Making Self Care a Priority

Ashford Acres Inn • September 11, 2019

Ashford Acres Inn Manager, Annastasia Hicks contributed this blog post. The inn is her baby and her workouts are her therapy. Thanks for contributing to the blog Annastasia!

When it comes to Ashford Acres Inn and managing the property as a whole, self-care is at the top of my list of daily priorities in order to stay fresh and focused every day on the job and present in my relationships. Part of my daily routine to ensure I take care of my physical and mental health is an early morning workout with one of my co-workers, Chelsea Hill. (I have to have another person participating in order to actually get myself out of bed each day!)

Every day of the week at 6:00 AM we get up and head to either Ashford Acres Inn or the local park to workout. We have meticulously planned each day to have a different purpose for our workouts in order to ensure we don’t get bored and we have the motivation to get up each day. Mondays are for HIIT Training, Tuesdays are for Strength Training, Wednesdays are for distance running, Thursdays are for HIIT Training, Fridays are for Yoga.

Listed below are a few mental health moments we incorporate into our daily workouts to help us start each day on our best foot possible!

  • When we run distance, we go to the local park, which has the most gorgeous sunrises! While running, Chelsea listens to an app (titled Aaptiv’ ) that helps her mentally focus on her day that is to come by talking her through tips on her thinking. For example, it asks her to think about what she was grateful for that day and to focus on that for that single moment during her run. How cool is that! She says it makes her immediately grateful to her body for getting up out of bed to go complete the run! Interestingly, we were both doing very similar things during our runs! I like to incorporate positive affirmations in my runs. I mentally repeat phrases to myself like, “you are healthy and strong”; “you are a kind person & and you are enough”. These affirmations help me to actually be those things throughout the day when adversity comes into play and throws me off!
  • When we do yoga, we turn out all of the lights in the barn and use the app, ‘Down Dog’ on the loud speaker. This app has really relaxing music, fantastic directions and yoga sequences that you can fit to what you are feeling that day (relaxation, beginner  1, etc). 
  • Doing workouts at the Inn always provides a serene, beautiful setting which helps when workouts are tough or getting out of bed is hard to force yourself to do. The photos posted below show some of the summer/early fall workouts we completed! On occasion, Ashford Acres Inn will host yoga and workout events that follow with brunch. On September 29 th at 10AM we will host Mimoga , our last yoga event of the year. Purchase your tickets HERE to attend, enjoy a beautiful view with us, and sip on endless mimosas & brunch!
  • Chelsea and I switch weeks on creating the workouts. Doing this helps us not feel the burden of having to make a new workout every single day, and gives us each the opportunity to be creative.
  • We jam to our favorite hits during our workouts! We share a playlist that all of us can add to when we find a song that would motivate us to workout. We have a pic of our Spotify playlist below, titled ‘Hot Girl Summer’. Follow to enjoy some of our faves during your workouts! 
  • On occasion we go to Lexington to attend Hot Yoga with Ivy League Strength’s Ivy Invalesco. Several of our employees like to join in on this one! If you haven’t tried hot yoga, and you are close to Lexington, Ivy is ahhhmazinggg! Find her on Instagram at @ivyleaguestrength.

Whatever you do, my overall suggestion is to do something  no matter what! Find out your mental weaknesses and work around those to make sure you’re successful in your fitness and health journey. Enjoy the time to yourself, and as our yoga instructor Ivy would say, remember what your body felt like at the beginning of your workout and what it feels like at the end & be thankful for that.

