Ever been awakened by a crowing rooster?
I discovered there's no extra charge for that amenity at this unique Civil War-era farmhouse.
This place has been thoroughly and meticulously updated within the last year. While leaving much of the 1860s post and beam construction timbers exposed, the rebuild included skylights, a marble shower and a huge and thoughtfully equipped kitchen, cookbooks included.
This home overlooks a pond, complete with rowboat and fish. Not big fish, but big enough to be great fun for kids accompanied by an adult willing to help drown a worm. This place is a kid's paradise. Beyond the pond, there’s an elaborate playground complex next to a giant pergola with a huge fire pit (think: smores and ghost stories). Maybe 300 yards through a pasture is the North Atlantic shoreline, waves lapping on a rocky tidal bay. There's also a shoreline boathouse for storing your kayak or canoe.
This vacation venue is neither elegant nor fancy. It’s a rare, family kick-back sort of place. No shortage of overstuffed chairs and comfy couches overlooking vistas onto the pond, the sunrise and the working farm that surrounds the place. Think horses, chickens, rabbits and other barnyard residents. This house sleeps a lot and feeds a lot, given a large and amazingly equipped kitchen and dining room suite. What intrigued me, as an ideal destination for one or more families, is the way this whole place has been carefully laid out over two levels, room after room, with more spaces around every corner. There are decks and a huge screened-in porch spread among lots of levels, lots of windows, lots of views. Great space for lots of family and friends, as there seems to be some place for everyone to be, or to go.
Five stars, overall! Seven stars if at night, as the constellations and shooting stars above the dark skies of Downeast Maine are a wonder in themselves.