from their home in Florida.
Chris and Lisa Callaway, and little Will, of Atlanta, have traveled the world, but they come to Barkwells and it's one of their top three trips ever.
“First was our honeymoon in London, which we absolutely love. The next was a riverboat cruise up the Rhine River with her folks and my folks, and the last one was coming here and spending the 10 days here. Our dogs are part of our family and so when we go places and we want to take them with us. We'd like to be able to truly take them with us and here we can. It's almost like being at home.
Barkwells is different. It's not ‘dog friendly,’ it's ‘dog Centric!’ We just came to find it in 2016, and we now come up a couple of times a year it's one of our main vacations because we can include our pups.It may sound funny, but we can see how much they enjoy this place."
- Barkwells is different, it's not dog friendly, it's dog centric.
We just came to find it in 2016 and we now come up a couple times a year.
It's one of our main vacations because we can include our pups and they, it may sound funny, but we can see how much they enjoy it.
- They really look forward to seeing and meeting the dogs that are here.
This is Annie, and she's 13 1/2.
- Hi, Annie.
- [Karen] Barkwells just reinvigorates her.
- It's been a real blessing and a joy for us to see how she has acted in the last couple weeks that we've been here, so we're very fortunate to have a place like Barkwells to see our dogs, particularly an older one, have such a good time.
- Yeah, we've had a few guests that will come without dogs trying to decide if they're ready to have a dog or what it's like being around dogs.
- Oh this'll get 'em- - That can happen.
- This'll train 'em up.
- Yeah, for sure.
- [Deborah] Barkwells is at Barkwells Lane in Mills River.
Click Here to book a cabin for you and your four-legged friend or give us a call at 828-891-8288.
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