It’s been more than five years in the making, but Ashbourne Farms, one of the most storied farms in Kentucky, has opened its gates as a first-class wedding, meeting and entertainment venue.
Anticipation mounts as you drive into the entrance on U.S. 42 at 3801 Old Westport Road in Oldham County and up the curving road, alongside rolling pastures and farm fences, to the top of a hill and the surprise of a hidden valley below. It’s immediately apparent that this is a place where plants and crops, livestock and wildlife flourish in harmony.
Under the watchful eye and deep determination of Austin Musselman, the grandson of W.L. Lyons Brown and Sally Shallenberger Brown, years of thoughtful planning have gone into restoring this fourth-generation farm rooted in the Brown family’s tradition of hospitality and fine bourbon, and grounded by their love of farmland and conservation.
“We have repurposed and preserved the wonderful old buildings on this historic farm into a variety of event and meeting spaces, while recapturing the legacy and hospitality standards of my grandparents,” Musselman explains.
The farm has a rich family history. Shortly after Lyons and Sally married in 1935, they found and purchased 150 acres of land along Harrods Creek, just 20 minutes from Louisville. Sally’s grandfather, Ashton Cokayne Shallenberger, a farmer and the 15th governor of Nebraska, presented the couple with a wedding gift of several Scottish Shorthorn cattle and a bull. Lyons and Sally named their farm Ashbourne after Gov. Shallenberger’s farm in Nebraska, where he raised Shorthorns for a living. His farm was named for the town in Derbyshire, England, where the Cokayne family originally lived.
The newlyweds developed Ashbourne Farms from the ground up, suffusing the land with a deep love for animals and nature. With his brother, George Garvin Brown II, Lyons was busy running Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation, but by 1945, the brothers had become the nation’s premier Shorthorn breeders. People flocked to the farm, as numerous high-profile cattle auctions and sporting events were held there.
Over the years, more acres were added. After Lyons died in 1973, Sally maintained her love of the farm and eventually protected it with a land trust. As Sally aged, Musselman’s mother, Ina Brown Bond, intent on keeping the family’s farm tradition alive, purchased Ashbourne Farms in 1998.
Musselman and his wife, Janie, have expanded Ashbourne Farms to 2,250 acres by purchasing adjacent land. This is significant, since Oldham County farmland is disappearing faster than farmland in any other county in Kentucky. Today, the entire farm is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is protected from future development by conservation easements.
Andrew Hyslop
Austin Musselman
Knowing that his grandparents’ old Ashbourne Inn once was a much sought-after lodging destination with fine Southern food—an original farm-to-table destination—Musselman’s goal became making today’s Ashbourne Farms an authentic farm-to-table hospitality destination. The couple restored the charming 1882 farmhouse that takes center stage in the valley, painting it Sally Brown’s favorite shade: pale yellow.
Next came the renovation of the old, hand-hewn timber frame show barn, which they repurposed into a massive 15,000-square-foot masterpiece, with meeting and dining spaces and a new wall of windows opening to views of native prairie grasses and terraced patios leading down to a tranquil pond.
The main hall of the show barn can accommodate dinners served for 300 or receptions for 600. Other variously sized rooms are easy to adapt to multiple uses—large and lavish or small and intimate. From the luxurious leather-lined library to the rustic, paneled conference and private dining rooms, old corncribs and two cleverly refitted silos, everything about the place retains the look and vibe of Kentucky farmstead vernacular.
Surrounding the buildings are carefully manicured lawns, fields and outdoor ceremony spaces that offer breathtaking, uninterrupted views of farmland. An architect has plans on the drawing board for cozy cottage lodging options.
“Whether it is a wedding, a corporate retreat or a special occasion in the show barn, the farmhouse or out in the fields, Ashbourne Farms offers unique experiences and memorable farm-to-table meals with gracious, friendly and professional service,” Musselman says. “Our team can tailor menus and locations specifically to each client’s needs, from barbecues to formal dinners, private dove hunts and dinners, backcountry campouts, sporting clays competition, fox hunts and more.”
Andrew Hyslop
It takes more than owning land to accomplish what is happening at Ashbourne Farms. It takes the commitment and passion of an entire team. Quality events require superb coordination to run smoothly, and it is a big undertaking to nudge community-supported agriculture programs to deliver efficiently. There are daily and weekly schedules to be met, appointments and records to keep.
The experienced Ashbourne team creates authentic farm interpretations and practices sustainable artisanal techniques. Everyone is service oriented. They strive to share the natural beauty of the farm through world-class event and dining facilities, working farm and outdoor sporting experiences.
Musselman says that he “searched for the best person to be our general manager and found Rodney Wedge, a hospitality professional who has launched many successful restaurants and agritourism destinations. I convinced him to move his family to Kentucky. Rodney is keen on attention to every detail of managing our overall operation.”
Wedge and his family are already in love with Kentucky. “Ashbourne Farms is a place you feel genuinely lucky to be, but you also feel a responsibility not to undermine what’s been built over the last 80 years,” Wedge says. “There is the constant push-pull activity of a farm—the seasons, the weather. I daily consider with precision how all the pieces of the farm and hospitality program fit together.”
