Want to experience the Great Outdoors without sacrificing the amenities of a swanky hotel?
Now you can get lost with Hideaway Co., a mobile hospitality concept that gives camping a five-star makeover.
The company is the brainchild of Anna Baird, former senior sales and marketing manager for East Liberty’s Ace Hotel, who enlisted the help of her colleagues Chef Beth Zozula, Food & Beverage Director Michael Goldberg and Libations Curator Molly Aura.
“It sounds hokey, but all the stars aligned with this team,” Baird says.
Weekend packages are available for the month of October at the Barn at Maple Falls in Rockwood, PA. In the future, Hideaway Co. plans to pop up at other rustic sites within a short drive of Pittsburgh.
Guests “glamp” in a luxury, two-person Under Canvas tent. There are 30 12-by-16, all-weather shelters grouped in three clusters on the property. Each tent boasts a bed, fresh linens, a seating area, a potbelly stove and rechargeable lanterns. Luxury restroom trailers are shared by each cluster, along with fire pits and spaces for relaxing under the stars.
The food isn’t your average campfire fare. A two-night stay includes a Friday welcome reception and dinner, Saturday breakfast, lunch, happy hour and dinner and Sunday brunch all whipped up by Zozula, a James Beard-nominated chef who helms the kitchen at Whitfield.
Menu items include scratch-made falafel or roasted leg and braised shoulder of Jamison Farm lamb with cucumber yogurt, feta cheese, marinated smoked peppers, white bean salad, pita, olives, baba ghanoush and spicy green salad. Rise and shine with honey-drizzled buttermilk biscuits, caramelized onion and Gruyère quiche, or the beet-cured salmon with everything bagel crisps, cream cheese, hard-boiled eggs, red onion, capers, heirloom tomato and mixed greens. Grab a picnic lunch on Saturday before you head out on a sightseeing excursion.
Offerings range from a romantic getaway for two (and the pooch) or a socially distanced corporate retreat. Prices for a Friday-Sunday booking are $3,000 for a double-occupancy tent and $1,800 for a single participant.
Hideaway Co., has an excursion concierge who coordinates off-site adventures, whether it’s a tour of Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob; water sports and guided activities like rafting, standup paddleboarding and kayaking at Ohiopyle; guided bike trails and bike rentals along the Youghiogheny River; and access to bike rentals for the Great Allegheny Passage.
For an added fee, massages are available for guests looking to fully unwind or recover from a rigorous day in the wild. Yoga sessions, included in the price, are also offered to center your chi.
Throughout each weekend, Aura will be slinging hand-crafted drinks, mocktails and local brews which, aside from a complimentary welcome and happy hour beverage, are a la carte. Guests can raise a toast to Mother Nature while taking in the beauty of the Laurel Highlands.
“I always tell my daughter, ‘Sometimes you find the thing you’ve been searching for has been right in front of you the whole time,’” Baird says. “When travel became so restricted as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and people literally had no place to safely relax and recharge, I took my own advice and found paradise in what is essentially our own backyards.”
