Transitions in the New Hampshire Woods

It's that time of year again everyone.  The Christmas trees are up around the Inn and favorite Christmas music, from old ballads to Grandma got run over are playing in rotation on the radio.  If you look closely like our son does, you occasionally even catch a glimpse of our house elf wandering through a room, hall way or hiding amoung the limbs of a tree.
  

Rosewood Country Inn Dining Room dressed for Christmas

Odo, Karl, Sniffles and I have all been here for two years this month, and it's a magical time.  The proximity to Mt Sunapee or Pat's Peak for a few quick turns after our daily chores pulls at us every time we get a free afternoon. 

Winter scene of our gazebo

Our family came here from Texas where it was a two to 6 hour flight to get up to anyplace for skiing, but now we are just 15 minutes drive from wonderful opportunities at Sunapee and 20 minutes from Pat's Peak, who couldn't like that?  Now if you don't like to ski, and instead prefer a walk in the woods with your favorite person to snuggle with, we have snowmobiling trails that run along side the stone walls that mark our property.  Sniffles and I walk them regularly, this time of year, I do wear a boatload of orange because deer season is on, so it's always best to be careful, but you can't keep us out of the woods, here or on numerous other area hikes, from Mt Kearsarge to Lake Solitude to just the paths and walks on The Fells historic property at Lake Sunapee.



We've been busy between the end of the fall colours and snow flying, improving the Inn as well.  The Inn had a few rooms with a sprinkler when we took over, but to ensure our guests safety it now has fire suppression sprinklers throughout.  That was a big change but one that we've tried hard to fold as unobtrusively as possible into the character of the old Victorian.  We want to ensure this wonderful building filled with the echo of laughter of Charlie Chaplin, Jack London, The Gish sisters, Mary Pickford and so many more from back in the Pleasant View Inn and Farm days (think 1890's -1980's)  stands for many, many more owners long after us!

We have even more plans in store for our lovely, reborn Inn.  We've been holding more and more events during our time here, from weddings, baby showers, family reunions, murder mysteries, comedy nights, story tellers, karaoke nights and more. 

Our very own Major Award!

Come join us at the Rosewood and see our evolution, from the beautiful bedrooms and suites with fantastic breakfasts which we had begin with, to our future of the Inn and a true center of different events for our guests and the community. 

The ride may be a little bit over hill, and over dale, or over the river and through the woods but we are far more than grandmothers house       

Winter is around the corner in the New Hampshire woods

Mother Nature has been rather coy so far this year in New Hampshire.  She got cool in August, cool enough we at the Rosewood Country Inn were wondering if we'd see snow in September!  But then, suddenly we were in what was always called "Indian Summer" back when I was growing up.  We had the air conditioners going and the change over from summer to fall dragged out a bit longer into October as a result.  We loved it, but figuring out the right time to pick our favorite apples at the area PYO apple orchards was a challenge!

But now, all of a sudden we are expecting low and below teens this weekend and we saw our first faint glimpse of snow flurries this afternoon.  So perhaps our efforts to tighten up the Inn this spring, summer and fall will start to bear fruit.  Dan, our handyman and I have been painting, caulking, adding insulation and replacing siding about the old Victorian all year it seems.  When you own an older place, especially one as large as our wonderful Inn is you get used to never ending discoveries.  So are quasi expected, some make you smile, a couple make you scratch your head and few make you just go "what in the world were they thinking?"!  But it's fun in its own way, always a challenge to figure out how to both stay true to the original structure, but at the same time improve it to make sure the grand old lady is here for another 166 years.

Hopefully all of our improvements that we've undertaken will help to make our Winter's tale with Rebecca Rule a little warmer in the dining room.  Our skiers still want to snuggle just enough in front of their fires - but more cause they want to, and keep our murder mysteries, comedy nights and all the other fun and somewhat crazy ideas my wife and our team come up with little more comfortable as the snow begins to fly up in our little piece of New England near Mt Sunapee! 

Family Time in the New Hampshire woods

Any time of year is the right time of year to have a family gathering/escape in the New Hampshire woods.  Here at the Rosewood Country Inn in Bradford, which is part of the Lake Sunapee region we know how precious your time away with family can be.  This area is known for the raw beauty that is New Hampshire, and New England in general. 

