Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Barn located?

From Durham, NC get on 15-501 S and DO NOT TURN UNTIL YOU REACH DUFFY’S WAY!!! Following 15-501 south you will come to the Eastgate Shopping Center. WITHOUT TURNING keep to the left and you will be on 15-501S Bypass. Keep going WITHOUT TURNING!!! As you drive around the south side of Chapel Hill the road on which you are driving will change from 15-501 S Bypass to Highway 54 W Bypass WITHOUT YOU HAVING TO MAKE A TURN. Keep driving until you reach Carrboro Plaza on your left and a gas station on you right at a stoplight. This is the end of 54 W Bypass and the beginning of 54W heading toward Graham. From this stoplight go exactly 5.8 miles and then, finally, turn right on Duffy’s Way. The Barn is at the end of the gravel road. From Greensboro take 85N to the Carrboro 54E exit. At the bottom of the ramp turn right and travel east about 14 miles then turn left on Duffy’s Way. From Hillsborough go south on Orange Grove Road until it T’s into 54. Turn left, go 2/10ths of a mile and turn left onto Duffy’s Way. From Raleigh go west on 40 to exit 270, which is the 15-501 north and South exit to Durham and Chapel Hill. At the top of the ramp turn left onto 15-501 S and follow the first set of directions above. Duffy’s Way is NOT on GPS so for those who cannot find their own bathroom without GPS you will need to emphasize that just this once please follow these directions. There are still old websites that have the old Charles Lane address on them but access by Charles Lane is blocked. This should take care of helping your guests get to The Barn at Valhalla.

How long can I have access to the Barn?

Access to the Barn is only for the day you are renting. The Barn is from pre-dawn until MIDNIGHT! Not a minute later. Those who are not spending the night should be gone by midnight and those spending the night should be upstairs getting ready for bed quietly. No partying upstairs or downstairs after midnight. No hanging around chatting downstairs after midnight.

Can I get access to the Barn before my event?

If you are renting The Barn on Saturday then you may drop things off on Friday. You may decorate on Friday. You may rehearse your wedding ceremony on Friday. You May NOT have an event on Friday unless you choose to pay an extra reduced fee for a rehearsal dinner as an example. There is one exception that very rarely happens: If a University or corporation wants to rent The Barn and their event ends on Friday afternoon, then I will notify you and we will already have the upstairs clean and we will quickly clean the downstairs. You will still have access to do what you need to do as spelled out above but it might be delayed. This has only happened once or twice and I avoid it but am not going to block off the entire week.

Can I rent the second floor?

You have the option to rent the second floor. There is a cost for each evening that you rent it. You can only rent it if you are also renting the first floor. ALL we provide is a place to sleep and bathe. We do NOT provide food. ALL sheets and towels are provided. Your guests only need their toiletries. If you choose not to rent the second floor then obviously we will lock the second floor. “Check out” is noon on the morning after you spend the night. If you are using the second floor during the event and not spending the night, you must leave at the end of the event.

How should I clean up after my event?

Cleaning up means taking down all decorations, picking up debris that has fallen on the ground, restacking the tables and chairs the way you found them and moving the Bars back. Gather up all garbage and place it in bags which we provide and putting them in the back of my pick up truck. Pick up all cigarette butts off the ground. Take care of everything you have rented such as additional chairs, etc. Strip the beds you have used and leave them in a pile at the bottom of the stairs. Turn off all lights, ceiling fans, air conditioning and close all windows and doors. We will sweep and mop and dispose of the trash. If you can, try to recycle.

What are the noise restrictions?

