Wednesday, December 2, 2015

The John Howland Farm on Airbnb

Hi Dear Folk,

We have now left Brooklyn and I'm going to whisk you up to New York State.  I wanted Jean to see Ithaca and meet up with the boy, plus the trees were turning.

As I said I am now a total fan of Airbnb, we booked this place just a day before going.  In and close by to Ithaca was all booked because of their Annual Apple Festival, so we had to look a little further afield and this is what we found , about half an hour south of Ithaca.

Let me tell you trying to find the road that led up to this farm in the pitch black of night was not easy and I think we went past it by about eight miles and had to turn back but eventually we found the road.  What a lovely quiet rural area this is in the Newark Valley, Tioga County.

The house was built around the end of the 1700's in some places you can see the age but in much of the house it has been covered over.  I would probably go around ripping those ceilings down, and pulling up carpets.  All said though it was a lovely place to stay.


We ate breakfast at the table by that very sunny window, looking at the birds feed. We had run of the kitchen to ourselves and could use the fridge, but we couldn't get the coffee machine to work, one of those Keurig machines.  Here we are in the depths of the country and I said to Jean "Let's Google it."  Boy did we laugh, talk about old meets new, isn't that the way life is now?  People live in Africa in shanty towns using an iPhone.



Jean and the owner, it has been in his family for a while.  Most of the land is rented out.




You cross this bridge leading up to the farm.  His mum was a local school teacher and all the children used to come to this creek here to learn to swim, then they would have treats at the farmhouse, sounds good to me.  But probably a school now would not be allowed to take children to a creek to learn to swim, how things have changed.  Seems it would have been totally fun to me, maybe a little squidgy on the bottom, all the more reason to keep on swimming.




Looking across the field to one of the barns and farmhouse.  The metal barrier leads onto the bridge, to the right of the picture.

Christy

4 comments:

  1. A beautiful peaceful place and I would have enjoyed a swim in that creek. So much better than today's boring swimming pools.

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  2. Fascinating looking blog. Shall be back to explore Capt Hills' letters too, when I have a moment..

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    1. Glad that you enjoyed my Blog and welcome as a new follower.

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  3. I love the house and the land. And the teapots! Perfect for you and Jean. I'm so glad you and Jean had such a nice visit together. A well deserved holiday for you both!

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