I Glamped in the Middle of a Lavender Field in Virginia — Here's Why You Should, Too

As the saying goes, good things come in small packages. And it doesn't get much smaller or better than the single-tent glamping experience found in Catlett, Virginia.

Located about an hour outside Washington, D.C. sits the quiet community of Catlett. It's home to fewer than 300 people, which means visitors have plenty of space to roam free and find solitude. And that's exactly what the owners of Seven Oaks Lavender Farm are inviting you to do with their Tentrr setup.

For the uninitiated, Tentrr is a company that partners with private landowners to install small glamping sites on their property. Each site comes with at least a platform and canvas tent, and if it's a signature site, it's also equipped with a bed, Adirondack chairs, a space to eat, and even a camp bathroom. I found all that and more on this stunning farm. As Tentrr notes of its signature experiences like this one, "All the essentials were transported and pieced together by the Tentrr team, in order to allow for campers to travel worry-free and with the easiest convenience."

I arrived at my quaint canvas tent just before sunset. It gave me time to explore the working agriculture site where a passerby can pay an entrance fee to pick their own 20 stems ($4 for children, $6 for adults). My travel partner and I were the only ones there to walk through the field of flowers, check out the cows in the back, and see the small looking — not petting — area filled with floppy-eared bunnies hopping about and wiggling their noses.

After the sun dipped behind the wheat fields, I stripped down for a shower, which was actually a solar hanging bag with an attached hose, found inside a three-walled stall that opened freely to the field out back.

No one was around, save for a few cows meandering around. I giggled to myself for a moment, as the only soap I had brought was a small emerald-green bottle of Hermès shampoo from the posh Hotel Lutetia in Paris. Yet somehow, its scent was no match for the sweet-smelling lavender hanging with every breeze, an odor that lulled me to sleep and helped me remember that even the quietest destinations in the tiniest corners of America make for vacations to remember.

For anyone looking to bring this magical stay home with them, the farm offers small upgrades, including the option of having a lavender gift bag ready on arrival. It typically includes lavender linen and air spray, a lavender lip balm, an embroidered lavender sachet, and a farm sticker and postcard. (Mine happened to also include some absolutely divine lavender and lemon cookies, though I can't promise yours will contain the same.)

If you want something else, you can always preorder some more items from the shop, including bouquets, pet goods, candles, soaps, and more.

It's a spot that felt peaceful from the get-go, a perfect entry point back into travel in an otherwise chaotic world. Upon waking up with the sun and sound of roosters in the distance, I laid still to embrace this place and emotion, so I could carry it for as long as possible. Luckily, I have a small satchel of lavender now that I can squeeze and sniff whenever I forget.

Book your Tentrr stay at Seven Oaks Lavender Farm, starting at $99 per night.