Even though I live on 85 Acres I still have neighbors who claim to have super human hearing. With that in mind, ALL amplified music must be contained inside The Barn with the doors closed. Yes, you may have an acoustic guitar or violin or harp during an outdoor wedding ceremony and if you are getting married in front of the fireplace and want to use those two white outdoor speakers to play a processional and recessional just loud enough for your guests to hear it you may do so, but DJs, and IPODs or laptop computers hooked into my sound system inside The Barn can be played only with the doors to The Barn closed. The size of the Barn is not well suited for a live band. On a case by case basis I will allow a live band but please talk to me about it before you hire them. If you have already booked the Barn and hired a band then please let me know. Regardless of the source of music the weddings that have been the best are those which control the music inside the Barn in such a way that people can actually talk without screaming. If you use an IPOD or laptop and wish to tap into my system please familiarize yourself with the system no later than early on Friday. I am not an expert and will be of no help. Please practice well ahead of time. If you choose a DJ, I need to speak to him/her prior to the wedding day. DJs love to hear themselves talk and crank up the volume too much. They also try to get everyone to scream as loud as they can. Please show the Barn the respect it deserves but have a fantastic time. NO fireworks are allowed. Not only could they start a fire but they create noise. If one of your guests feels the need to scream at the top of his lungs outside, please ask them to show a little control. I am not asking for silence. I am asking that the neighbors have no reason to call the local police.

Do you have any other rules that I should know about?

Glad you asked. (These have occurred. Believe it or not.):

No swimming in the pond, ever.

Limit all sexual activities to a room upstairs if you have chosen to rent the upstairs. Please dispose of any “evidence of love making” rather than leaving “it” on the floor?.

If there are children attending your event please ask their parents to be responsible parents.

Please tell your guests that my home is not included in the rental.

Stay near the Barn or fireplace at all times. Do NOT wander through the woods onto my neighbor’s property.

Please park as close to The Barn as possible without blocking others. There is no need to get close to my neighbors.

If it is cool enough you are welcome to use the fireplace. We will provide all the wood you need.

NO SMOKING INDOORS! Please provide your guests with little buckets of sand.

Ask those who stand in the parking lot to use those same buckets instead of throwing their butts on the asphalt. Please ask anyone who tosses their butt into the air over the railing to stop. Point out to them that as part of cleaning up you will have to clean up after them.

The parking area is for parking and not partying. Please ask your guests to stay in The Barn, Near the fireplace or on the decks around the Barn until they are ready to leave.

It is not cool for your guests to be honking the horns of their cars at 11:59PM.

There is no web access at The Barn at this time.

There is Directv and a TV upstairs. Please do not try to reconnect the cables in the back. You will not get Pay TV.

The Barn is air conditioned, but if it is hot outside and you open the doors when the music is off, the inside will get hot. If you open all the windows upstairs the air conditioning will not be effective. Make sure you know how to use a thermostat before your event. Here’s a hint: all thermostats have an on/off switch. 70 degrees should be comfortable. If 100 people are dancing the air conditioning system cannot deal with that much body heat. DO NOT OPEN THE DOORS! Instead, take a 10 minute break, clear everyone out of the inside of The Barn and let the system cool the room down. Lowering the temperature to 50 degrees will not help and at the end of the evening when everyone leaves if no one remembers to turn off the air conditioning then the unit will run and just waste energy. Same thing for upstairs.

I DO NOT have a preferred list for any service you might need. Feel free to ask my advice and I will share what I know. I do recommend that you hire one of my staff to help with parking, bartending, cleaning up and dealing with unforeseen emergencies. This is not required but it’s a good idea.

Decorations: everyone has different tastes. We put lights up and someone takes them down. No decorations are included in the rent. If there are lights up and you want them to stay up tell us the week prior to your wedding. If they are inside they don’t belong to us. Frequently there are lights up outside. Plan on including lights as part of your decoration responsibility.

NO candles on the hand railings. An elbow can knock them over and start a fire.

When you break something: Yes things happen and things are broken. You are not a child. I expect things to be broken. PLEASE TELL ME. Only if the damage is obviously malicious will anything be made of it. I am a very understanding person. Just please understand if we know that something has been broken I can get it fixed before the next event. Does this seem reasonable?

This comes across as a lot of DON’TS but hopefully you will agree that most are common sense. If anything doesn’t fit in with your plans I will work with you or in the worst case, refund your deposit.