We were driving from Bodega Bay to Santa Rosa and decided we needed to find a bakery. So Janine looked up on her phone “Find a bakery near me.” Phone said turn left now so we did into an industrial complex called “The Barlow.” We found the bakery and it was excellent. We started looking around and realized we were in food tourism heaven. It turns out “The Barlow” is a 12.5 acre culinary and arts center in Sebastopol, CA. Premium businesses hurried to lease space after this $23.5 million, 220,000-square-foot project debuted in the fall of 2012, and now the property features many of Sonoma County’s best restaurants, wineries, distilleries, art galleries, and boutiques. Most of the time, the glass roll-up garage doors that act as walls are open, inviting in fresh breezes and strolling customers. The 12.5 landscaped acres are lush, and brilliant with greens, reds, yellows, oranges, and blues. The colors spread across lawns, neighborhood parks, pathways, raised garden beds, and a full culinary garden (in fact, most of the landscaping is edible, harvested for the kitchens of Barlow restaurants).
“The Barlow” is a culinary and arts destination and we will go out of our way to visit again. You could literally spend all day here tasting craft beer, wine, cheese, organic produce, as well as seeing art and fabrication shops.
