The house is for rent from March 9 to March 25 or so. We will be gone for spring break.
We bought this 4-bedroom, 4 bathroom house in the spring of 2022 as a second home - we live only 50 minutes away in Cambridge, MA, and are going up to Ipswich every weekend. My husband is retiring this year and it will soon become our second main home. I have blocked out the entire calendar for this reason, so please contact me with your desired dates and we will figure something out.
The house is in one of the most private and beautiful settings on the North Shore, located on 9.4 private sunny acres, an 8-minute drive from fantastic Crane Beach. Slightly elevated at the end of a dirt road and a long driveway, the house gets sun from sunrise to sunset, both of which you can see from the many windows and French doors on the first floor. The house is in the middle of horse country, with many beautiful horse and walking and biking trails. Downtown Ipswich is a few minutes away, as is Essex, and Cape Ann with Gloucester and Rockport.
We will update the house over the coming years, but it is very warm, bright, and welcoming as it is. The open kitchen and dining room are on the first floor, the master bedroom with ensuite bathroom are off the living room, as is a four-season sun room. Down the hall on the first floor is a mud/laundry room, and another bedroom with an ensuite bathroom.
On the second floor there is a separate bedroom with ensuite bathroom, plus two more bedrooms with a shared bathroom.
The quirkiest thing in the house is that most doors are not solid-panel doors, but doors that have ventilation slats in the top half (they are not see-through!). The bathroom on the first floor has "sound-proof" proper doors.
Living room:
The house was built in 1982 and has an open floor plan with a wonderful kitchen open to the living room, dining nook, and dining area. It has both sunrise and sunset views from the French doors which open onto two large gravel patio facing East and facing West. The living room is carpeted and cozy. The carpet is a seafoam green that a previous grandma put in, very charming and absolutely perfect for kids to play on, or do yoga on. It has a large sofa for naps, plenty of seating, a sheepskin rug for lounging in front of the wood fire place, an expandable solid teak mid-century Danish dining table.
Sun room:
Off the living room there is a four-season sunroom attached to the house that consists mostly of windows facing East and South. It is perfect in the fall, winter, and spring for breakfast, working, reading, watching the snow, the birds in the bird-feeder, the sunrise.
Kitchen:
The kitchen is well equipped and the appliances are 1980s high-end German Gaggenau appliances with a double oven, a grill, a 4-stove gas burner and 2 electric plates. It has a large double sink and a small prep sink - it is a great space to cook in with several people at once. The views from the kitchen island and from the dining nook over the gardens, lawn, and meadows down to the stream, pond and woods are incredible. It's a bird watchers paradise since we have herons, egrets, orioles, hawks and many small birds including hummingbirds that come and feed on the perennial flowers.
The kitchen is fully stocked with pots, pans, lobster pot, cutlery, plates, spices, utensils, condiments. We use the house every weekend, so it is fully stocked with everything we might need. Depending on the length of the rental we can discuss what we will leave in the house or fridge.
Master bedroom:
The carpeted master bedroom is right off the living room, which is cozy and convenient especially when there are just two people in the house. It has a new Casper mattress and a king size Casper Haven bed, as well as a reclining arm-chair to watch the sunsets in, as well as a desk. It has two built-in closets. I initially wanted to rip out the vintage floral wallpaper but have decided to leave it in - they don't make them like this anymore and not all room need to obey the same Ikea-ized contemporary look. The master bedroom has beautiful west-facing views and access to the patio through large French doors. You can sleep with the doors open. It has a large bathroom attached to it, with shower, toilet, double sinks, and a jet tub. The jets are defunct, and at some point we will remove the tub and add corner windows for a reading nook instead.
Bedroom 2:
There is another bedroom on the first floor down the hallway with an en-suite bathroom with a shower and a soaking tub. The bedroom is fully carpeted with plush clean carpet and for the moment contains a new Nectar twin mattress as well as a new tri-fold mattress that doubles as a low chair. Both mattresses lie directly on the carpet. The room has a beautiful old oak table and chairs by the window overlooking the property, used as a desk, plus a built-in closet. It has a portable AC unit as well as its own thermostat.
