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Welcome to River House, a four-bedroom (plus a parlor with a hide-a-bed that
sleeps up to two more), three-bath 2,600-square
foot Queen-Anne style home on a private road near Tamworth, in eastern
New Hampshire near the Maine border, Squam Lake and Lake Winnipesauke.
South Tamworth is about 1.5
hours from Manchester airport, and 2.5 hours from Boston.
The house sleeps up to 15 people. There are one king, two queen and five twin beds
with nice linens. (The beds themselves can sleep up to 11, plus we have two hide-a-beds that sleep
four more.) Only two other homes exist on this side of the river, one directly across the meadow
and the other down the road, so it's very peaceful. The house has a large great room
in each story, so adults with families can relax downstairs while the kids play
upstairs. With the windows open at night, the sound of the river provides a peaceful
accompaniment to a sound sleep.
August 2006 marked the end of a comprehensive remodel of the home, with new
bedrooms, baths, kitchen, plumbing, insulation and wiring. The kitchen features
beadboard cabinets, a central island and butcher-block countertops, along with a modern refrigerator,
stove and range. Each bathroom has a shower and full bathtub. The original deck and screen porch
remain. Yet by using the original doors, windows, beadboard and trim, the house has also
retained its traditional charm and warmth.
The front yard has pavers, a large parking pad and some flower beds.
Please mouse over the pictures to the right and see the interior.
We plan soon to stain some more of the interior trim,
refinish a few wood floors and add one
laundry-room cabinet, but otherwise the house is in very good shape.
The front of the house overlooks a river with a sandy little
beach right out front, across a quiet dirt road. The river
has small rapids that make for excellent refreshing swims,
with plenty of warm rocks for sunning yourself. The rental includes a large meadow next to the
house, along with some 78 acres of forest out back, with protected
woods surrounding most of the property.
The property is around 150 years old. Originally built as
a large private home, it later served as a two-room schoolhouse
until 1946. Here it is back when it had a dam out front, before the
town converted it into a schoolhouse. Note the wrap-around porch,
the bay window on the right, and the barn; alas, they're all gone now.
We'd love to put the porch back on!
from Facebook:
Set One: This is a variety of photos from over the years.
Set Two: There are stylized using Photoshop, and this summer we plan to use them as artwork at the house.
from the summer and fall of 2008:
"Dear Eric & Cathy, we had a blast at River House. The views of the foliage surrounding
the property was spectacular. The home itself is more magnificent than the photos
displayed on the website. We would definitely be interested in a return visit. Our only regret
was that we were only there for 4 days."
"We had an absolutely wonderful time at the River house!!! It's a perfect place for our group.
Large common areas, especially with the open kitchen, yet you can still have privacy
since there are so many individual rooms, so if you want to sneak away for an afternoon nap
it's no problem. And Sunday we enjoyed the warm weather and spent the day out by the river,
reading by the riverside, going for walks and some of us even tried to catch a fish
Thank you again for sharing your home with us and giving us another memorable River house weekend!"
"Eric & Cathy, Thanks! You have an amazing home and our group had a wonderful time.
We had great weather and, as you know, there is nothing like hanging out in the river on a hot day.
Your house was everything that we were hoping it would be. On a side note, I would like to tell you
how kind and generous Bill and Gina are. Everything from welcoming us with fresh baked bread for
breakfast, pointing us to the bottom-less swimming hole, and many other little things helped make our
weekend more than we expected. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to you, however I wanted to make
sure to note it. You're very lucky to have such dedicated and friendly caretakers. I truly hope to
get an opportunity to return (with my family this time) to your property in the coming years.
Regards, Nick"
"Hi Eric and Cathy - I'd like to echo Nick's comments. What a great time we had. You have a
beautiful house. Bill and Gina [next door] are wonderful friends to have and were extremely generous, hospitable,
and helpful. I would love to come back with my family some time. Best regards, Mike"
"Eric, We had a great time up at the house. The house was beautiful and it was in a great
location, it also accommodated the 12 of us perfectly. I appreciate your business and you will be
hearing from me next year for another great weekend away, thanks again."
"HELLO ERIC, we had a wonderful time at the River House - we all enjoyed your home - on
Saturday morning the kids (grandchildren) had great fun playing in the river -- [although on Sunday
morning it was fairly high (it rained a lot on Saturday night) - we went over to my daughter's
house on Saturday afternoon for a BBQ - and then later in the evening they came over to the
River House - we got the kids into bed and had a wonderful time playing cards -
and games that were there
- thank you for your contribution to a great weekend!!"
"I just wanted to extend a huge Thank You for providing your house for my family. It was a much
needed break from appointments, and army, and other "stuff". Bill next door, was a great help
and friend. He lent us his kayaks and canoe out of Bear Camp Pond which we spent all day at
yesterday. I fished every day for a little bit (until my back and neck hurt so much
I couldn't stand it) - and was rewarded with a total of about 14 Brown and 3 or four
rainbow trout - all on the fly. They all went back into the river to grow bigger for
the next angler. The house is awesome - we enjoyed everything about it - but specifically the
quiet."
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