Just adjacent to the barn there is a historic carriage road that was used years ago by people to the north east of our farm for travel on into Leicester. The trees bordering this old road mark each side of its course and it serves as a magical “wedding path”. The bridal party can be seen from the wedding site when they first start down the path and then disappear as the road dips down a little and then reappear just before reaching the entrance to the wedding ceremony site . There are 2 large old trees that can serve as a central point of interest and become part of a picturesque backdrop on a hill overlooking our wonderful mountains. This wedding ceremony site easily accommodates a large group of guests and seating can include chairs, hay bales, blankets, or a combination.

Other outdoor spaces for a ceremony include; the large orchard field adjacent to the event barn and another area near our blueberry field with wonderful views of the valley and an ancient old oak  backdrop. The rain garden with its circular perimeter, mulched base, and pretty landscaping  will also be a popular site for smaller ceremonies.  We are open to other suggestions and want to work with couples in allowing them to choose a personal site on the farm for their ceremony

It is critical that anyone planning for an outdoor wedding ceremony at any venue have an indoor backup site available in the event of inclement weather. This backup site should not be the same space as the reception as it is very inconvenient trying to convert a space from reception to ceremony and then back again with guests already at the event.

In season, our Dairy Barn serves as a wonderful backup ceremony site in the event of inclement weather. It will seat up to 190 with some additional “standing room”. It serves as the primary ceremony site in the off season. Some of our brides with in season weddings  are choosing the Dairy Barn as their primary ceremony site. A number of our couples and their families have told us that they are now much more relaxed knowing that their wedding ceremony can be very comfortable and magical here at Yesterday Spaces no matter the weather.

At Yesterday Spaces we offer two main options for wedding receptions:

1. The Main Event Barn Loft:

The Main Event Barn Loft is heated and cooled allowing year round use. It is a very rustic and comfortable space that will accommodate 200 guests inside and with its large porch, deck and lower barn level will easily accommodate up to 300 guests. Renting the Main Barn Loft for a wedding reception includes:

• Use of the fully conditioned Loft with its porch, deck, bathrooms, dressing room for bride and bridal party and commercial catering kitchen.
• Use of  our hand made oak 60 inch round tables for up to the agreed upon # of guests.
• Use of our serving tables.
• Use of our comfortable oak chairs (for inside use only) for up to the agreed upon # of guests.
• Use of our  china place settings of the Homer Laughlin “Carolyn” pattern for up to the agreed upon # of guests.
• Use of our water/tea and wine glasses for up to the agreed upon # of guests.
• Use of our “Classic Bead” pattern flatware place settings for up to the agreed upon # of guests.
• Use of our commercial catering kitchen with its refrigerator, freezer, ice maker, warming oven, half size electric convection oven, microwave, dishwasher, a 101 cup coffee percolator, small coffee maker for decaf, airpot, a 2 compartment stainless steel sink, a beverage counter with sink, a hand sink, a dishwasher table with sink, 2 work tables, and 3 rolling carts with dish and flatwear tubs.
• Background & performance audio equipment.
• Access to the lower barn level with animals, the Event Pasture, Wedding Path, and Ceremony Site (if using this for your ceremony), Rain Garden and parking areas.
• Two hours of scheduled rehearsal time between 9am and 5 pm on a weekday before the event.
• Our staff availability throughout the event including parking assistance.
• Our staff assistance with moving/removing our tables/chairs and relocating filled trash bags during the function.
• At least 2 staff members will be present at all functions and additional staff will be available for larger functions.

2. The 1910 Dairy Barn:

The Dairy Barn has been recently renovated and is a very rustic and interesting space. It serves as the backup Ceremony Site in season and as the primary Ceremony Site during the off season. It is also used for parties and smaller wedding receptions. It will accommodate up to 80 guests seated at tables and up to 190 seated for a ceremony. It does not rent on Saturdays in season as it serves as the backup ceremony site on those days. It does rent with the tables and chairs but not with dishes or a sound system.

Ceremonies

Nearly all of our outdoor ceremonies are held at “The Ceremony Site”  which is a very picturesque mountain pasture with magnificent mountain views and surrounded by some very old poplar and oak trees. There is a magical Wedding Walk along a historic road from the Main Event Barn to the Ceremony Site. In the event of inclement weather our backup ceremony site is the Dairy Barn. Some of our brides choose the Dairy Barn as their primary site but all of the brides and moms tell us that they feel very comfortable knowing that whatever the weather the ceremony can still be magical and very comfortable.

