The Shenandoah Basset Dacha-5 BR Victorian retreat for families and writers

Description

Experience the magic of another era in this big, comfortable Victorian house (5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 stories) in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. Built in 1868 as a Lutheran parsonage, it's like a folk art museum inside, with rich colors and paintings on the walls –an unforgettable backdrop for making memories. There's a big dining room, 2 parlors, a fully-equipped eat-in kitchen (plus a summer kitchen in the breezeway), a screened-in back porch, a big, fenced garden, a wood-burning stove, and a hexagonal sun room that used to be the art studio. The late owners were professors of Russian language, history and politics, and the wife was also an artist. Her tableaux of basset hounds hang on the walls in many rooms (fun for kids to spot) among other paintings. It's a 20-minute walk from the front porch to the Shenandoah River (runners note: you'll pass the high school's lovely track on the way, nestled among the trees by the river); and the house is a two block-walk from Strasburg's quaint main street, home to restaurants, boutiques, bakeries, and antique stores–including the cavernous Strasburg Emporium. The town is a ten-minute drive from battlefields (Middletown) vineyards (Woodstock), museums, the Shenandoah National Park (entrance in Front Royal) and the Appalachian Trail; and it's twenty minutes from Winchester, an hour from Dulles, and about an hour and a half from DC . As for me–I'm a New York based writer and journalism professor. and this house belonged to my parents for a quarter century. Together they transformed it into a place of creativity, relaxation and feasting--endowing it with the spirit of Howards End and...The Royal Tenenbaums. I live in this house in the summer and at winter break, and whenever else I can. I am sharing the house with you in order to keep and preserve it, welcoming guests who appreciate its generative energies and embracing character, and are drawn by the nostalgic allure of a historic house in this beautiful valley.