Golden Apple Retreat

Picturesque guest house surrounded by intricate perennial gardens in a feral apple orchard The space Welcome to our beautiful guest house close to Burlington, Middlebury, the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain. The space Our guest house is separate and very private from the main house and features a living space with table for 4, couch and sitting area, a private bathroom (shower only, no tub) and a bedroom with a queen sized bed. A very comfortable, American Leather wood-framed, queen fold out sofa is in the main living space. The house is open and spacious with vaulted ceilings. There is not a full kitchen but a small fridge and freezer, microwave, Keurig coffee maker, electric hot water kettle for tea, and a two-burner induction cooktop. Tea, coffee and fixings are provided along with basic tableware for drinks and casual eating. There is Wifi but no TV. A beloved collection of novels, puzzles, board games and acoustic guitar are available for use while staying with us. The patio outside the cottage has a small Weber gas grill and fire pit available for use. The property Situated on a little over 17 acres, the guest house is surrounded by extensive perennial gardens, ponds, and a feral apple orchard. Guests are welcome to explore the property. This is a rural setting with beautiful sunsets overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. The property is a haven for wild birds and honey bees in season. We often see wild bunnies, chipmunks, a local red fox and deer. The location Charlotte, VT Scenic rural landscape. We are a one mile walk/bike/short drive to the town beach (through a covered bridge) with tennis courts and seasonal platforms for swimming. The Old Brick Store is a quintessential general store with homemade pastries and sandwiches perfect for breakfast or lunch. Philo Ridge Farm Market offers produce, pastries and sandwiches made from their own produce and meats. We are close to Burlington for restaurants and Church Street Marketplace. The town of Shelburne is minutes away by car with Shelburne Farms, Shelburne Museum, Village Wine and Coffee, Peg & Ter’s Restaurant and Bar, Folino’s Pizza, Fiddlehead Brewery, and Shelburne Vineyards. Other things to note A little history about the property.... exerpted from the Flynn Garden Tour This Garden of Eden sprung from the original Whalley Farm hayfield in the 1970s, after Betty and Jerry Corvan built their house from a $50 Better Homes & Gardens design and planted a pick-your-own apple orchard. Along with selling homegrown mums and her kitchen catering business, Golden Apple Orchard became well known. Another couple owned it for just three years, but from 1992 to 2017, Robin and Robert Coleburn lovingly transformed this nearly 18-acre property. A professional artist by training and prolific painter of flowers, Robin added an art studio in 1996 and sketched what became the formal gardens. Legendary David ‘Stoney” Mason of Starksboro built walls from the basement’s rubble and local Panton stone. David Pell, formerly of Hinesburg, designed and built those varied green lattice fences around the entire garden. The gardens kept expanding in collaboration with two Hinesburg landscape designers. Andrea Morgante led work on the formal gardens. Paul Wieczoreck added to Robin’s collection of rare and unusual conifers (visited each year by University of Vermont Professor Mark Starrett’s woody ornamentals class), built the Japanese garden around the pond and the rock garden and fountains. After seven years growing and selling apples, in 1999, Robin and Robert closed the orchard to concentrate on the expanded cultivated landscape. The orchard still yields apples, pears, peaches, plums, blackberries and raspberries in season. The Gardens at Golden Apple Orchard have been featured in numerous magazine and newspaper articles and in two books. After a decade in Burlington, Ramsey and Heather seized on the opportunity to move their growing family to Charlotte. As they put effort into recovering the orchard, they began by adding and supporting hives of pollinators. They followed with heritage chicken layers and their many-colored eggs, adding pasture-raised broilers and turkeys over the last few years. They have recently welcomes Mangalitsa pigs and a small flock of dual purpose Finnsheep to help regenerate the soil and add to future offerings of the farm. Registration Details MRT-10126712