Serene garden apartment in our two-family home, private entrance. A short 7-minute walk from vibrant downtown Northampton and its rich selection of eateries, shops and culture. Ideal for visiting local colleges. Seeking outdoor activity? You will be two short blocks from an access point to the Northampton Rail Trail Network, and the Pioneer Valley's natural beauty is easily accessible by car for walking and hiking. We offer off street parking for two cars in our driveway. The space The garden apartment can accommodate up to 5 guests. We have two private bedrooms: the spacious main bedroom (king bed), private quite small room (a.k.a the Hobbit Hole with twin bed, this room can only accommodate one person and there isn’t floor space for a crib or pack-n-play in addition to the bed). In addition, members of your party may sleep on our comfortable new convertible sofa (full XL) in the living room. PLEASE NOTE: if your party is large enough to occupy all three beds, the members of your party sleeping in the main bedroom (king bed) will have to walk through one of the two other sleeping areas (Hobbit Hole or living room) to get to the kitchen and bathroom. This arrangement will, obviously, work better for families or groups who know one another well. When your party will occupy only two of the beds, all members of your party will have access to the kitchen and bathroom without passing through one-another's sleeping areas. The apartment provides a well-equipped cook’s kitchen in a sunny eat-in space with an old fashioned enameled farmhouse table that accommodates up to 6 diners. We try to live simply. As a result, we do not have a TV or phone in the apartment. We do have high-speed internet, so feel free to bring your own devices and use our wi-fi to connect. Some perks of our space are the small historic barn out behind house that helps to create a sense of privacy in our yard, and a new stone patio that easily invites sitting outside for coffee or an evening cocktail. We are happy to share both spaces with guests. If we happen to be there at the same time, we look forward to saying hello in person. The house is old and we are renovating bit by bit: so far we've done the interiors and the barn, we are working currently on the yard. Please don't be discouraged by the old aluminum siding when you arrive. The inside is updated and well-appointed. Guest access The entire ground floor garden apartment will be at your disposal, accessible through a private entrance in the rear of the house. The rear yard is shared with our family. Pull cars all the way back to the end of the driveway to make sure we can easily get into and out of our dedicated parking spot in the front of the house. You will enter through a ground level door off the backyard. You'll have to walk up the three steps of our concrete stoop. The apartment door is marked with two signs: "Garden Apartment" and "Welcome." Guests will not have access to the basement or barn. Other things to note Our two-family house is home to our family on the upper two floors, and to the garden apartment on the ground floor. For many years we lived in the garden apartment, but now we use it to house our visiting friends and family. And, of course, we happily host AirBnB guests when we are not using it ourselves. Our family spends many weekends in the Spring and Fall, as well as the whole summer, in Vermont. During those times of year AirBnB guests will have the place essentially to themselves The house was built in the early 1900’s and has been updated, but as with most older houses you will be able to hear evidence that we are living upstairs. (Walking around, mostly). Our teenaged son is a musician, though his instruments are on the third floor and we limit his use of amplified music during times when it might impact guests. Quiet hours for our son's amplified music are: Monday-Friday before 3:30 PM and after 9 PM, Saturday and Sunday before 10 AM and after 9 PM. We consider the the apartment to be part of our home, and not a well-positioned condo that we primarily look to pump guests through. It is an extension of ourselves, where we host family and friends (and where we used to live), and you will sense us there. We list our apartment as kid/family friendly, and we have left some games and toys for use by younger guests. Our son is 17 now, so we do not promise that our place is 100% baby-safe. We have tried to keep an eye on safety for all, but the days of having a toddler are long behind us so you will not find table corner covers, outlet covers, or empty low shelves. Cleaning products are stored out of reach of little hands. Please remember to include all guests in the number of people staying in the apartment including children.