Sit on the screened-in porch and divide your time between watching the ducks and geese swim by and counting the number of cars that go by in a day on the road 50 yards away.

Fish, swim, or boat on Twin Ponds and forget the outside world. Get your exercise and walk or bicycle on the many roads in the area.

Use the cottage as a base and take frequent day trips. Let the family enjoy the cottage while you toil in the city and join them on the weekends. Tele-commute to your job in the city from the cottage and be more productive. (Note below where we provide a phone and an internet connection.) Take time off and write the great American novel. Watch the Christmas tree crew shape and care for the trees. It is all up to you.

CONFIDENTIALITY

If you are a celebrity or just a private (but law abiding) person you can blend in here and avoid the media and the fans. When you arrive or shortly before you arrive we will ask you to provide us a list of persons to whom you want us to acknowledge your presence should we be contacted.

We provide a phone at the cottage but it is limited to local out-calling, use of your charge card for long distance, satellite TV access, and internet access to internet providers with local dial up access numbers. (Most of the major and local internet providers have local phone access.) If you desire privacy, you should be careful about who you give the number to. Some cell phone providers do not have good coverage everywhere in Central Vermont. For example, NexTel Phones have been problematic in some rural areas.

Recently renovated, the cottage has a new kitchen, a working fireplace, a pond view, (a short walk to the ponds) central heat, satellite TV, could sleep six, 1.5 baths, laundry area. No smoking, no pets, and deposit required.

The cottage is located on one of the North-South plateaus that run through Central Vermont. Located on a town maintained gravel road, it is about 6 miles from Exit 5 on Interstate-89.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

Lew’s parents purchased the property including most of the pond frontage in 1958. Lew’s Dad had dreamed of having a “trout pond” for years and had cut Christmas trees on the property for many years. There was an old barn on the property that Lew’s Dad hoped to be able to turn into a camp. However efforts to do so showed that many of the barn structural components were too rotten to be salvaged. Plan B involved Lew and his Dad taking a building down in their home town of Chester Vermont and using the various components to build the cottage. A gas station owner had purchased a piece of property with a circa 1870s house and wanted to have the house torn down to make additional parking for his station. By 1961 the cottage was built with a crawl space underneath and a screened-in porch. By then Lew’s parents had bought the adjoining property which had a farm house on it. Lew’s parents (it was his mother’s pet project) rented the cottage for many years to vacationers from all over the U.S. In 1980 the cottage was jacked up and a full basement was constructed. 1986 Lew’s parents decided to retire to the cottage and had an addition built which made the cottage 24 by 38 not counting the screened-in porch. Lew’s Mom died in 2004 and the property was renovated to include a new kitchen, chimney repairs and a finished room in the walk-out basement. It is now ready for you to enjoy.

TWIN PONDS

If you remember from above, Lew’s Dad wanted a trout pond. But Twin Ponds has a typical mix of yellow perch, hornpout (catfish) and chain pickerel. Trout were unable to breed in the pond because of the fierce competition from the existing species. Lew and his Dad became fond of fishing in the pond because it was unusual not to catch at least a few fish almost every time they went fishing. The fish in a nearby pond had been killed and trout introduced by the State of Vermont with mixed results. They decided not to go to the expense of killing the existing fish in favor of trout. Since then large mouth bass have been introduced with favorable results. If you like to fish, you will enjoy Twin Ponds.

Like many of the ponds in this part of Vermont Twin Ponds was formed by a glacier. Much but not all of its water comes from natural springs in its bottom. While the surface water is quite warm in the Summer, you don’t have to go too deep to find cool water. Except for a couple of places where we have had gravel brought in the bottom is black mud with occasional deposits of natural lime. If you have children coming with you or visiting you, you will want them to be supervised when they are near the water. There are spots where the mud and the water is pretty deep near shore. The depth of the water in the ponds varies from wet toes to about 45 feet. There is a floating dock accessible from the shore and a float anchored a short swim from the dock from which you may dive. There is a 12 foot aluminum row boat with oars. Although the boat has built in flotation, Vermont law (www.boat-ed.com/vthandbook/pfds.htm) requires personal flotation devices ( life vests) for each person on small boats. We provide three adult sized vests, two child vests (50 to 90 pounds, and one vest 30 to 50 pounds) to be worn when fishing or boating. If your party has different requirements, please let us know when you make your reservation. If you have smaller children, you should bring the appropriate personal flotation devices.

A WORD ABOUT FISHING LAWS IN VERMONT

Despite the fact that you will be fishing on private property, you will need a current Vermont fishing license to fish on Twin Ponds. Vermont law regards all bodies of water that have streams flowing into and out of them as subject to State Fish & Wildlife regulations regardless of size. Twin Ponds has a very small stream flowing into it and an even larger stream flowing out of it. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department has a number of different fishing licenses available. You can even order the license on line. Their website is http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/index.cfm.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS

The cottage is an hour or less from the following: Stowe, Killington, Pico and Sugarbush ski areas; The Burlington International Airport; Lake Champlain; The Lebanon, New Hampshire Regional Airport; Dartmouth College; Dartmouth- Hitchcock Medical Center; and the White River Junction Veteran’s Hospital. There are a number of historical sites near by. Go to http://www.vermontvacation.com for more information. It is approximately half an hour from the State Capital in Montpelier, the Central Vermont Medical Center, the Gifford Medical Center, Norwich University, Vermont Technical College and many other attractions.

RATES

For any lease less than 30 continuous days the Vermont rooms tax applies and is in addition to the rate. The current rooms tax rate is 9%.

TERMS

RESERVATION DEPOSIT

30% of the total amount. The entire reservation deposit will be returned if the reservation is cancelled 15 or more days before the rental was to begin. Otherwise the deposit will be retained in the event of cancellation. Balance due upon arrival.

DAMAGE DEPOSIT

$500.00. Returnable within 72 hours if property is undamaged. If damage is done, the balance will be returned as soon as a repair estimate can be obtained but not less than seven days after the end of the rental period. Linens (including towels), dishes and kitchenware are supplied.

HOW TO MAKE A RESERVATION OR GET ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Please send us an e-mail, write us (L.H. Stowell & Son; 1591 Twin Ponds Road; Brookfield, Vermont 05036- 9736), or call us (800-557-0400). Tell us about you and the person(s) who will be staying at the cottage for part or all of your stay at Twin Ponds Cottage. Please provide full names and addresses of the persons who will be occupying the cottage. Tell us what your expectations of your vacation will be. If we think that Twin Ponds Cottage is not a good match for your expectations, we will advise you of that. We are not trying to exclude anyone, we just want happy vacationers.

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We hope that you have enjoyed visiting our web site and that Twin Ponds cottage may be in your vacation future.