About us:
Carmel Cottage Finnish Sauna
Jim and Linda (Maggie)
Cunningham moved to these 21 acres of Westfield woods in the foothills of Jay
Peak with our five children in 1994. We built a large house, a small barn, a sauna
and some sheds. As we home-schooled our children we also developed a modest
farmstead with a Jersey milking cow, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, geese, chickens
(layers and broilers), turkeys, guinea hens, border collie mutt and cat. We
chose this spot because of its privacy and proximity to two
"institutions" important to us: 1) A cloistered Benedictine Monastery
2.5 miles away where we attend liturgical services in Latin (beautiful
Gregorian Chant) and 2) our favorite beach at the southwest cove on Lake Willoughby
(45 minutes) which has enjoyed a family-oriented, clothing-optional tradition
for as long as anyone can remember. Thus this location helped us live close to
nature and its Author.
Today, all the children and
all the animals have "flown the coop." Our little barn became a
bunkhouse (sleeping 18) and Jim's office and storeroom. In 2005, realizing the
house was too big for just the two of us, we leased it to a Connecticut family
and renovated the barn/bunkhouse to be our own cottage home. We have now
decided to rent it out to vacationers. We have moved back into the big house,
intending to renovate it into a modest B and B.
Jim is blind (through
juvenile diabetes) and is currently on peritoneal dialysis awaiting his 2nd
kidney transplant. This time he is also hoping for a pancreas transplant as
well. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, having
studied the Fathers of the Church (Patristics), Russian, Latin and Greek. He
has been a house painter, headmaster, guidance counselor, high school teacher,
offset printer, editor, publisher and writer.
Linda is a graduate of Paier
Art School in Hamden, Connecticut. Besides home-birthing and rearing five
children, she is the illustrator of children's books and photo editor and
layout artist for Jim She works full-time at a nursing home in nearby Newport.
Both of us experienced a
powerful "reversion" to Catholicism. Our spirituality is most
important to us.
Most vacation places are
loud, busy and un-spiritual. Here, however, we respect quiet, simplicity, love
of nature and prayerfulness. Although all are welcome to enjoy our vacation
rental, it is most ideally suited for those who crave quiet and profound
respect for all of nature--including our own bodies and souls.
Carmel Cottage is set apart
from the big house by a stone's throw. We are near enough to loan a cup of
sugar or to help get the sauna going for you. If you are not experienced with
wood-stoves, we can also keep yours going periodically, if you wish. If you
would rather not trouble with wood, you can simply use the propane heat,
setting the thermostat to your own comfort level.
The 2nd storey bedroom is at
the south end of the cottage with a balcony/deck right off from it. You can lie
in bed and star-gaze through the large windows as you drift off to sleep,
listening to the babbling brook below. The balcony is big enough to accommodate
a couple of chaise-lounges. Bugs have rarely been a nuisance here. Whereas some
places are unpleasantly infested with mosquitoes, etc., we have been able to
enjoy the sunshine here with hardly any insects to annoy us.
Our road (Carmel Rd) is a
private, right-of-way leading west from Route 100 across from Degre Auction
House and behind Berry Creek Strawberry Farm. As you drive up from Route 100, you
pass through a post and beam gate, after which you see on the right two
buildings--Carmel Cottage (#260) with its gambrel roof and our big house
(#258). There are various vegetable and flower gardens all around. A year-round
brook runs through the back yard. It is only deep enough to wade in or to
splash in between sauna sweats (though there's nothing like rolling in the snow
naked in the Scandinavian/Russian tradition.)
Carmel Cottage is just a
quarter mile up Carmel Rd. The private road continues beyond us, crossing two
brooks and dead-ending in the woods about a mile beyond us. A quarter mile
beyond us is Lady Slipper Lodge, which we built while the children were growing
up, when we owned almost all the land to the end of the road. Beside the lodge
we built a 50' heated lap pool and volleyball court. Though we are in the
process of selling that facility, the new owner may well grant permission to
use it.
Swimming holes abound in this
area, each one having its own, unique character. Of the numerous swimming holes
in Vermont, in 1996 Jim published a photographic guide to the ones where folks
still skinny-dip like in the old days. The 100-page book is entitled Vermont Unveiled. Copies are available
from Jim for $20 postpaid.
Nearby Lake Memphremagog is
an international waterway leading north from Newport to Magog, Quebec. Half way
up on the west side is the magnificent, European-looking Benedictine monastery
of St. Benoit du Lac.
Many lakes in the Northeast
Kingdom are crystal clear and as pristine as when the Abenakis roamed this area
without competition from Europeans. Lake Willoughby is special in many ways,
not least because it is the deepest lake in New England, a glacier having cut
Mt. Hor (west) and Mt. Pisgah )east) in half, leaving this awesome, 5-mile long,
fiord-like lake behind. If you visit Willoughby, be sure to stop off at the
general store half way down on Route 5A and see the photos of the massive trout
and salmon that have been caught here.
But perhaps most awesome of
all is the beach at the southwest cove which faces the cliffs of Mt. Pisgah.
The purity of nature is so tangible here, from the calls of the loons, the
soaring peregrine falcons, the view 5 miles up to the north end of the lake,
the sheer cliffs where rock slides have been witnessed, and the utter cleanliness
of the beach as its naturist users keep it meticulously clean, that hundreds
(if not thousands) of visitors from all over the world have found themselves
unable to merely passively look at it from behind the fabric fences of their swimsuits
and, hearing the irresistible call of the Muses, they have accepted their own
natural beauty and goodness, removing their swimsuits and assuming their own
rightful place in the awesome scape. (Bet you can tell I love that place!)
And if you are the type who
appreciates the sight of all nature except
human nature, then there are two other public beaches to choose from, at the extreme
north and south ends of the lake.
We cordially invite you to vacation
at Carmel Cottage sometime this year and we will do our best to make your stay
comfortable.
N.B. While most vacation
rentals and B and B's strive to be really swanky, we prefer to be clean,
comfortable and simple--and affordable!
Contact:
Jim & Linda Cunningham
260 Carmel Rd
Westfield, VT 05874
Ph: (802) 744-6545
Email:
Email: mailto:jimccunningham@earthlink.net