By Ashford Acres Inn September 2, 2026
There is something about fall in Kentucky that feels almost made for a movie: winding country roads, historic small towns, rolling Bluegrass farmland, changing leaves, front porches, warm drinks and evenings spent around a fire. At Ashford Acres Inn in Cynthiana, Kentucky , you don’t just visit that version of fall - you get to stay in the middle of it. Located just 45 minutes from Lexington, about an hour from Cincinnati, 1.5 hours from Louisville, 20 minutes from Georgetown and 15 minutes from Paris , Ashford Acres is an easy Kentucky fall getaway that somehow feels much farther away from everyday life. A Kentucky Town Made for Fall Cynthiana has earned recognition as a top fall destination in Kentucky, and once October arrives, it isn’t difficult to understand why. Historic downtown Cynthiana delivers the kind of small-town autumn atmosphere that feels straight out of Gilmore Girls or a Hallmark movie. Spend an afternoon wandering downtown, popping into locally loved stops like Fibonacci Antiques, Uniques Antiques, The Next Chapter Bookstore, Maime’s Fine Wines & Gifts, or Pike Street Wine House - then leave town behind and drive just a few minutes into the countryside to Ashford Acres. That is what makes a fall stay here so special: you don’t have to choose between a charming Kentucky small-town getaway and a peaceful countryside retreat. You get both. Add a Little Ghost Story to Your Fall Weekend For nearly two decades, the Cynthiana Ghost Walk has been one of the community’s signature October traditions. The lantern-led walk takes guests through historic downtown before heading inside the historic Rohs Opera House, built in 1871 and described by the Ghost Walk itself as the third-most-haunted building in Kentucky . It’s not a haunted house filled with actors and jump scares. It’s local history, storytelling, reported paranormal experiences and evidence collected during previous investigations—all unfolding in the actual places where the stories originated. For guests who want to build an entire stay around the spooky side of Cynthiana, Ashford Acres now offers The Ghostly Getaway package for two. It includes Cynthiana Ghost Walk admission, The Ashford Files filled with stories, history and mysteries, a spooky arrival sip, lanterns for an evening walk, a fall treat, s’mores and a fire pit, a Halloween movie snack basket and a seasonal fall candle to take home. Or Spend 64 Acres in Fall If your ideal autumn weekend is less spooky and more cozy, our 64 Acres of Fall package was created for exactly that. The package includes seasonal cocktails or mocktails, charcuterie for two, s’mores beside your personal fire pit, hot chocolate or cider, a seasonal candle and a one-hour farm tour of Ashford Acres . And that farm tour isn’t simply a walk around the property. Ashford’s main house was built in 1858 , and pieces of the property’s history are still visible throughout the grounds—from the old carriage step built into the rock wall to the mill wheel and other remnants of generations who lived and worked on this Kentucky land. You’ll hear about the history of the home while also getting a look at what Ashford is today: a working 64-acre property with gardens, animals, hospitality, events and a team caring for it every day. Fall at Ashford Doesn’t Need an Itinerary Some of our favorite fall experiences aren’t scheduled at all. Take a walk along the grass trails as the leaves begin changing across the Kentucky countryside. Visit the animals. Find an adirondack chair with a beautiful view. Wander through the garden as it completes another growing season and begins its transition into rest and rehabilitation for the year ahead. Go fishing at the pond. Sit on the front porch. Bring a book outside. Watch the sun disappear behind the rolling hills. Later, order a seasonal cocktail made with house-made purées, local bourbons and thoughtfully selected spirits. End your evening with a fireside nightcap, hot cider or s’mores. The point isn’t to squeeze as much as possible into a weekend. Sometimes the best part of a Kentucky fall getaway is finally having somewhere beautiful enough to do absolutely nothing. Build Your Stay Around a Fall Event Fall is also one of our busiest seasons for experiences at Ashford Acres. Guests can visit our Events page before booking and curate an overnight stay around one of our seasonal events. Our 2026 fall calendar currently includes September reservation dining evenings, Spookeasy at Ashford on October 30 , our Halloween Festival and Halloween Tea on October 31 , and our annual Fall to Table Dinner on November 21 , among other experiences. Come for an event. Stay for the night. Wake up in the Kentucky countryside. Or make Ashford the home base for an entire weekend of exploring Cynthiana. The Kentucky Fall Weekend You’ve Seen in the Movies - Only Real Maybe that’s the easiest way to explain fall at Ashford Acres. You know the town in the movie where everyone wanders into local shops, knows the historic buildings, tells old ghost stories and celebrates the changing seasons? That’s Cynthiana. And you know the beautiful country inn just outside town where the characters retreat afterward…the historic house surrounded by fields, fireplaces, porches, animals, gardens, good food and enough quiet to hear the leaves moving? That’s Ashford. Except this time, you actually get to stay there. Whether you’re searching for a romantic fall getaway in Kentucky , a bed and breakfast near Lexington, KY , a quiet weekend away from Cincinnati or Louisville, or simply one of the best places to experience fall in Central Kentucky , Ashford Acres Inn gives you 64 acres to slow down and experience the season. Fall is waiting at Ashford Acres Inn. Explore our current lodging packages, choose your suite and start planning your fall stay at Ashford Acres Inn , or browse our upcoming events at Ashford Acres to build your getaway around something special. -Ashford Acres Welcoming Team
By Ashford Acres Inn June 16, 2026
"Cynthiana hospitality is warm, welcoming, and feels like family."
By Ashford Acres Inn May 2, 2026
"It may be no surprise to some, but the parts of wedding planning I have found sweetest, are those you can only do as the bride herself."