Sales and event director Annie Cobetto, who has lived all over the world and has extensive high-end catering and hospitality experience, graciously connects with clients to produce flawless, one-of-a-kind experiences and memorable events.
“Ashbourne Farms is such a welcoming, promising place,” Cobetto says. “We have so many stunning, special, unique locations for entertaining, from elegantly plated, white-tablecloth dinners to rustic outdoor bonfires. We want our guests to leave inspired by the magic of Southern hospitality at a real Kentucky farm.”
Chef Jason Jones, who trained at the New England Culinary Institute, heads the culinary team. Assisted by Patrick Roney and Nokee Bucayu, Jones creates familiar Kentucky dishes and desserts reworked in delicious, creative ways. His menus are dominated by what is grown in the farm’s gardens.
Andrew Hyslop
Musselman, 46, speaks with a Southern drawl and smiling enthusiasm at what has been created. One cannot help but be impressed by his sincere desire to take care of the land and his thoughtfulness about doing things right. He knows the soil, its orientation, its water sources, the plants and the wildlife.
“Nature is how we learn to empathize with other creatures and to respect the web of life that creates us all,” he says.
He admits that growing up, he didn’t have a lot of interest in father Billy Musselman’s devotion to golf or even team sports. The family had a place near Bernheim Forest, and as a kid he was obsessed with nature and wildlife, tagging along with his dad to hunt and fish.
Austin Musselman attributes his love of the farm to his grandmother, Sally Brown. “My grandmother was a great conservationist who taught me my first lessons about farm life. After college, propelled both by memories and instinct, I became intrigued by the prospects of farming and told my mother and grandmother I wanted to own Ashbourne Farms.”
As a young father, he heard author Michael Pollan speak, read Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma and became interested in the quality of food we eat. The farm-to-table concept was still new back then, but Musselman started to think about the crops and animals already at Ashbourne Farms.
“I wanted my kids to eat well but to also know and appreciate where good food comes from. We began to provide farmers markets in Oldham and eastern Jefferson counties with locally grown produce and pasture-raised meat,” he says. “My children got involved, and we started a CSA [community-supported agriculture] shares program that was the first of a large scale in the area.”
Ashbourne Farms has always been a working farm, and today’s farming methods and hospitality programs reflect the same care historically given to the land. Musselman’s aim is to feed others well. That means the soil is nurtured, the produce grown is native to the area, and organic practices are used. The farm animals are pasture-raised and never supplemented with antibiotics or added hormones. Eggs are gathered fresh each day from chickens that free range in a nearby pasture.
“This farm is a defining aspect of my identity,” Musselman says. “Having grown up in the Brown-Forman family, I am very much aware of the importance of brands, and we are creating a brand here with an insatiable, ingrained desire to protect and preserve this place. Our goal is to resonate deeply with the community, to create memorable experiences with simple, direct and honest food. Land is a limited resource—all the more reason to protect it.”
The modern version of Ashbourne Farms is a reminder that history can live side by side with the present as an agribusiness operation with both elegant and rustic experiences, the verdant fields a mosaic backdrop to gardens, crops, animals, orchards and fields.
Reflecting the owners’ love of nature, the farm is balanced with wildlife conservation efforts to improve crops and water quality. Committed to conservation, Musselman pays close attention to the biodiversity of the land and is careful to protect the Harrods Creek watershed and restore habitats for native species such as endangered migratory birds.
As vice chairman of the Bluegrass Land Conservancy and former president of Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, Musselman is at the center of nearly every land conservation issue in Kentucky. He was named Wildlife Conservationist of the Year by the Kentucky Wildlife Federation in 2011.
“Austin has nature streaming through his veins,” says Dr. Mark Wourms, executive director of Bernheim. “He is happiest outdoors and has been involved in wildlife conservation and habitat restoration for decades. We at Bernheim are proud of Austin’s support of our stewardship programs, as with his involvement with conservation at Ashbourne Farms and elsewhere in Kentucky.”
Billy Van Pelt, a director of development at American Farmland Trust, adds, “Austin is carrying on the legacy of Sally Brown, a great conservationist and tireless advocate of sustainable agriculture and farmland conservation.”
“I once heard a quote attributed to Wendell Berry: ‘The best fertilizer for land is footsteps.’ There have been a lot of footsteps on this farm. It takes a lot of footsteps to operate it and to love it like I do,” Musselman says. “These days, our guests’ footsteps please me as they walk about, eat, drink and enjoy a real farm we are able to share with them.
“Janie and I are very aware that we are only the guardians of this land. A farm continually rebuilds itself in the passage of time.
“Generations of my family and friends have walked these fields, attended cattle sales, fox hunted and enjoyed the legendary hospitality of Ashbourne Farms. What I care about most is saving this place for my children and future generations to explore and enjoy.”
Ashbourne Farms will host a James Beard Foundation Taste of America Dinner on Oct. 19. The event, featuring all-star chefs, will be a four-course meal benefiting the foundation.
Visit jamesbeard.org for more information about the evening.
For more information, visit ashbournefarms.com.