Welcome to quintessential Vermont! Come stay at my cozy yet spacious, rustic yet modern, much-beloved Red Acre Cottage. Red Acre Cottage is nestled on a scenic ridge in the idyllic town of Rochester, just east of the Green Mountains and right off of Vermont Scenic Byway Route 100, one of the state's prettiest roads. Red Acre Cottage is an easy drive to Killington/Pico, Sugarbush, Mad River Glen, Rikert Nordic Center/Blueberry Hill XC skiing, Suicide Six, and Stowe Mountain.
The space
Red Acre Cottage has an exceptional design. It appears quite compact from the outside, but this little house lives large! It looks like an early 1900s cottage, but it was actually built in 2007, so it has excellent insulation and amenities. The living/dining/kitchen space is open, bright, and spacious. While the house was built to a very high standard, some antique fixtures were used throughout the house, lending to an authentic Vermont feel.
Tax # MRT-10126712
Guest access
Guests are able to access the entire property including the woodshed. At this time, I keep the barn locked for safety reasons.
Other things to note
There are a few times during the year when I ask for minimum stays. February break for instance would be a 5 night minimum.
If you wish to have a safe and enjoyable visit to Red Acre Cottage make sure you are prepared for rural life in the mountains of Vermont. There will be periods of freezing and thawing almost every day from November thru April. Even though the cottage is on a town road that gets plowed right away - you should assume you may encounter snow, ice or a combination. Even the front steps can get slippery so be careful! Pay attention to the weather in Rochester - and drive the appropriate vehicle. You will not experience power outages at Red Acre Cottage as there is a Tesla battery backup. However, the rest of the homes and businesses in the valley my experience interruption. Finally, the internet will occasionally go down in storms or extreme weather. This is little I can do about this other than suggest a good book or DVD from the extensive library.
If you have questions - ask. With that said...
There's a ton to do up here!
Stay in: Chill out on the farmers porch, cook up a nice dinner in the simple yet well-outfitted kitchen, curl up on the couch with a book from the library or a dvd from the collection, or play in the cute little yard, complete with brand-new badminton, volleyball, croquet, and cornhole sets.
Go out: Sandy's is the best little bookstore/coffee shop/wine bar this side of the mountains. The Rochester Cafe boasts an old-fashioned soda fountain and the best root beer around, and the School Street Bistro is a cozy spot featuring local ingredients. Nightlife consists of Doc's Tavern, and in between all that you can relax on the green lawns of the town square. What else could a country socialite need?
Get active: There's a great swimming hole right at the bottom of our road, and the area has more waterfalls than you can shake a stick at. You can rent bikes at the neighborhood bike shop (they will deliver to the house!) and tool around town and country. Hiking, river tubing, and kayaking are all right here! I'm not fishermen (yet), but I hear that the White River has some of the best trout fishing around.
Get shoppy: Antiquing is a way of life up here. Find something cool for your place. The best things are the things with stories!
Embrace winter: The cottage is just a short distance to both Killington (south) and Sugarbush (north): that's some of the best skiing in the east! There's a cross-country/snowshoeing trail right down the road (see the Ridgeline Outdoor Collective website for the map - this is one of the most beautiful routes in Vermont!) and of course we have hot chocolate, board games, and a wood-burning fireplace. Mad River Glen, Rikert Nordic Center, Suicide Six, and Stowe Mountain are all easily reachable too.
Rochester is less than three hours from Boston, with nice places to eat and plenty of nearby activities: waterfalls, swimming, hiking, biking, antiques, books, beer, and all those good things. And at the end of the day, there's nothing better than watching the sun set over the mountains.
Stay sustainable: I am committed to a sustainable, simple, yet comfortable way of life. The house is outfitted with solar panels, which take care of electricity needs, and a super-efficient wood-burning stove, which is capable of heating the whole house in the winter (though I also have a propane heating system). The walls are highly insulated to maintain reasonable temperatures year-round, and I will continue to make needed adjustments and improvements to ensure that my footprint upon this beautiful landscape is as light as possible!
I have three sources of heat: the wood stove, the propane heater and three electric radiators. The propane heat is locked at 55-65 degrees to keep the pipes from freezing. You must use a combination of the other two heat sources to increase the heat further. My intention is to limit consumption of fossil fuel and use the sun and sustainably forested wood for heat.
