Barnsley Plantation Resort - Sporting Clays Course and Amenities

Enjoy the outdoors and shoot a few shells

Skip is the on site Sporting Clays Pro and Caesar Guerini dealer

One simply cannot exhaust all of the outdoor options when visiting Barnsley Plantation Resort, and a glaring example was my absence from the sporting clays course. The expansive 2000-acre property allows for the course to be located far enough from your lodging that you need a car to travel to it, but not so far that you can't hear the gunshots which is why the resort has a strict noise ordinance policy. After checking in at the Shooting Sports clubhouse at the resort, I had a driving map in hand and a clear understanding abut what to expect. A golf cart with a key in it would be waiting, but I should bring my own water and someone to operate the clay target machines during shooting. A twelve-station clays course is set up in a heavily wooded area where only one path exists for golf carts or personal UTV's. The shooting stations were framed up well, defining the limits of any gun barrel swing through, and lots of broken targets were on the ground showing about where to break them. We saw true pairs, report pairs and plenty of crossing targets that totaled up to a 100-shot round. One of the dividends of having a resort property with elbow room is the amount of wildlife that exists there, and despite our shooting we saw six white-tailed deer while on the clays course! Later in the day we had a chance to explore some walking trails that led to the Barnsley cemetary, and we had a chance encounter with the resort's Fairy Godmother. What's that you say? Denise Webb is a wonderful soul who is on hand to simply help out with special requests for families and guests. When we crossed paths she was literally in the middle of a scavenger hunt for youths. We exchanged pleasantries and moved on, but such an encounter at Barnsley is good fortune, and I later received a special yet anonymous note that reeked of the FGM. For dinner we chose the historic Rice House setting, and while the dining room is an addition, the actual house was built in 1854. It was moved to the resort property 140 years later in 1994, but anyone familiar with these structures know that they were built to last. Dinner began with great wine service, allowing us to taste some house wines like the Migration Pinot Noir until we were able to decide on the Stag's Leap Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon. I began with a succulent South Carolina fried boneless quail served on grits and collards, and then dined on a North Carolina flounder with green french lentils, rainbow chard and a tasty reduction. Seafood dominates the menu including shrimp, scallops and cod but a steak dinner and even a vegan plate can also be ordered. The Rice House is the sort of place where you want to linger for dinner, and perhaps enjoy a discussion about the wonderful history of the South, a history that is not forgotten in Adairsville.

Breaking clay targets is fun, but challenging

There are lots of amenities to choose from

To view past blog entries from Barnsley Plantation Resort click here.