If you’re like me, you’ve gotten really tired of cold, winter weather and have found yourself craving sunny days. Thankfully, spring has started to hit the south! I feel nothing says “spring” more than fresh blooms. I’ve been stalking Cheekwood’s #TulipWatch ever since the first round of warm weather came through. This week, I saw the first signs of tulips! Naturally, I pestered my mom into visiting the estate with me for Cheekwood in Bloom – a can’t miss experience in Nashville for all the flower lovers out there.

A Bit about Cheekwood

If you follow my blog, then you’re probably thinking, “Hmm, this Cheekwood place sounds familiar?”, and that’s because it is! I visited their Holiday Lights event back in December and loved it so much that I was just itching to go visit the estate again.

For my newer readers, Cheekwood is a 55 acre estate in the western side of Nashville that was once home to the Cheek family. The property’s stunning, 30,000 foot limestone mansion was built in 1932, though it looks much older since it was modeled after the English manors of the 18th century.

Now, the estate is open to the public as Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. The mansion is home to the museum. The lower 2 levels pay homage to how the Cheek family lived in the 1930s. The upper level serves as the estate’s art museum, which is home to a variety of ever-changing exhibits. Cheekwood’s numerous gardens are currently the star of the show, as the flowers are beginning to bloom!

Cheekwood in Bloom

Cheekwood gets a little extra magic in the spring, when the entire estate looks like one huge fairy garden. And that doesn’t even begin to cover how fantastic the place smells! I wish I could have bottled that smell to turn straight into a candle to take home – it was absolutely mind-blowing.

Cheekwood really knows how to brighten up the season. Vibrant blooming flowers line the winding paths around the property. In some cases, they even crawl up the walls of buildings or sit in pots to liven up indoor spaces. Tulips, daffodils, snowdrops, hyacinths, magnolias, dogwoods, and more swallow the property up in color and light. There is no shortage of blooms, as flowers are everywhere you look!

The Mansion

Cheekwood’s mansion is truly a sight to behold, and it only gets more gorgeous once you’ve walked inside. The home is decorated for the spring, just as it was in the 1930s. Tapestries adorn the walls of the entryway, a game room is set up to entertain visitors, the dining area displays the spring china, and the library makes you want to curl up and read one of the seemingly endless first editions of the home. It’s truly spectacular!

The top floor is home to the museum, which has displays dedicated to color, texture, and what I can only to think to describe of as avant-garde ceramics. The artists basically broke a number of ceramics apart and repurposed them into a new, beautiful piece of art. They were scattered around the museum and my mother and I could not stop marveling at them!

We really lucked out the weekend we visited, as the temporary Art Alive exhibit was going on in the Cheekwood in Bloom gallery! Basically, Cheekwood brought in florists from the Nashville area to create arrangements inspired by art displayed in gallery. The florists used color, texture, and sheer creatively to create complimentary, living pieces of art. Art Alive has now ended, but I am very hopeful Cheekwood will do a similar event in the future!

Visiting Cheekwood in Bloom

Cheekwood in Bloom is running now through April 7, 2019, so visit before it ends! While the estate is open daily, I recommend visiting on a weekend, as that’s when the heart and soul of the event takes place. They set up a beer garden, have live music, do outdoor painting classes, yoga, tai chi, and more! It’s seriously cool.

Cheekwood is open 9AM-5PM daily and tickets are $20 (but some people can get discounts!). There are some additional fees for things like brunch, but they’re totally optional. If you drive, you’ll have to pay $5 for parking.

We arrived at Cheekwood shortly after they opened and spent about 2 hours wandering through the property; we would’ve stayed much longer (brunch! yoga! more flowers!), but had to leave to catch a play at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. I’d say that 3-4 hours would be ideal for visitors wanting to see everything and participate in all the fun weekend activities.

After 2 visits to Cheekwood, I’m hooked. I became a member and am already planning on attending all sorts of their upcoming events (which I’m sure you’ll be reading about here in the future *wink*). Cheekwood is an affordable, beautiful, serene destination in Nashville. I cannot recommend visiting enough!

xoxo,

KB

PS: Want more Cheekwood? Here’s my round up of visiting Holiday Lights. Looking for more historic homes? Read my posts on My Old Kentucky Home, the Adsmore House, and Mount Vernon.