Our New Home

Our Home

Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home

Today, I will be sharing our new home with you.  This new home was not at all what I was planning and dreaming on.  I had my heart set on a small farm or farmette, or least a little bit of land to have a big garden and have animals on.  We were in negotiations on a nice little 13 acre farm, with farmhouse, barn, pond, lots of cleared pasture.  It was between our daughter’s place and son’s place, about 1/2 mile from each.  Perfect, I thought.  The wheels in my mind were spinning on what I could do with it.  This would be more than I could have asked for.  But the Lord had other plans for us, the negotiations for the farm fell through and the deal was off.  I was broken hearted and cried for days, but we had  prayed for whatever God wanted for us… so no ‘farm’ for me.

Last fall, just a week after the farm deal fell through, we signed papers for this house.  It had been on the market for almost 3 years, the original price was drastically reduced and we bought it the next day.  Things happened so fast that it made my head spin!  I only remember walking through it casually, not paying a whole lot of attention, and bang!  it was ours!  Wait, wait!  I need to look at this house again!  It took a number of walk thrus to finally sink in-this is our house.  This is where I will be living.

This house is in town…in town?  Yes, in town- street lights, close neighbors, weekly trash pick-up…I am still wondering how I got in town!  (But I am finding that there are advantages to living in town!)

These are only the outside views, I will be posting before, during, and after photos of the interior as we do upgrading and remodeling.  Fun!(?)

 

Front

West side view of house-front door and cellar doors.

Our location is confusing.

The house is perched upon high ground, at the top of a massive stone wall with steps going down to the street/’trail’.  The ‘street’ (where our physical address is) in front of the house, used to be the railroad bed.  I do not know if this road was ever used for vehicle or horse and buggy traffic.   The trains no longer run through our town.  I sadly miss the trains, but am glad they are not roaring right in front of my house!   The ties and rails have all been pulled up and the railway has been turned into the Redbank Trail-a lovely stonebed trail for walking, biking and horse riding.

I love all the stone work.  The wall is made of massive stones and runs in front of all the houses the length of this road/trail.  I have a beautiful high view of the goings on along the trail.

The walking trail is very popular, and there is much activity on it.  It does not get boring watching the walkers,  runners and bikers.

Side Yard

 This is the area where I am planning to put my raised bed vegetable garden.

The same side yard, looking up to the patio area.

The trellis entry from the side yard to the back porch.

The back porch is a beautiful flagstone patio area.  It is always shaded and such a nice place in the heat of summer.

The back entry door.  This is the most used door.

Back Yard

We have a wonderful covered patio area.  All of the wooden porch furniture came with the house.  It is a great place for family gatherings!  The grandchildren love to bring their bikes and ride on the trail.

This is the view of our house from the back street-the only street that gives access to the house.  You cannot see our house from here-the building that you see just to the left of the patio is a separate office building that we plan to eventually turn into a guest cottage.  It is in need of much repair and we only use it for storage right now. (This was the town’s tax collectors office.)

Sign post that the tax collector used.  I am thinking a Margie’s Garden sign would look nice here!  I am planning on selling my perennial plants from my house.

The long sidewalk from the carport/garage down to the house.

 

A view from the yard up to the carport.

There is a 2 car parking area and a 1 car enclosed garage.  Can you try and guess which car gets the prime location of parking in the garage?

 

View of the carport and garage from the street.  This is very confusing to anyone who is not familiar with this area.  We have to try and tell guests our address, but the street address you cannot drive on-you have to come in on the street above us and walk down to the house.  This street is more of an ally than a street-only one lane.

The back of the old Redbank Mill is in full view of our place.  I love the Mill.  Lots of spilled grain from unloading and loading=lots of birds and lots of cats.

We are packed into quite a tight neighborhood-our youngest son’s house is just 2 houses away-this white house you see at the end. Very convenient for visiting back and forth!  We so enjoy it.

We have a balcony!

And an outhouse!

I call our home my Hobbit Hole.  The house is very hidden away-you can only see it from the walking trail side, and then it sits up very high.   To get to the house,  you have to walk down the long side walk and into the shaded patio area to enter .  The house is very dark inside (think lots of dark wood paneling-I will be changing that!) ,it has some narrow doorways, and you kind of wind your way around some of the areas.  And I feel like I am in a hobbit hole.  But since I am such an introvert, love to spend time alone, and to be hidden away, this house suits me just fine!

 

You are welcome to visit anytime!

Stay, Stay at home, my heart, and rest.

Homekeeping hearts are happiest.

Henry Longfellow, 1882

Matthew 10:12, 13

12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.

13 And if the house be worthy,

let your peace come upon it;

but if it be not worthy, 

let your peace return to you.

Would you like to guess the car parked in the garage?