Bedroom 3:
The third bedroom is a large gallery space atop the sunroom on the second floor that can be accessed both from a spiral staircase in the sunroom as well as through an upstairs hallway. We will remove the spiral staircase at some point. It is carpeted with two cute built-in closets which have served as hiding or sleeping spaces for children. It contains a trifold queen mattress lying on the floor as well as a twin mattress. The room is bright and great as a play room. It has access off the hallway to the upstairs bathroom that is shared with bedroom 4. It has its own thermostat.
Bedroom 4:
This bedroom on the second floor contains 2 twin beds - actual bed frames with new memory foam mattresses - and has beautiful views overlooking the property. It is a bright and simple room, the built-in closets are outside in the hallway, which contains more windows and nooks and a desk. The bathroom shared with bedroom 3 has a shower, a toilet, slanted ceilings, and no windows. It is a strange bathroom but perfectly functional.
Bedroom 5:
This is a large carpeted bedroom at the end of the hallway up some carpeted stairs on the second floor. It is also accessible from the garage and could be sealed off from the hallway. It has a walk-in closet and its own bathroom with a shower. There are currently two twin mattresses on the floor, plus a slightly smaller mattress for a child. It also has an armchair for reading and a desk for working. We have had lots of guests sleep up there. Its windows face North and West.
There mix of mattresses in the house is a mix of new softer and firmer mattresses to accommodate different sleeping preferences. The twin mattresses can easily be put side by side to form a king bed. I like the flexibility of twins because we often have students come over and stay.
Laundry room/mud room:
There is a laundry/mud room with a top-loading Maytag washer, dryer and large utility sink next to the kitchen. It has access to the outside. There is also a chest freezer to store ice and anything else. We keep the beach towels, towels and other things in its many cupboards and shelves.
Garage:
The house has an attached large two-car garage that houses our ride-on lawnmower, tools, wood and many other things. It has room for two cars, one of the doors opens automatically. We will update the garage with time. Labor and materials are still all very expensive.
Barn:
There is a dilapidated barn on the property that used to house a pony or two, and a playhouse. My husband hates to look at it, I love it. At some point we will tear it down and replace it with a functional one.
The grounds are large and beautiful and there are walking trails right off the house and dirt road. At the end of our property there is a stream that belongs to us and a little pond that serves as an Ipswich back-up water reservoir, and the bird watching is spectacular. I have not tried swimming in the pond yet - the water is very clean, but very brown from iron and decaying plants. You can certainly use a floaty on it. There are plastic Adirondack chairs you can move to wherever the birds are. There is a large dining table with lots of outdoor chairs (we use them indoors and outdoors) on the back (lunch and dinner) patio, and there will be wrought-iron furniture on the front (breakfast) patio. There are a few loungers with cushions. We have mature oaks on the property, and I have been installing perennial gardens - how to care for them will be a bit of an issue, and I appreciate renters who are willing to water them in a drought. We built a fire pit. There is lots of wood on the property. There is a portable charcoal grill which we use all summer. The nights are clear and the sky is full of stars.
Crane Beach is a short drive away. We have beach stickers on our cars, you will have to buy your own, or pay $25 whenever you use the parking lot. The beach is owned by the Trustees and spectacular year round. There are plenty of public beaches in the area as well, though none as endless as Crane.
If you love nature, you should really consider checking out our house. Perfect for children and for older people, since there are two bedrooms on the first floor with en-suite bathrooms.
The house was built in 1985 and owned by a single family who raised 4 children here. It is in good shape and furnished simply right now, with lots of space to play. Kids have loved it here. Bring some board games and toys, there aren't any in the house so far.
Our neighbors are lovely and own three horses that can be observed and pet. We are installing fences so that their horses can graze on part of our property.
We are looking for friendly, clean and easy-going renters, either couples or families with children, who love nature and will take some care not as to let their kids and dogs run over the carpet without hosing off their paws or taking off their shoes. The carpets are great for playing and coziness, but we do need people who are aware that they easily get soiled ;)
