I'm a former magazine editor and my husband is a professor of mathematics at New York City College of Technology. We live in Fort Greene, Brooklyn with our boys, 9 & 12. We appreciate our urban life all the more because we can get away. When in High Falls, we turn the kids roam and collect bugs; build labyrinths in the woods and roam the Preserve on their bikes. We hope (and believe!) you'll love our getaway as much as we do.

Caroline Bollinger purchased this house in 2006

We became attached to the area in 1999, when we started traveling up together for a day of rock climbing. Two years later we were scouring local real estate ads. We looked for 22 months and were about to throw in the towel when we stumbled on the contemporary low-maintenance home we'd been seeking. It felt secluded, yet close to the preserve and friends in High Falls, New Paltz and Rosendale. So in spring of 2006 we purchased our place ONE CLOVEWOOD.

We like the comfort, openness and easiness of this house. It's hidden enough to feel like a weekend retreat. Yet it provides central access to all that we love in the area.

We come up with the kids to hike, bike, swim, fish, cook and relax and bbq with friends. The area offers so much of natures best that it's often hard to believe it's just 2 hours from NYC. Our giant tulip trees are home to orioles, finches and woodpeckers and owls. Our land also offers habitat to deer, woodchucks, frogs, a red fox--and one time even a black bear, to say nothing of our neighbors' free-ranging chickens! The house sits on several acres (as do others in the area), and the quiet is a nice antidote to the bustle of city life. Biking from the cliffs in the preserve back to our house, is a family favorite, there are carriage trails and gravel roads for all but about 1/4 mile. The hike to Bonticou is another must do.

We pick apples and pumpkins in the fall and let the kids get lost in the corn mazes and hay mazes at markets like the Wallkill, Jenkins and Calder Family Farm. Golfers will find a 9-hole course at Mohonk and 18 holes down the street at the Stone Dock Golf Course. Tennis players can play on a spectacular clay court with a view at Mohonk. There's also ample antiquing and even a vineyard.

We love to ski at Plattekill in winter. It's 15 minutes further than Hunter or Belleayre but we cherish the down home, old-school vibe. (It's hassle free and there's a great bar to boot!). My boys also love to ice skate up at Mohonk.

We take out-of-town guests to the DIA in Beacon, the FDR house and Vanderbilt mansions. We've also done cruises down the Hudson and trips to Red Hook and Hudson for antiques and enjoy the Hudson Valley culinary scene.