Charming Small Home in Southern Vermont Mountain Village
- Minimum stay:N/A
- Internet:Yes
- Pets allowed:Yes
- Wheel chair accessible:No
Our home, probably one of the original village houses, is the traditional white clapboard with dark green shutters and a red barn out back. We have added a deck with a picnic table which makes a great place to sit in the sun and drink morning coffee or to have a candlelight dinner at night. From the deck, you look out over the musterfield (yes, where the militia mustered), a long open space with raspberry bushes along one side and apple trees along the other. Neighbors are close enough to wave hello, but still have privacy.
Across a field to your left there is a high bank above a wide brook. You can hear the water running over the stones all day and all night. This is the Ball Mountain Brook that flooded last year. The banks have been repaired and replanted and the new winding course of the river has been allowed to stay, which means that the next time we get a hurricane that sits right on our watershed, the flood will slow down and spread out.
The house is small but has many windows so as the sun moves across the sky, there is always light shining on the floor.
Parking is never a problem; just pull over beside the house. Most people enter from the deck. Coming in from the deck, you are in the kitchen. It's a long narrow room with blue walls, three windows and a small table for eating in or cooking. The laundry, to your right, shares space with pantry shelves. The dining room has an expanding table that can seat 8-10 people. One door from the dining room opens onto a small covered back porch, a good place to sit and take off your ski boots or stand your skiis. Another door goes into the bathroom (shower, sink, toilet).
Two other doors lead across to the living room, or you can make a left turn into the master bedroom. You can also open a door and go down into the cellar. We often show people the cellar because it gives you an idea of how old the house is: the walls are made of river stones.
The master bedroom has three windows, one facing east that catches the first sun rising in the morning. There are two dressers in that room. One will be empty. The other has maps, table linens (some antique), and games in the drawers.
The living room has a comfortable, newly re-upholstered couch and overstuffed armchair faciing a wood stove.
The baby grand Yamaha piano in the living room is a good one, recently tuned. It belonged to my mother who was a concert pianist. If you have a tendency in this direction, this is your chance to leave the family in the city, come up to Vermont for the week by yourself, get those Beethoven sonatas under control and then let everyone else come upon Friday night to play chamber music or sing songs.
if you enter from Factory street (named for a chair factory that stood long ago where the street meets the brook), you have the living room to your right, the dining room to your left, and the stairs in front of you. At the top of the stairs is a small bathroom with a sink and toilet. To your right is a room with two single beds and a desk. We use this room as a study and a child's bedroom. To your left is a long room with only one window that has a queen futon bed. We call this the chimney room because the old chimney runs up through it.
The character of the house is an old New England family house. Nothing in it is from Ikea. The main pieces of furniture are sturdy enough and comfortable, but some others, mostly in corners, show their age.
When we decided to try renting our house, we went through the extensive inspection and upgrading process required in Vermont called Essential Maintenance Practices. This includes wired-in smoke detectors, railings, fire extinguishers, and, among other things, lead inspection and remediation. All the painted buildings in Vermont built before lead paint was banned for household use in 1978 probably have lead paint in them. The Vermont standards are higher than Federal Lead Safe Housing standards. Our house has been inspected, remediated (including extensive new painting of both house and barn) and is in compliance with lead-safe maintenance practices.
Keywords: Traditional, charming, comfortable, cozy, village,
Property Type
- House
Accommodation Type
- Vacation Rental
Suitability
- Children Welcome
- Non Smoking Only
Bedrooms
- 3 Bedrooms, Sleeps 6, Beds for 6
- Bedroom 1
- Bedroom 2
- Bedroom 3
Bathrooms
- 1.5 Bathrooms
- Bathroom 1
Kitchen & Dining
- Microwave
- Refrigerator
Amenities
- Babysitter
- Parking For RV/Boat/Trailer
- Wood Stove
- Linens Provided
- Clothes Dryer
Other Amenities
Entertainment
- Stereo
- DVD Player
- CD Player
Communications
Outdoor Features
Location & View
- Mountain View
Activities
- Museums
- Swimming
- Snowboarding
- Mountain Biking
- Kayaking
- Skiing
- Cross Country Skiing
- Snowmobiling
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Cycling
- Hiking
- Equestrian Events
- Mountain Climbing
- Fly Fishing
- Freshwater Fishing
- Medical Services
- Mountaineering
- Hospital
- ATM/Bank
- Restaurants
- Playground
- Churches
- Library
- Live Theater
- Wildlife Viewing
- Outlet Shopping
- Scenic Drives
- Bird Watching
- Walking
- Sight Seeing
- Antiquing
- Horseback Riding
- Sledding
- Shopping
- Groceries
- Water Tubing
Other Activities
Reviews
Write a reviewRates
For stays of a week or less, $500 includes utilities and cleaning fee. For longer stays, the monthly fee of $1000 plus utilities applies. Utilities, depending on the weather, use and the price of oil, may run between $150 - $300 per month. MOwing and ploughing are included in monthly fee. Our preference is for people renting for the entire season, November-April.
Note: Until confirmed, rates are subject to change without notice.
Before paying contact the owner to confirm payment details.
Call the owner directly to confirm reservation details and pay with an approved method (credit card, check, or bank transfer), to protect your payment up to $1,000.
Calendar
Sorry this information is not available. Please contact the owner/manager for more information.
Location
Owner info
Year Purchased: 1960
About the owner: We are a retired academic couple. Our family bought this house in the 1960s and has been very involved in the life of the village over the years. We spend the rest of the year in California. Tenants will be provided with contact information of craftsmen. We have a property manager in Jamaica who will take care of mowing and plowing.
Why the Owner Chose Jamaica:
Out of every window you can see mountains. The rivers - this is an important aspect of Vermont economic development policy - are clean and swimmable. In the summer, there are music and theater festivals all over the place, Brattleboro is a center of creativity for young musicians and artists. Manchester, just to the north, has serious outlet shopping. Stratton (fifteen minutes) and Mt Snow (twenty minutes) are major ski areas.
The Unique Benefits at this House:
Having a home which is both in the village at the same time as it has a lot of privacy and a feeling of being out in the country is unique. On the one hand, you can go next door to the D&K general store and buy just about anything you want, including today's NYTimes. Because you're on a town street, you don't have to worry about getting snowed in and waiting for someone to come plough you out. On the other hand, you have quiet and privacy.
Contact us
- Primary: 510-828-2745
Links to more information:
Photos
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Front door of house is to the right; deck barely visible at left.
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Back porch; gravel path leads along barn for walking in snow and ice
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Downstairs (master) bedroom. One of two dressers visible; two closets
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Downstairs bathroom with shower. Small but functional.
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One of two identical single beds in upstairs room also used as study.
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Looking at house from musterfield. Our barn on left, deck, picnic table center.
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Dining room table pulls out to seat 6. Door at rear opens onto pack porch.
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Living room facing front door, stairs going up at right.
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Living room; couch, armchair, piano. Small DVD player on coffee table
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Chimney room overlooking deck. Two dressers. Queen futon bed. One closet.
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Pike's Falls, one of the best of the innumerable swimming holes
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This listing was first published here in 2011.
Date last modified - Thursday, January 31, 2013
510-828-2745
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