Pricing:

Weddings can be expensive and we want our clients to feel that our prices are very fair. We encourage all of our visitors to to visit other venues and to ask all of the appropriate questions so that they can accurately compare our pricing and value carefully prior to making their decision.   With the different options that we are offering we feel that we may have something that will appeal to many couples and their families with various budgets.

Our prices for rental of either the Main Event Barn Loft or the Dairy Barn  include use of the Wedding Walk and the Ceremony Site and access to a number of other interesting spaces on the farm for clients and their guests during the day of the event. These include  the Event Field with its orchard and fire pit, a Rain Garden during daylight hours, the Wedding Path and Ceremony Site (if using this site for your ceremony) plus views of the mountains and pastures with their resident animals.

Event Times and Availability:

We only schedule one event per day on the farm.

The spaces are available on the day of the event from 9 am until 11 pm in the Main Event Barn and from 12 noon to 10 pm in the Dairy Barn.

The Event Barns are available daily. The Dairy Barn is not available for rent on Saturdays in season.

We are also offering the possibility of a number of other additional options including:

**The Farmhouse:
This is a 101 year old farmhouse that has been beautifully restored and has been finished with period furnishings. (See gallery photos). It has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a fully equiped kitchen, a front foom and parlor and sleeps up to 14. This farmhouse is part of the farm property and is very convenient to the farm spaces. It has been a wonderful place for families and people involved with the wedding to stay. It rents from Monday at 4 pm prior to the wedding date until Monday at 10 am following the wedding date. We rent this through Vacation Rental By Owner but are offering this first to our wedding clients at a significant discount. A large number of our clients and their families are renting the farmhouse in addition to the wedding/ reception venue. If both are rented then we offer one free party in the Dairy Barn with all its tables and chairs.

**Organic produce and hormone and antibiotic-free and grass fed-beef from Gaining Ground Farm:
Gaining Ground Farm (Anne and Aaron Grier) farm this property and may have produce and beef available for sale and possible use in the wedding menu.

**Fresh and dried flowers:
On the farm and directly across the road from the farmhouse is a flower field. These flowers are grown by Gaining Ground Farm for market, weddings, and special events.  Anne will sell her flowers and can get flowers locally if she does not have what you want. She also does bouquets and arrangements for weddings.

To book or hold a date for a wedding/reception requires:

1. Review and signature of our Rental Contract and Release, Indemnity & Waiver Form.
2. Payment of 25% of the total agreed upon rental fee  for weddings that are scheduled more than 6 months in advance and 50 % for weddings scheduled less than 6 months in advance.

Timeline after booking your wedding date:

45 days prior to the event date:
1. The remaining portion of the total rental price is due.
2. A refundable rental security deposit for the event is due.
3. Various outside vendor forms  etc. are due.

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations for any reason including weather will be handled exactly the same.
If an event is cancelled more than 6 months prior to the contracted date we will refund 50% of the initial deposit.
If an event is cancelled less than 6 months prior to the contracted date no portion of the deposit for that event date will be refunded.

Outside Vendors:
The client will need to shop for and choose the outside vendors they would like to use for their event. We will assist in any way we can with suggestions. We do reserve the right to review credentials and have forms and agreements signed by the client and the outside vendors they choose.

We want to do everything we can to make the process relating to your wedding and/or reception at Yesterday Spaces as pleasant as possible.

We have tried to include information that may be helpful as you look at and compare various potential sites for your event. If you are interested in our site then a visit will be important in seeing what we have and in discussing any additional questions and specifics. We would enjoy meeting with and showing our site to anyone involved closely with either planning or participating in your event.

If after reviewing our information you have an interest in Yesterday Spaces for your event please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have or for any additional information you may need.

Tours are by appointment only. It is best to contact us by filling out the contact form (a drop down under “Contact” on this website). We try to answer emails promptly.

If you wish to then contact us by phone please call 828-777-6948. If there is no response at that number please leave a message and we will return a call or try 828-230-4162.

We are a 70 acre working family farm located at 305 Sluder Branch Road in Leicester N.C. 28748 just minutes from downtown Asheville.

Our farm is deeply rooted in history and we feel blessed to be able to preserve another important piece of productive farmland here in Western North Carolina.  We farm using sustainable agricultural practices that maintain a reverence for the land.

