The Writer's Cottage

The Writer's Cottage is a tiny white house on a country road; vintage, complete, and inspiring. Built in the nineteenth century, it's perfect for a solo traveler or a pair of travelers exploring the Berkshires and the Hudson Valley. If you like rustic buildings, you'll be a fan of the cottage; it's an incredibly cozy time warp. Queen bed and living quarters downstairs; airy loft up a narrow set of enclosed stairs. There's an orchard and lawn with grill, hammock and table. Our location is in New York, right on the border of the Berkshires hills, in the perfect position to fan out for destinations north and south. You're just 20 minutes away from Tanglewood, Kripalu Yoga Center and Jiminy Peak Ski. We're a great hub, but we're not in the Masschusetts Berkshires. Please make sure that you like our location and love the great value it provides before you book. We ask for a minimum 5-day stay. For stays of a week or more, the discount is 10%. For a month, the discount is 23%. The Writer's Cottage is a great place for a productive long stay. The base price is for one or two people, which is really the right size for the cottage. It can feel crowded otherwise, with perhaps not enough privacy for several adults. There is a $15 for each additional person (except for kids little enough to be in a crib). For its small size, the cottage has several discrete spaces. Downstairs is a bedroom with a queen size bed and two cozy chairs. A well-equipped kitchenette has a shiplap vaulted ceiling and a round table that seats four, plus an ample mudroom for jackets, skis, boots and fishing poles. A writing room is just big enough for a cozy sofa and a desk, with a view of the orchard. The sofa can open up into a comfortable single bed, good for either an adult or a child. This room is also a good place to put a crib. There's a narrow bathroom next door. Up an amazing tiny enclosed staircase is an open loft space perfect for meditation, music, reading, privacy, or painting. You'll find a work table and ,comfortable seating up there. This is an ideal spot for a weekend respite from the city, or as a base to explore the area. It calls to people working on creative projects, or those looking for a longer hiatus. It has all the important amenities, like light, good dedicated wireless internet and strong cell service ( although we hear that T-Mobile/Sprint/Consumer Cellular users report difficulty.) There's a washer/dryer too. The Writer's Cottage offers quality linens with a supply of pillows, duvet, blanket and coverlet for your bed. The shower may be narrow, but it's well equipped with a broad choice of shampoos, conditioners and and soaps. In the kitchen you'll find good china and glassware, as well as a quality supply of cookware and equipment. There are coffees and teas available, as well as olive oil, vinegars and spices, but no dishwasher... and no tv! Note that the doorways are narrow and the upper loft space is only six feet tall. But there's lots of old wood and so much charm. Relax on deck chairs or the hammock out back, on the porch out front, or set up lunch at the big round iron table and chairs on the grassy acre outside the back door. When it's dark, the motion detector light at that door guides you back in. Some more features: even in midsummer, this area offers generally comfortable evening temperatures, but for the occasional night when it's hot, you'll find air conditioning inside. People tell us that they like to know more about how we care for the beds and linens, so here is a little detail. We use sheets with high thread counts and wash them in Seventh Generation natural detergent. Pillows and comforters are down-alternative. We use protective covers for pillows, and encase the bed's mattress and box spring too. If you're here for a short stay, you can find everything you need right on the first floor if you choose. For longer stays, there's a chest of drawers and a full-size closet up in the loft. Our neighborhood used to be the center of town back when the old grist mill was in operation; now the modern town center with bank, post office and restaurants, is about 2 miles away. There are a handful of historic houses on our road. We live right across the way and can greet you personally or just be around for any assistance you may need. You'll have front and back lockable doors and two parking spaces. We also provide good local recommendations both in our manual and in a quick-start guide. The entire space is yours and you can exist in it perfectly privately. However, we're always happy to chat or are readily available if needed. The Writer's Cottage is a great retreat both in summer and winter, whether you prefer a cozy break or search for culture and action. It's well positioned for full access to the Berkshires, including so much fine music, theater, food, art and natural beauty that you can't possibly do it all justice no matter how hard you try. Tanglewood is about 20 minutes away, and so is the Kripalu Yoga Center. There is a swift, scenic route to get to both of those from here, through pasture and forest, and ending with a wonderful view of the Stockbridge Bowl. In the winter, ski trails at Jiminy Peak or Bousquet are less than a half hour away, and Butternut is just a little farther. Hiking trails and conservancies abound. In the springtime, it's great to see the leafy woods and blowsy gardens emerge. It's locavore and farmer's market heaven in the summer and fall. Another summertime treat hidden nearby is Queechy Lake, with lifeguard and sandy shore, one of the cleanest and most delicious lakes in New York state. There's also a nice local park in town, with two newly refurbished tennis courts. Check out our online guidebook for a full listing of the places we love most around here for visit or a meal. There are seven fine art museums, eight theater companies, three Shaker villages and two orchestral venues within an hour's radius. We're a good jumping -off point for visiting the Berkshire towns-- it takes about 20 minutes to get to Lenox, Pittsfield and West Stockbridge in Massachusetts, for example. You're also only about twenty minutes from several other historic towns and villages of New York, such as Old Chatham, Canaan, and Spencertown. This is a pretty rural area, so a car is key. We're on a country road with heritage cows grazing up the hill, but Albany, the capital of New York state, is just a half-hour away. We are 3 hours due north of New York City by car, 2 1/2 hours west of Boston, and less than an hour south of Bennington, Vermont. The Albany International Airport is an easy trip at 40 minutes away and the Amtrak station about 35 minutes. Car rental at either the airport or the train station is thankfully easy to arrange. New Lebanon, at the top of Columbia County, New York, is a pretty funky town, not a Norman Rockwell town. Many people drive right through it to go north for antiquing or skiing, to take the scenic pass into Massachusetts or to pick up the nearby NY thruway. Our town is so small that there's only one stoplight, and that's a blinking one. There's no night life to speak of, no sidewalks, and we lack a big grocery store. It's not a bad idea to pick up groceries on your way; we also have directions for getting to the nearest grocery store, about 20 minutes away. The upside is that you can get easily to almost all the places you want to go-- more easily, we find, than from some of the Berkshire towns themselves. And whatever New Lebanon lacks in picket fences, it offers in glorious hillside viewscapes. The town has a remarkable allotment of Shaker history, such as the massive square ruins of the Great Stone Barn at Mount Lebanon. This was recognized by the World Monuments Fund as one of the 100 most significant endangered sites in the world, and it's right here and easy to visit. Lebanon Springs was also utterly famous in the nineteenth century for its warm water spa, frequented by luminaries like Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and the Marquis de Lafayette. The medicinal spring still courses down the hillside, but in obscurity now. Consider downloading a wonderful free app, called The Water and the Word. It provides a short driving tour of the history of New Lebanon, including the old mill you'll see right on the Writer's Cottage road. There's also ample additional historic information available for listening any time you'd like about each stop. It's an amazing way to get to know the area. There is plenty to enjoy here. Stop at Blueberry Hill Market Cafe for coffee and something delicious for breakfast or lunch. Try M&M's for a late dinner of burgers, wings, and some craft beer, or reserve at Mario's for a fancy meal. Trek by the beaver dams at Hand Hollow Conservation Area. Go to Meissner's on a Saturday at 4 for their antique auctions, where we've found astonishing values. You'll find a lot of information about local options in our online Guidebook. Our location turns out to be an excellent base for the range of travel and exploration in this area, or just for staying put and enjoying a rural escape, as so many of our airbnb guests have told us.