Nature

If you seek a complete escape from city life with a getaway to natural surroundings, you will find it at the Windham Country House. Host Michael Simonds, a former Boston landscaper, designed this country house to emphasize the natural splendor of the property. Combined with the nearby southern Vermont mountains, this vacation rental offers many pleasures of Mother Nature.

• Gardens
• Birds
• Mountain Range
• Pond
• Hiking
• Hamilton Falls
• Scenic Drives

GARDENS - When you pull into the driveway of the country house, you loop around the evolving garden. It features indigenous trees, rocks and plants which are interesting even in winter. The massive rocks seen throughout the property are common in southern Vermont, and Michael incorporates them into his landscaping.

In warm weather, you'll see a variety of wild and cultivated flowers, everything from trillium to sunflowers to gladiolas. Window flower boxes on the front of the house display cascading blooms. Elsewhere around the country house, you can see Michael and Mary's love for flowers. Behind the house is Michael's vegetable garden, and you might see him working there. For a quick lesson in composting or natural ways of dealing with pests, ask Michael. He's had years of experience as an organic gardener.

HIKES and WALKS - One of the best ways to observe nature is on foot. Many Windham Country House guests walk on Old Cheney Road, where this vacation rental is located. Walk north and you'll be embraced by a canopy of maples and pines, then you'll pass an open grazing field to a Vermont farm with goats, sheep and cattle. Walk south and you'll see a lovely meadow with Turkey Mountain to the west, then into a woods, past a view of South Windham (shown here), and onto a bridge over a lovely brook.

For a more energetic hike, a trail from the Windham Country House connects to the New Road, still called that although it was built in 1890. Inaccessible by car, it runs above the Turkey Mountain Brook, drops down into a spectacular canyon cut by the brook thousands of years ago. One-hundred-foot cliffs, deep sheltered pools, veins of quartz, and water-smoothed ledges of schist are surrounded by an old growth hemlock forest.

Hiking trails are offered at Jamaica State Park just nine miles away. The railroad bed trail runs through the mountain valley along the beautiful West River and ends at the Ball Mountain Dam. Many other trails are available year-round in the region, including the Appalachian Trail in the Green Mountains, just half an hour away.

BIRDS - This vacation rental is a great place for bird watching. Throughout the year, the bird feeders at the country house attract chickadees, jays, flickers, finches, doves, and grosbecks. Every other winter, the delightful red polls arrive in flocks. Large numbers of hummingbirds provide entertainment each summer, feeding and dancing right outside the dining area windows. Other species are plentiful. The grounds host robins, swallows, phoebes, woodpeckers, hawks, turkeys, ducks, and others.

MOUNTAIN RIDGE - All views to the west of the country house are dominated by the Turkey Mountain Ridge, which is completely free of development. Registered in Vermont's "current use program," the ridge is guaranteed to remain pristine. The changing seasons are clearly displayed on the ridge with a variety of vibrant greens in summer, a vivid patchwork of color in autumn, white snow blanketing branches in winter, and a surprising display of red, yellow, white, and green buds in spring.

REFLECTIVE POND - Michael explains: "When I dug the spring fed pond in 1996, my goal was to provide a water feature which worked well visually with the gently sloping meadow beyond. I wanted to combine the restful features of both and provide a laboratory where I could observe the evolution of a pond in Vermont.

"I planted around the outside of the pond but allowed whatever happened inside the pond to happen. The frogs came first. Within 48 hours of the start of the water flow into the pond, they had established residence. The newts and algae followed that same year. A year later the water rushes appeared.

"The pond shrinks in dry periods, overflows in wet periods, and freezes solid in the winter. By looking at it, you can tell the wind direction or if it's raining. You can also see when the temperature goes below freezing and when the spring thaw arrives."

HAMILTON FALLS - Just a short drive from the Windham Country House is Hamilton Falls, a 125-foot cascading waterfall that cuts through rock and drops through a series of pools. One of the tallest falls in Vermont, it is a popular attraction to view, and in summer, many people also enjoy the cool swimming hole at its base. The falls can be reached by driving and walking down to its base, or by hiking in along one of the Jamaica State Park trails. Caution is warned, however. Climbing on the rocks next to the falls is dangerous.

SCENIC DRIVES - If you love being out in nature but hiking is not your thing, there are many opportunities to please your eyes. You can get in your car and drive any direction from the Windham Country House to relish the beauty of Vermont's mountains, forests, rivers, and valleys.

©2009 M.McCoy