Farmhouse Escape w/Hot Tub, EV Charger, Ski Bar - 10 mins to Sunday River

Boots off, cheeks stinging from the cold, and the wood stove is already crackling in the Ski Bar while someone racks the pool table. Out back, the hot tub steams under a sky full of stars, the mountains dark against it. This is the house your family or friend group talks about all year: 10–12 minutes to Sunday River, two bedrooms plus a bunk room, and a backyard with a fire pit, a pond, and views that make you forget to check your phone.

WHO THIS HOME IS FOR

This house is for people who travel in a pack.

Maybe you're the family that finally got everyone to agree on a weekend. The grandparents want a quiet room and a good cup of coffee, the parents want a hot tub and a drink after dinner, and the kids want a bunk room right in the middle of the action. This time you want everyone under one roof, around one table, loud and together.

Maybe you're the crew of friends who've been skiing together since college. You care about getting to the mountain early, but the part you look forward to most is what happens after the lifts close: the fire, the drinks, the stories, and laughing long after anyone meant to go to bed.

Or maybe your perfect winter day doesn't involve a lift ticket. You trailer the sleds up, park them right on the property, and you're on the trail before your coffee's cold, then back at dusk to a hot tub, a wood stove, and a cold drink at the bar.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE RENTAL

You've stayed in the other kind of place: gray vinyl plank flooring, the same white couch from a hundred listing photos, a "Live Laugh Ski" sign over a kitchen that came out of a box. Fine, clean, and forgotten the minute you check out.

This isn't that house. You'll know it the moment you pull in. A classic old New England farmhouse rises from a wide green lawn, square and solid, painted deep barn red with dark trim, a dormer window peeking from the hipped roof. A full-length screened porch runs across the front with firewood stacked by the door. Behind it all, the mountains rise up, green in summer, blazing in fall, white in winter.

This is a house with a past, built to last through a hundred Maine winters and hold a big family under one roof. Spend your first evening on the screened porch with a cold drink, watching the light fade across the lawn. Inside, the floors creak the good way old houses do, and there's always something your eye lands on that you didn't notice the day before. If you want a sleek condo identical to the last one, there are plenty at the base of the mountain. If you want somewhere with soul, you'll feel right at home here.

THE SKI BAR

Every great mountain house has a room where everyone ends up. Here, it's the Ski Bar.

It sits in a detached garage just across from the house, and that short walk is part of the magic. You crunch across the snow, pull open the door, and step into pure old-school ski lodge: rustic wood, a well-worn bar, and the kind of warm, rowdy après spirit you'd find at the Matterhorn down the road.

Someone gets the wood stove going first thing, and soon woodsmoke drifts over the bar. Behind it, a full cocktail set (shaker, jigger, strainer, muddler) and an ice cooler are ready for whoever plays bartender: hot toddies, spiked ciders, old fashioneds, or a round of cold beers. The pool table becomes the center of the night, with the clack of the break, the groan when someone scratches on the eight, and a rematch of the rematch. Because it's separate from the house, the music and trash talk never reach anyone who went to bed early. On summer evenings, throw the doors open to the cool mountain air and keep the games going.

THE LIVING ROOM AND WOOD STOVE

The house stays warm on its own, but the living room wood stove is for the kind of warmth you feel as much as you measure. It's late afternoon, snow starting to fall past the windows, and someone kneels at the stove with newspaper and kindling. The match catches, the glass glows orange, and a slow, deep heat rolls into the room. Someone pulls a blanket off the couch, someone finally opens their book, and the kids sprawl on the floor with a deck of cards, cheeks still pink from the cold. Nowhere to be, nothing to do but stay warm and be together.

THE KITCHEN

Mornings start slow. You're first up, padding into the kitchen in wool socks while the coffee brews, and one by one the crew appears in hoodies and messy hair. The remodeled kitchen is fully stocked and built for cooking for a crowd: stacks of pancakes and a skillet of bacon while someone reads the snow report out loud, then a big pot of chili at night with a glass of wine within reach of whoever's cooking. No reservations, no forty-minute waits in town. You're home.

