The Brits love our grits

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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The UK Independent has the travel story:

At the Tupelo Honey café in Asheville they were actually playing the Van Morrison track of the same name. It went so well with the laid-back mood of the place that we asked if we could hear it again. Sharon, the proprietor of this traditional southern eaterie, obliged and re-ran the CD.

It seemed that she, like everyone in these parts, had all the time in the world, which is not something you associate with the way America behaves at 9.30am. We downed our third mug of coffee, and demolished our plate of grit cakes and sweet potato pancakes before stepping outside for a tour of this North Carolina mountain city.

Tiny Asheville, which was once sanatorium central for thousands of tuberculosis sufferers, has been given a new lease of life. It’s in the vanguard of a movement that is drawing growing numbers of the urban masses towards these blue misty hills in the quest for the simple life. Some call it multi-generational travel, in which children, parents and grandparents pile into the 4×4 on a Thursday evening for a back-to-nature weekend.

“They walk and they talk, hike, go whitewater rafting, visit farms to learn how fruit and vegetables grow, and eat home-produced food,” said Angela Norris of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.