New England
NEED TO KNOW
Insider tips for chic New England
Martha' s Vineyard
Rent a summer house through the Chamber of Commerce (
www.mvy.com) Cook fresh fish from Edgartown Seafood Eat ice cream at Mad Martha' s Buy products with the black-labrador silhouette from The Black Dog stores Lunch at the Right Fork Diner at Katama Airport to avoid the crowds Drink sundowners at the Seafood Shanty (
www.theseafoodshanty.com)
FOR SALE
$14.9m
Nantucket
This six-bedroom house and cottage has private access to Madaket Harbor
and two moorings Lee Real Estate (00 1 508 325 5800;
www.leerealestate.com)
media moguls and celebrities in summer houses tucked down anonymous sandy lanes. These properties are all about the discreet New England aesthetic: a cluster of shingle buildings buried in verdant gardens, all with the requisite panoramic views of the water. Days are played out on empty beaches and cycle rides, enjoying the novelty of pick-your- own vegetable plots and fishing for striped bass. On the island' s eastern coast, Edgartown is scattered with shops selling preppy clothes with a sea-faring bent. ` Up island' (the term refers to heading up stream) or west towards the villages of West Tisbury and Chilmark there are scenes of farmhouses, meadows and dry-stone walls. It' s understated and peacefulÐ the sand-battered 4x4s can' t exceed the island speed limit of 20mph. ` In comparison with city life, the Vineyard
has a slower pace and is centred around a quiet lifestyle that includes the beach, boat- ing, dining out and socialising with friends,' explains Caroline Taylor, who sells some of the largest beach houses on the Vineyard.
` There are gorgeous conservation properties for walking and relaxing. Many residents have been coming here for generations, and, as families expand, so do the relationships with summer friends.' The market for prime second homes slackened dramatically dur- ing the recession in late 2008 and through- out most of 2009. ` Then, we experienced a surge in sales before winter set in, and the prediction for 2010 is a recovering market,' explains Mrs Taylor. ` Although we are still relying on price reductions to cost properties realistically, sales prices are rising again in certain markets, as are the sales numbers. Our high-end and beach-home markets are strong and there are some very good buys for the investor who will reno- vate a property and keep it for rentals.'
62 Country Life International, Summer 2010
Nantucket
Eat at the wonderful American Seasons (
www.americanseasons.com) Lunch at the charming Sconset Cafe Drink at the Galley Beach Try milkshakesÐ frappes in New EnglandÐ at the Nantucket Pharmacy Breakfast at Black-Eyed Susan' s (
www.black-eyedsusans.com)
FOR SALE
$9.9m
Middletown, Rhode Island
A 12-bedroom manor with 27 acres two miles from the
Newport Harbor waterfront Lila Delman
(00 1 401 284 4820;
www.liladelman.com)
Nantucket
There is a good-humoured, if slightly barbed, rivalry between Vineyarders and Nantucket islanders. The former whaling capital of the world, which is 10 miles farther out to sea to the south-east, attracts an even more afflu- ent buyer and house prices are higher, but the reasons for this aren' t exactly clear. ` Nantucket has long had a history as a place to get away to. Its main attraction is its physical isola- tion from the rest of the world, which appeals to a certain type of person,' explains Kate Ranney Sayle of Denby Real Estate in Nan- tucket. ` Why that translates into higher real- estate prices, I' m not sure anybody knows.' A bonus is the tight conservation clauses placed on both architecture and the land- scape: ` The Nantucket Conservation Founda- tion set the trend for capturing open space and, because of this, almost two-thirds of the island remain untouched.' Carolyn Durand of Lee Real Estate describes the island as ` one of the rare places left on Earth where you can feel that time has been suspended' . The Nantucket Film Festival (June 17± 20;
www.nantucketfilmfestival.org) draws in its fair share of Hollywood names, but, otherwise,
Newport
Lunch at Pasta Beach (a BYOB) Drink sundowners at the Castle Hill Inn (
www.castlehillinn.com) Drive down the famous Ocean Drive Walk the 10-mile cliff walk Visit the mansions open to the public (
www.newportmansions.org) Sail a schooner (
www.sail-newport.com)
there' s the generational pull from families who have summered here for years. ` Socially, the island is laid back, and you feel that from the first step ashore,' adds Mrs Durand. ` Our summer visitors relax at the beach, read real papers rather than ones online, go to dinner in casual clothes at the nicest restaurants and escape the go-go-go of life on the mainland.' The market has had a tough 18 months, with
the fallout from Lehmans and other collapses in the financial markets taking a heavy toll: buyers and sellers have had to adjust to a new world of prices. During the boom year of 2006, the record average sale price, according to Denby Real Estate, was $2.438 million, but the number of transactions last year fell to their lowest since 1985. In 2009, houses that did sell went for 79% of their original asking price, ` and I think that' s a fair reflec- tion of the market adjustment,' adds Mrs Durand. ` In some price tiers, the market came down 30%, and in others, it was closer to 20%, but across the island, it' s fair to say they have adjusted about 25%.' But she sees this as a real opportunity: ` We' re hoping the adjusted costs will bring back buyers who felt that prices had got too far away from them.'
www.countrylife.co.uk/international
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