THE HOT TUB

At some point someone says the magic words: "Hot tub?" You step onto the back porch, sharp cold for three seconds, then lift the cover and sink in to your shoulders as the blue lights glow. It sits under the covered porch roof with string lights overhead, so on a snowy night you watch the flakes drift down just past the roofline while you stay warm and dry. From the water you look out across the whole backyard: the brick path through the gardens, the little evergreen wrapped in lights, and the red barn at the far end with its lamp glowing. It's the moment people bring up on the drive home.

THE BACKYARD, THROUGH EVERY SEASON

In winter, the big fire pit becomes its own gathering place: an old ski-chair seat in the middle, four Adirondacks pulled in close, marshmallows appearing, and the mountains in silhouette against the last blue light.

Then there's the pond. A short trail leads through the trees to a bench set just right for the view. Wake before everyone else, walk down with your coffee while the grass is still wet, and watch the mist lift off the water as the mountains come into focus. In winter it's a frozen, silent pond that feels a thousand miles from anywhere. In fall, the hills light up with red maples and orange birch, the foliage people drive across New England to see, right out back.

THE OUTDOOR BAR AND DECK

When the weather warms, the party moves outside. Follow the brick path to the old red barn, where a stone-faced, covered outdoor bar sits under a sloped metal roof with a TV mounted above and string lights along the roofline. The big picnic table sits out front with room for the whole crew, and the grill is a few steps away. As the sun goes down, the barn lamp comes on, string lights glow along the bar, fence, and porch, and the path lights guide you between the hot tub, the bar, and the fire. On movie nights, throw something on the outdoor TV and watch under the stars with a blanket over your knees. Up on the deck, a quieter seating area is where you'll have your last glass of wine and your first coffee, watching the fog burn off the hills.

FOR THE SLEDDERS

There's a snowmobile trail right off the property and plenty of parking for sleds and trailers. Gear up in the driveway, fire up the engines, and you're on the trail in minutes. Ride back at dusk and head straight to the hot tub or the Ski Bar.

GETTING AROUND

You're 10–12 minutes from Sunday River, close enough to catch first chair without an alarm that starts with a four. Bethel is just down the road with cozy restaurants, local breweries, coffee shops, and a main street made for a slow wander. In warmer months: trailheads for every level, swimming holes, mountain biking, fishing, and back roads through some of the best foliage in the Northeast. Driving electric? There's an EV charger on-site.

SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS

2 private bedrooms + bunk room | 2 bathrooms | Sleeps up to 8

Bedroom 1 (Queen): The room you claim first. Legs heavy, skin still warm from the hot tub, you close the door and you're asleep before you've decided what time to set the alarm.

Bedroom 2 (Queen): A second private retreat with its own door, ideal for the other couple, the grandparents, or whoever earned it by driving the whole way up.

Bunk room (Full + Twin): Has a door but is open to the staircase, so it's right in the middle of everything. Perfect for kids or easygoing sleepers.

THE FEELING YOU LEAVE WITH

On your last morning you'll take one more coffee down to the bench by the pond, or play one more round of pool. On the drive home, before you've hit the highway, someone will ask: "When can we book it again?"

OTHER THINGS TO NOTE

Location: The house sits directly off Route 2, so you'll hear road noise, mostly during the day. By evening the traffic thins, and from the hot tub or fire pit what you mostly hear is the fire and your crew. The trade-off is being first to the mountain on a powder day.

The Ski Bar: In a detached garage a few steps from the house. Heated by its own wood stove in winter (give it a few minutes to warm up); no AC, so in summer it's best in the evening with the doors open.

Heating: The house has central heat and stays warm on its own. The living room wood stove is for ambiance. Please let fires burn down fully before bed or leaving, and keep stove doors closed while burning.

Bunk room: Semi-open near the staircase with a door. Groups needing three fully private rooms should plan accordingly.