About 60 miles north of Atlanta, the Barnsley Resort is both historic and decidedly contemporary. While the property itself opened in 1999, it is on the grounds of an estate that dates back to the 1840s, and the resort’s design is meant to look like a traditional English village with standalone cottages and restaurants instead of everything under one roof. The resort’s 3,000 acres of land include areas for archery and axe throwing, trails for hiking and biking, a golf course and Beretta Shooting Grounds for sporting clays and seasonal wingshooting.
In a bid to broaden its appeal to a wider range of potential guests, the property has been upgrading its accommodations and public spaces while opening new areas to meet new demands from guests, with a particular push over the past two years.
David Friederich, the resort’s president, had been working for years to update the property—even before South Street Partners became part of the new ownership group and Davidson Hospitality Group took over management in 2022, he recalled. As part of the transaction process, Friederich showed the then-prospective new owners what he had planned, and partners began figuring out how to implement the ideas.
“You have a cycle in the hospitality industry of when you need to be doing upgrades and [renovations] to stay relevant,” Friederich said, noting that travel trends and the segment of the chain scale in which a property sits can determine what changes need to happen when. While much of the industry is trying to adjust to a volatile economy, the luxury segment is still going strong, he continued, and estimated that the top 20 percent of the market earners are still spending and seeking unique experiences. “We needed to make sure that we elevated Barnsley Resort in a thoughtful way that … allowed us to cater to that upper-upscale and luxury client.”
Todd Gehrke, senior regional director, sales, Davidson Resorts, said the upgrades will help Barnsley compete with other Southeastern resorts like the Greenbrier or those at Palmetto Bluff or Jekyll Island. “Elevating [the resort] to the next level of luxury has been a huge priority for us,” he said, noting that the management company’s team members collaborated on the design and branding of the property. “One of the things that Davidson does extremely well is … focus on the individual disciplines within the organization. We have a very strong structure to be able to provide our ownership teams with really good support.”
Filling Gaps
To cater to this demographic, the resort has added a number of new amenities and attractions over the years, with a particularly intense push from 2024 to 2025. Last summer, the newly built Lazy River Pool opened with a waterslide and seven new cabanas, targeting families. The existing pool was updated with eight new cabanas, targeting couples seeing a quieter experience. That first pool—now called the “Relaxation Pool”—had been “always overwhelmed,” Friederich said, so adding the second one lets guests choose what kind of ambience they wanted. “There was a gap,” he noted. “We were trying to do all things in one area, and yet it couldn't [meet the needs of] all those different guest types.”
The Jules restaurant by Shaun Doty also opened last year in a 19th-century farmhouse that was updated by David Thompson Studio. Atlanta-based Bergin Golf Design added the 18-hole Himalayas-style putting course The Merger adjacent to the Fazio golf course, and six pickleball courts were added for individual or group players. The outdoor Biergarten was expanded with a two-sided stone fireplace, a covered pavilion, a new kitchen and an updated bar, while Charlotte, N.C.-based interior design firm Charlotte Lucas Design came onboard to renovate the 39 cottages.
Friederich believes the new additions make the resort “better suited for family experiences” as well as for groups. For example, he said, the new pickleball courts and the putting green could be used for team-building exercises. “But now that we have all these new amenities, I would expect during the summer, we're going to see an even greater uptick on the leisure side,” he said, noting that a pool with a slide and lazy river means families won’t need to go to the coast or to a water park. “They can come right here.” The new amenities also can attract business during the shoulder periods when occupancy tends to be down, he added.
Logistics
The additions were facilitated by the fact that many of the accommodations and facilities are in standalone buildings or in outdoor plots on the 3,000-acre campus. “We're not confined by real estate,” Friederich said. At the same time, the team did not want to take down more trees or lose natural elements. As such, they looked at adapting spaces that had already been put to use.
“Being a steward of the land is fundamental to who we are,” Friederich explained. Even when harvesting wood for the property’s fire pits, the team tries to look for wood that has already fallen on its own rather than taking down branches or living trees. And while the resort already has a vegetable garden, the team is planning to expand it and simultaneously launch a composting program to reduce waste and further support the plants. (The resort’s team is working with Doty as well as students at nearby Berry College on best practices for the garden, Friederich added.)
Gaining Ground
After a two-year push for vertical growth, the Barnsley team plans to spend much of 2026 “capitalizing and maximizing” the new spaces, Friederich said. The resort has a new director of special events who is working with the team to create “annual, reoccurring events” that can bring guests back as regulars.
Gehrke said the Davidson team was helping Barnsley develop artisan markets, live music series and art-and-design showcases. “Being able to create things that are really elevated to increase our awareness within the Atlanta metro market [can] encourage people within the regional drive market to come down and engage,” he said.
Beyond the special events, Friederich imagines “dive-in” movies at the new pool, and perhaps a surf machine nearby. “It's an expensive endeavor, but to do it right and to do it well, you can literally be a differentiator in the resort business in the southeast,” he said.
The team also is looking to add a walking trail around the resort’s 10-acre lake, making the space a regular part of guests’ experience. And Friederich hopes to add specialized spaces for indoor activities, from sports to movies. These rooms would help provide visitors with things to do on rainy or cold days—or even just in the evenings—when the outdoor options might be limited.
While much of the year will be focused on activating the existing spaces, some softer renovations are still on the schedule. The Woodlands restaurant is slated to undergo a renovation over the summer, with a “whole new palette” and “look and feel to it,” Friederich said, noting that David Thompson Studio and Charlotte Lucas Design will be involved in the project. The adjacent bar, Dugans, will be updated with a dedicated menu for additional dining options. “We're giving it its own identity, its own branding and its own menu.”
Looking farther ahead, Friederich said the resort team is considering additional room inventory and real estate options, but plans have not been finalized.
Ultimately, Friederich said the new additions—and the upcoming activations—are meant to keep guests coming back to see what’s new and what’s available. The recent projects already have attracted interest, with applications for golf, hunting and shooting memberships at the resort “drastically” increasing, he said.
This article was originally published in the April/May edition of Hotel Management magazine. Subscribe here.