The Lakehouse is a one of a kind classic cedar ranch located 20 minutes from downtown Burlington and 90 minutes from Montreal. It features 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a hot tub, sauna and a private beach on Lake Champlain. Enjoy total privacy in deep ancient forest, miles from civilization yet only minutes from downtown (the big city of Burlington!).
The house includes 3,200 SF of natural luxury including a great room that is open to both a modern kitchen as well as to the 400 SF screen porch overlooking the lake. It enjoys douglas fir post and beam architecture with wide-board pine floors throughout and 25 foot vaulted wood-paneled ceilings. The main entry is the upper floor as the house is built into a slope, as are four of the six bedrooms. This is useful for families with members who have trouble navigating stairs as the kitchen, dining room, outdoor decks, great room and four of six bedrooms are on the same level as the entry. The large screen porch can be completely opened up to our great room by a "nana-wall" (5 panel sliding door system that completely slides away) during summer months or closed at night or during cold weather times. It is flanked on either side by 400 SF sun-decks overlooking the water and accessed from each of the upstair's two "dueling" primary bedrooms.
About Our Bedrooms
The house has a total of six bedrooms, four are upstairs on the main floor and two are located downstairs. On either wing of the upper floor are what we call our "dueling" primary bedrooms because each are large enough and appointed well enough to be considered the best room in the house. Each has ensuite access to a bathroom (one is private, the other is shared) and grand walk-in California closets. They also both have French doors that open out onto one of our sundecks. The northern primary bedroom has a Cal-king sized solid maple sleigh bed and the southern primary bed is queen sized and has a smart TV. Adjacent to each of these bedrooms, down the hall towards the great room, are two guest bedrooms, one features a queen platform bed with an office desk while the other has a full sized bed with an oversized closet. All bedrooms have terrific views of the lake.
Down below, at the foot of the stairs is "Champ's Lair", a kids bedroom that has two regular sized twin bunk beds and a Lightning McQueen toddler bed. We have loads of kids books and some toys in the closet as well as a queen sized blow up mattress. But maybe the best feature of Champ's Lair is the full sized stand up video arcade game that features Joust, Defender, and more than a dozen 80's era games. The last room is certainly not the least and could be considered another "primary" as it is our largest bedroom of all. It is located on the other side of the house from the stairs and has a queen bed in addition to a pull-out sofa that is also queen-sized. It has double French doors to the under-deck, two closets, and a smart TV. This room is particularly useful for families with small children or people who sleep with their pets due to how quiet and well insulated that room can be as well as having direct access to the outside for late night or early morning walks.
Outdoor Spaces
The Lakehouse has three outdoor decks upstairs (totalling 1,200 SF), and an underdeck patio that runs the entire length of the house (over 1,500 SF). Combined, and not even including our Pavilion or our dock, the Lakehouse has 2,700 SF of outdoor deck and patio space. The great room, of course, opens seamlessly to the 400 SF screen porch which seats as many as 14 people at once. Its perfect for being outside without being actually outside and for hot days when you want shade. It's also ideal for enjoying the outdoors while staying connected to people cooking in the kitchen or milling about the great room. On either side of the screen porch are sundecks that are each of similar size; the southern deck features an outdoor dining table that can comfotably seat up to 12. There is a gas, charcoal and smoker bbq there, as well. On the north sundeck we have two chaise loungers and plentiful seating for another 8 people. The underdeck features our year round hot tub that seats 8 and can heat up to 104 degrees (we keep it at 98 degrees when not in use). We also have an outdoor fire pit next to that, adirondack "coffee" chairs, a hammock, and chaise loungers, as well. We provide a Sonos speaker system under the deck, as well as one in the great room, that you can use while you're enjoying the tub or having morning coffee.
The lakefront offers great swimming from two beaches and one amazing dock (new in 2025). Pebble Beach is adjacent to the dock and has a gradual entry with a pebble and small stone bottom with little to no vegetation. The bay itself averages 20 feet of depth and is very clear and the water heats up to 80 degrees in July and August, yet remains very comfortable even in late May and September. The new dock extends 83' from the shore and will connect to our Pavilion. The other beach is called "Hidden Beach" because most people wouldn't notice it if we didn't promote it, yet it is a favorite of ours. Along a small path through a gap by a tree and down a few steps a small pebble beach is tucked into the hill with ideal soft pebble floor access to the water an insulation from wind and waves. It's perfect for little ones or if you want to enjoy solitude and privacy to sun or read a book or just to get away from the group for a bit.
Gathering Spaces
The Lakehouse's great room is completely open between the large kitchen with it's massive granite island to our farmhouse dining table that will accomodate your entire group as well as to our cast iron wood stove sitting space and, of course, the expansive screen porch. The kitchen is modern with a dishwasher, disposal, water and ice maker in the fridge and an Italian Bertazzoni oven and range. We have a large kitchen pantry that we keep empty for your use and a wood stove loaded with wood for the fire, regardless of the season. The house uses a deep water well that has hard water, therefore we use a double filtered softener system to soften the water. We also provide a 5 gallon drinking water system with backups for your enjoyment. There are two brand new 65 gallon hot water tanks one on each side of the house that ensure you won't get a cold shower unless that's what you want.
Downstairs is our living room with two Italian Natuzzi sectional sofas that comfortably will seat your entire group. The living room enjoys large door-windows that look out onto the water. There is an oversized smart TV loaded with xfinity cable and movie channels, an Xbox game console and a closet full of board games. We also have a wet bar in the living room that features an espresso machine (with quality beans) as well as many high end cocktail accessories such as decanters, martini glasses, etc.
The Location and Braeloch
The entire house sits on 3 acres in a secluded area remote from all but two nearby seasonal homes. The meadow located behind the house hosts a community tennis court and a baskeball court that are available for you to use. The tennis court is striped for pickleball, as well.
The house is located within a 300 acre affluent country community known as "Braeloch" which includes 2.5 miles of lake shoreline. Braeloch is a mile from a paved road through old growth forest and is a vestige of old world Vermont. It is, however 20 minutes away from downtown Burlington - a REALLY fun city - and 90 minutes drive from Montreal - A GREAT city - and very accessible to NY upstate via the Ferry on South Hero.
Parking via a "circle" can accomodate four cars without "blocking" the circle and more if need be.
We provide numerous water toys including a large canoe, two kayaks and at least two paddleboards with an assortment of life vests and paddles, of course.
All beds are made and ready for you to sleep upon arrival. We also can help you order groceries and have them stocked in the fridge upon arrival.
Do not move furniture, however if you do, return it as it was when you arrived.
Do not remove the hot tub cover, use the cover lifter, and do not drink or eat in the hot tub.
Drive slow on Braeloch Road! Especially by the white farm house by the mailboxes, kids play there and it is a blind curve.