50 Cottage Dr, Newport, VT 05855

Much more than the bed/bath/square foot numbers suggest. This home sits on a large, grassy, tree-lined lot on the Lake Memphremagog bike path, which at this point is about 20 feet from the lake shore. It has a large deck on the lake side of the house, and a smaller deck down on the lake itself, suitable for attaching a boat dock. The bike path is a rails-to-trails area. The way it works is you are allowed to have a deck and/or dock on the lake, but do not own the (in this case narrow) area between the bike path and the lake, which is actually best of both worlds since you can have a house on the lake without paying lakefront property taxes. We spent many beautiful summers in this house, launching kayaks and fishing boats from the lower deck where we kept a removable dock. It has good cable internet so I was able to work from there looking out at the lake with the breeze coming in off the lake/mountains, and when I was done for the day, walk right down and kayak on the lake at sunset. The yard is huge and flat, tons of room for outdoor parties or volleyball etc. We also stayed year-round one year, and I remember walking out onto the frozen lake and ice-skating right there in front of the house. There's a pretty little Vermont Castings wood stove, plus an oil furnace, so we were cozy. Ski areas are nearby, for example Jay Peak, which you can see across the lake from the prpoerty, is 40 minutes away. The inside with its pine paneling, intersecting rooflines, and porthole-style window in the kitchen always had the feel of a ship to me. The 2-bed 1-bath specs understate the house a bit. In addition there is a family/tv room and a living room with a dining area to one side. There's also a very large sleeping loft nestled up high off of the living room. All of the rooms except the small bedroom and tv room look out at the lake. The laundry area is in the basement, and there's space for a workshop plus a lot of storage. The previous owner had the basement finished off with a couple more bedrooms and another bathroom, and then started a remodel, and got as far as stripping it down to the studs. The second bathroom in the basement is still there and working though it too is just stud walls. I bought this place when we lived in a city and it was a fantastic getaway. We now live in the mountains full-time so we don't really have a need for a second place to enjoy the outdoors anymore. Would be great as a summer/winter vacation place for someone from Boston (as I was), New York, or Montreal, with the added flexibility of using or renting it out as a year round home.