“There’s something to be said about staying in an old cheese factory in southern Wisconsin that’s on the National Register of Historic Places,” says Nic Mink, a proprietor of Seven Acre Dairy Company in tiny Paoli, Wisconsin, just south of Madison. That something is an eight-room boutique hotel combining classic Dairyland vibes with decidedly modern amenities, which Mink and his wife, Danika Laine, opened earlier this year on the site of a dairy factory that had operated for nearly 100 years. 

Guests might sleep where the factory’s cream tank once stood, or in a former milk truck garage. Rooms (from $199 a night) feature furniture made with wood from the property and are outfitted with Boll & Branch bed linens, 55-inch HD TVs, and Turkish cotton robes. There’s access to fire pits for roasting marshmallows and bicycles for exploring the picturesque town on the bank of the Sugar River. Or you can stroll the property’s seven acres of oak savanna and manicured gardens.

Seven Acre also houses the Kitchen, a restaurant serving a seasonal menu of upscale takes on traditional Wisco fare (think authentic German spaetzle and fried cheese curds), and Dairy Cafe, which sells butter and soft serve made at an onsite creamery, as well as, naturally, lots of local cheeses. And on October 8, the property will host the Sugar River Bourbon Fest, with offerings from 25 distilleries.