Briar Patch Bed & Breakfast Inn 23130 Briar Patch Lane, Middleburg, VA 20117

"We had a wonderful time here for our recent wedding. Ellen was very responsive to emails. The breakfasts Dan made were good and he accommodated my need for gluten free items. The grounds and reception hall were beautiful for photographs. Our overnight and day of guests enjoyed themselves. Thank you, Briar Patch!"

"We chose Briar Patch for our wedding in 2022 and couldn’t be happier! When I got engaged, I sent out messages to potential venues through the Knot website. Briar Patch was the first to reply out of dozens, even though it was between Christmas and New Years! They answered our questions in a timely and honest manner. No hidden costs in the quotes - and they recommended an affordable delicious caterer. We got a big discount too because we got married on a Monday holiday, which meant we got the property for the rehearsal dinner, day of wedding, and brunch the day after. The property is super charming with a colonial historical main building. The barn has gorgeous chandeliers and a an awesome dance floor. We were most of all impressed by the owners, Dan and Ellen, for being both honest and entertaining! It was a super positive experience."

"If reviews were based purely on potential alone, this place would easily be a 5/5. Briar Patch has an outstanding location, beautiful reception space, and fantastic layout for bridal party guests to stay on site. However, the owners have not had the ability to keep up with the large workload that it takes to run such an operation. My wife and I decided on Briar Patch a year before our wedding. Numerous trips to the venue revealed problem after problem with the cleanliness of the guest lodging and the exterior of the venue. As a paying customer, we assumed that requesting small things like cleaning windows were not offensive requests. In fact we even told the owners that we would happily do it ourselves if they could not. These requests clearly offended the owners, who said that we came off as needy and should've booked at the Ritz Carlton if we demanded such perfection. When we stopped in during the week of the wedding, the hill house was a total disaster. Not only were there mouse feces in every drawer in the house, there were also mouse nests in the kitchen and spare bedding. It looked like the place had been abandoned for years. Kitchen utensils were covered with grime, windows were broken, and the shower / toilet were moldy. My mother-in-law, who the 1% owner called a “mom-zilla”, bought her own cleaning supplies and 15 new shower curtains for the entire property because every shower curtain was covered in pink mold. I will give Briar Patch credit, because I am not here to blindly disparage an establishment. Ellen, the 99% owner, was pleasant to work with but we were primarily coordinating with her husband, Dan (the 1% owner). The chicken coop lodging facility is perfectly fine. While we still replaced moldy shower curtains, the rest of the bedrooms were in good shape. If they could replicate this throughout their BnB, they would not be receiving these types of reviews. However, the Main House was not in the same condition. While stink bugs are a common occurrence in rural Virginia, the Main House was completely infested. Curiously, they were not seen in any of the other facilities. However, we found hundreds of stink bugs in every single room. They completely infested the Main House upstairs bedrooms to a point where we had to take every single picture frame and mirror off the wall and vacuum up the bugs that were piled on top of each other. It was incredibly obvious to us that this level of cleaning had not been done in years, as there were living & dead stink bugs found with the smoke detectors, window sills, and under beds / dressers/ night stands. It was also clear why these rooms were infested so badly, as almost every room had unsealed windows, torn screens, broken glass, etc. It's small things like changing moldy shower curtains and washing the window curtains (all are horribly stained). Cleaning out the fridge of old food. Putting away used robes/linens/towels before guests arrive. Maybe even washing out the kitchen sink so it doesn’t smell of moldy food, of which every guest in our party made note of. All these small things amount to one very, very obvious fact. Briar Patch is not what it used to be. It’s one thing to fall short of the standard, but to treat paying customers as if THEY are the problem for asking for minor help, is a simply comical way to run a business. The lack of humility from Briar Patch to see that maybe, JUST MAYBE, they could do things a little better, was utterly shocking. As if ignoring requests is bad enough, they went out of their way to belittle and mock a bride and her family. So if you’re looking for less than what you asked for, this is the place for you."

"Your best friends wedding is something you dream of especially as a bridesmaid to her, and to see how truly disappointing and filthy this venue/ owners were was incredibly disheartening. When someone spends thousands of dollars for a wedding venue that has the ability to stay on site the whole weekend one might think that atleast they would be receiving a clean place to sleep, dine, use the restroom, and it was the complete opposite of that. Upon arrival week off, not only had there been not a single ounce of cleaning done, but the absolute lack of upkeep was abhorrent. A stink bug infestation that was out of control ( there was atleast 30 in the room i stayed in, one even came home with me in my suitcase! ) moldy shower curtains, mice ridden cabinets, and filthy kitchen with food left in the sink from who knows when. All which had to be cleaned days leading up to the wedding by the bride and her family, talk about a rip off. Dan was trying to showcase the venue to another couple during the weekend that was bought out for our wedding party, which seems incredibly unprofessional, but i suppose that isn’t shocking based off his absolutely shocking behavior toward the bride and us a wedding party. He was rude, lazy, unprofessional and and so incredibly unhelpful. It’s such a shame for such a beautiful property, and luckily bc there was so many hands on deck via family, friends, and vendors, we were able to make the place worth it. But the absolute lack of upkeep that is the property and the poor unkempt horses that look miserable, is unforgivable and i would advise everyone to stay as far away as possible from this venue."

"Website says pool and hot-tub. Both were not functioning and in bad shape. We were expecting access to both which was very disappointing. Pony and horse on property, poor pony's mane was so matted and both needed hoofs trimmed desperately.The grounds consisted of unkept gardens, trash and dirty furniture outside. Missing toilet paper and shampoo, etc. This place could be amazing with some up-keep. Beautiful area."