Reading Farm, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Aug 22nd 2007 at 1:02PM

This just might be the most fabulous property for sale currently in Vermont. Reading Farms is a 200-acre estate that includes a late 18th century brick farmhouse with 20th century add-ons. There is a one-mile driveway winding through the woods into an old-world-style courtyard entrance. The main house includes many bedrooms, each with its own bath. The home has a new gourmet kitchen, a library that can be accessed through a secret door, wine cellar and an office. Other features include a trout pond, a gazebo, a heated in-ground pool with columns and an entertainment barn that has a party room with a vaulted ceiling and fieldstone fireplace. There is also a barn with stalls and storage, a gym, a movie theater that also has additional guest quarters and a two-bedroom caretaker's house. It is listed at $14.5 million making it one of the priciest properties in Vermont.

Gallery: Reading Farm

Tags: estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, reading farm, vermont

Filed under: Estates

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

LeGo Aug 22nd 2007 1:44PM

Gallary to engadget? coming soon?

Eric Aug 22nd 2007 2:43PM

Are there seriously that many people out there that can't properly resize a picture. I mean come on. I don't know if it's luxist or the source, but their not the only ones who do it and it irks me.

/soapbox rant for the day.

Spectacular Bid Aug 22nd 2007 3:39PM

I like the grounds and exterior architecture, the price is of course grossly north of expectations. If they are able to command it then they'll set the new record in the State by ~ 40% from the current holder.

As I understood, the most expensive home sold in the State of Vermont was also by LandVest of the "Grosse Pointe" estate in Ferrisburg VT (on Lake Champlain) for $10 million in 1996. That was a uber magnificent 430 acre estate of what could only best be described as baronial from the massive mansion to stables, farms, staff cottages, et al

Reading Farm is a bit of an oddity. It comes up as once having seemingly been run as a quasi spa/private inn but today is the base for pure breed dog sellers operating there and California. An old web page for the estate shows it was a 400 acre estate not too long ago. So you wonder what is becoming of the 'extra' land not in the 200 acre offering.

Christie's says it is "on the market for the first time in almost a century" which is a true rarity.

Maybe my expectations are too high but the manor house's interior doesn't match what I was expecting to see. It is almost a let down when you see the level of detail presented of the exterior facade. Rather inside it is more suggestive of being a very small and somewhat bland farmhouse.

Not everyone's taste - although I appreciate it - is what the greater feel of the home suggests from the outside: as if it was once a stable complex, then morphed into a residence.