The farm has a number of buildings and spaces that we call Yesterday Spaces.

These include a Main Event Barn with its heated and cooled rustic Loft space, a recently renovated 1910 Dairy Barn, a fully restored and furnished 1911 Farmhouse, a picturesque Ceremony Site with its magical Wedding Path, an Event Field with its fire pit, a Rain Garden, and wonderful views of the mountains with surrounding  pastures and their resident animals.

We are offering these very special spaces on our farm for social, business, and educational events including:

• Wedding Ceremonies
• Receptions
• Rehearsal dinners
• Reunions
• Retreats
• Meetings and Seminars

Please review our website information and photos and if you have additional questions, wish to contact us, or would like to visit Yesterday Spaces please send us an email using the contact form on our website located as a drop down under “Contact”

We try to promptly return responses to all website inquires. If you have any additional questions or wish to talk with us by phone we can be reached at 828-777-6948.  If no response you can try 828-230-4162

Mike and Chris Grier

We do not have the exact dates on this barn but it is obviously quite old. It is clad on the exterior with German lap siding. This is one of the earliest types of siding and has a unique recessed profile creating a strong sense of shadows to help visually to separate each row. All of the siding was attached with cut nails rather than the round wire nails that are used today. A cut nail is sheared or cut from a sheet of steel and has two matching flat sides as versus the square nail that is forged and usually has four fairly equal sides. The heyday for the cut nail was from about 1820 to 1910 and so we figure that the barn is of about the same vintage as the 1911 farmhouse; perhaps a little older. It initially had a milk storage room within the initial structure but a need for increased and more efficient storage led to an addition at the front of the barn.

When we bought the farm the old dairy barn was in poor shape. The roof truss system had spread and the walls had been cabled together to hold its shape and integrity. We used the barn for storage initially while we were working on other parts of the farm and finally in February of 2011 we were able to begin its restoration. We have maintained the initial footprint of the barn and have tried to restore and use as much of the original siding as possible.

The milking parlor and stalls are original with their original Louden stanchions and design. William Louden of Louden Machinery Company of Fairfield Iowa invented and exhibited this type of stanchion at the 1907 National Dairy Show. Wooden stalls had been widely used previously, but presented various problems, and the all-steel Louden stanchions and stalls were designed to solve some of those problems. These were advertised as “the first practical all-steel cow milking stall”. We did remove one row of stalls from the parlor to allow more open space in the barn so that it could be used and enjoyed by larger groups.

We have had to re roof the barn and have elected to use steel rods from wall to wall similar to those used on our event barn. The dairy barn is now structurally very sound and we are currently completing some of the “finishing touches” on this really neat old space. Hopefully with a little care it will be around for another 100 years.

The barn has an old silo just adjacent that is our next interesting project. We have some fun plans for this familiar farm storage space.

Directions:

Yesterday Spaces

305  Sluder Branch Road

Leicester North Carolina,  28748

Click Here for Directions to Yesterday Spaces

Phone

828-777-6948

828-230-4162

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Because of the size (will sleep 14), and the unique nature of this farmhouse we limit rentals to full weeks from April 1st through October 30th. Some people choose to stay less than a week but do pay the full weekly rate.

From November 1^st through March 31^st, and during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, we will rent by the night but at a 4 night minimum.

Please contact us for current rates.

If a client decides to rent both the Event Barn and the Farmhouse for a Wedding event we will offer a discount on both the Farmhouse and the Event Barn rental rates.

Many of the spaces here on the farm are perfect for either social or business events.

Social gatherings would be very comfortable year round in the loft area of the Event Barn and seasonally in the Dairy Barn. There are also a number of outdoor spaces that would serve as very enjoyable areas for social gatherings, picnics etc.

For business events the loft area has all of the important audio/visual equipment to do presentations, hold seminars or conduct meetings. Being fully conditioned it is available year-round.  The catering kitchen in the loft of the Event Barn makes this a wonderful space for combined dinner and business related functions.

Pricing will be by the hour and will depend on the space chosen, the number of guests, the equipment needed, and the overall plans for food etc.

If interested in holding a social or business event on the farm please come visit with us and let’s discuss your plans and come up with a price that is appropriate.

Special pricing and/or availability is planned for non-profits, groups with defined environmental projects and goals, specific farm group related activities, and specific charitable and benefit events.

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