Sunny Lakeside Artist's Cottage with Dock and Kayaks

This ia a new listing on VRBO but I've been hosting on that other well known rental platform for three years. I’m a super host there and the house has more than a hundred reviews, which you will be able to find and read if you want to do a search

The house is a renovated, art-filled cottage near Copake Lake. Enjoy this 2 BR (1 queen, 1 full, and 1 twin bed) 1 bath just 500 ft the from the lake and a 4 min walk from the community beach and two marinas. Close to hiking trails, apple picking, & a winery in the fall, and in winter, there’s skiing & a distillery nearby. A house for all seasons!

Please note the lake is across a quiet road from house, and the dock is in the lake from May 1 to mid-September.

The house is cozy (883 square feet) and is an original bungalow with updated style. It was recently renovated with new floors, fresh paint, and a mini split air duct system for air-conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. There’s an outdoor fire pit for those chilly nights, a sunporch gallery filled with paintings and plants for your morning coffee or cocktail hour. It’s an ideal place to be all year round. The house is decorated with paintings that were made by the owner (oh hey that’s me, Eileen), who happens to be a professional painter. This is my actual house, my only house, and I just love it so so much. I take so much pleasure in hosting and making sure my guests enjoy the house, the proximity to the lake, and the area in general.

Once you’ve settled in at the house you can take the easy 500ft walk to the lake for a stroll around. The water is clear and shallow near the dock in the summer and the views from the shore are beautiful year-round. (There is a fairly steep staircase down to the dock so please keep that in mind if you have mobility issues.) It is an absolutely wonderful place to be. There are two marinas that are a five minute walk in each direction. One has a window that sells food and drinks on summer weekends, and bands play there on summer Saturday nights. The other marina is currently just added a restaurant as well.

When you book the house, I’ll send you a list of my recommendations for things to do in the area right away so that you can start planning your trip. Then three days before you arrive I’ll send you a link to a guide to the house that will tell you more than you probably even want to know. I’m a planner and I like to know everything about a place before I stay there, so I designed the guide to answer every question that I would personally have before arriving at a rental property. Also, check-in and check-out times are pretty firm in the summer but flexible for the rest of the year, so let me know your travel plans and I'll do my best to accomodate you.

Here’s an quick overview of the vital stats of the house:
*Onsite Washer-Dryer
*44” HDTV with streaming and cable
*Wifi
*Air conditioning- a new mini split unit and a window unit in the bunk bedroom
*heat from both a mini duct system and a brand new propane furnace
*Echo dots all over!
*parking in my small driveway
*so many plants
*outdoor firepit
*private dock on Copake lake from mid May-late September.

The dock is generally in the lake from early May to mid September. I also have four kayaks that guests are free to use. I keep two kayaks down at my dock and two in the shed behind the house; there are also a couple of different sizes of life jackets in the shed.

Throughout the summer there will be a handful of weekdays when the lake gets a weed control treatment and swimming is prohibited for 24 hours. There are only a couple of those days but they aren’t announced in advance so I can’t let guests know beforehand, which is why I like to mention it here.

There’s plenty to do in the fall; the house is near Love Apple Farm and Fix Bros Fruit Farm for fruit picking and Sir William Farm for local meats. It’s also very close to High Falls, Bash Bish Falls, and other conservation areas for hiking and leaf peeping. The fire pit in the backyard will keep you cozy on the cooler nights!

For winter guests, the house is a 15 minute drive from Catamount and 35 minutes from Butternut. For those who are less athletically inclined (like me!) the house is 20 minutes from the Hudson -Chatham Winery and 13 minutes from Cooper’s Daughter’s Spirits at Olde York Farm.

A note about winter: there are heat registers in the floor, and I’ve been told that that may not be an ideal situation for crawling children, so I wanted to be sure to mention it here. Also the house has a driveway but no garage and that’s something to keep in mind for winter bookings. The house is on a small, private road, so while the main streets are generally well plowed, the 500 ft between my house and the main road can be rutted, icy, or snowy if there’s been a storm. Don’t worry, I have the street plowed if it’s bad. I’ll definitely be in touch if winter weather is in the forecast.

One more note: my driveway is small and there is no garage, so it’s best if you only bring one car. Also, dogs are very welcome but I’m allergic to cats so unless yours is hyperallergenic, I can’t host them.

Speaking of allergies-- I don't recommend this house if you have severe allergies. It's always clean and well kept, but it's on the edge of the woods and has an unfinished crawl space underneath. Those things are triggers for some people with bad asthma/allergies, so please be advised.

There is a private driveway and the house has a digital lock for easy access and you'll have the run of the house. My driveway is small so it’s best if you only bring one car.

The house is about 35 minutes from the Hudson Amtrak train station. It’s easiest to get around by car. Once you are here you are in the heart of Hudson Valley and the west Berkshires. You can park in the driveway or parking area in front of the house.

If you‘re coming up on the train any don’t have a car, I have a few local Uber drivers who I recommend. Their phone numbers are included in my house guide; I’ll send you a link in your confirmation email and it’s also printed out in the house.

The are located:
- 15 mins to Catamount
- 30 mins to Butternut
- 10 mins to Bash Bish Falls
- 15 mins to the Berkshires
- 20-25 mins to Hudson
- 25 mins to Great Barrington
-55 mins to Jacob’s Pillow
-40 minutes to Tanglewood

Please note that this is not a secluded cabin in the woods; it’s a friendly lakeside community and the houses are quite close together, as you can see from the drone photos in the listing. My neighbor across the street has a small engine repair business so you might see him working outside his house.

Please note: The houses here are close together --this is a friendly, quiet lakeside community, not a secluded cabin in the woods. The house is 500 feet from the lake and there is a community beach just a few minutes’ walk away. I watch sunsets there year-round. I also frequently walk to The Greens, the restaurant at the local country club; it’s about a 20 minute walk so a lot of guests prefer to drive.