• We have winter snowmobiling trails which double as fantastic hiking opportunities in the summer
• Lakes for Spring, Summer and Fall fishing and boating.
• Mountains with awesome trails for skiing in the winter, but wonderful hiking options too in the summer
• Locally, Mt Sunapee even has been expanding their Adventure park for the summer season with zip lines, biking and aerial courses.
• PYO fruit orchards abound with a variety of different fresh fruit options as well as fruit festivals
• Craft fairs and Fall festivals are in high gear in the fall
• Historical properties are near enough to go to with both Canterbury and Enfield Shaker villages within driving distance as well as The Fells.

All of these things are available to entertain family members here in our quiet corner of New Hampshire.  It's why we love it here.  We can escape to Bradford for the quiet, yet find any number of activities within easy driving time of our lovely Victorian home.

This year we've had the pleasure of helping families welcome new loved ones into their families with intimate weddings, as well as family gathering at our Inn with the larger wedding at other local venues, as well as gatherings where family members traveled from around the world to enjoy time together in our special place. 

Come visit us, see our beautiful grounds, if you are lucky see a bear, deer, turkey or moose.  We've seen them all here on our property - you just have to keep your eyes open and your senses in tune!

 

New Hampshire Festivals and In-house Events in the Dartmouth/Sunapee region Fall and Winter 2017-18

Fall is a fantastic time for experiencing New Hampshire - with wonderful colors, apple picking and festivals.  The Rosewood Country Inn is blessed with our proximity to all of these wonders of nature and fun times.  We just experienced the Hopkinton Fair ourselves today, with rides, local foods and crafts galore.

• NH Highland Games and Festival September 15-17 at Loon Mountain
• Schnitzelfest 2017 in Hillsborough, NH - September 23rd - German food and entertainment for all!
• 28^th Annual Milford Pumpkin Festival. Date: Friday through Sunday, October 6-8, 2017. ...
• 70^th Annual Warner Fall Foliage Festival. Date: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 6-8, 2017.   Look for the Sunapee Lions club food wagon, we are members and will be helping out cooking locally grown buffalo burgers etc!
• 20^th Annual Attitash Oktoberfest. Date: Saturday, October 7 and Sunday, October 8, 2017.
• 9th Annual Fall Festival Pig Roast and BBQ at Mt Sunapee, October 7-8
• The Great New England Fall Craft Fair - October 21/22 - Milford, NH - over 200 Crafters and artisans  
• Too many craft fairs to even list on a single blog - they are everywhere - literally!

Plus, we at the Rosewood have our own events to keep our guests and friends entertained as well.

• Events/Crafts
• Burlap Wreath making with our local artist, September 30th 2-4:30 - limited seating so contact us for details
• Join the Rosewood in supporting our local town meeting house - an 1790's building with a DoBros Concert October 27th 6-8pm.  We are a proud partner!
• Traditional New England Story telling and a dinner buffet with Rebecca Rule - December 2nd.  Help us spread the Christmas cheer as Rebecca tells stories with her fantastic New England humor!  A catered buffet dinner will be included in your evenings entertainment and guest join us at a discount for their evenings entertainment. 
• Tour 
• Wine, Chocolate and Cheese - October 14

• Comedy

           We have 2 comedy shows scheduled for this fall and winter so far and a third planned but not              confirmed so far:

• October 21  - Laughs, desserts, and refreshments
• April 14 - taxes either make us laugh or cry - we'd rather laugh! 

• Weekends can be Murder at the Rosewood
• The Password is Murder - November 10-12 - a 1920's themed murder weekend where our guests join us as gangsters and flappers of a bygone era.  Somebody dies and everybody laughs - sometimes even the corpse gets giggle-mortis.
• Medieval Madness - January 26-28 - a Knights and Maidens tale of intrigue and murder. Who will die, the bride, groom, family members, court jester or the Bishop himself - you've got to join in the fun to find out!
• 1953 High School reunions can be tough, especially if you're a lover of Llama's!  Join us to find out what happened to cause many of your former classmates to be lost in an explosion and even the school mascot to go missing - fur will fly!

We love it here in our special spot in New England, and we try to make sure to either join existing events or come up with some fun activities of our own through out the year.

Rosewood Country Inn Events to Die for

The Rosewood Country Inn just put the wraps on our fourth dastardly weekend murder mystery.  These events are a blast and we really do love doing them!

We've worked with John Bailey with Murdermysteryweekends for all that we have done since we took over ownership of our lovely Victorian set in the mountains of New Hampshire back in 2015.  It only made sense for us to do weekend live action plays with the history of the property having hosted the likes of:  Charlie Chaplin,  Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jack London, The Gish sisters, Gloria Swanson and many lesser known actors from long ago having stayed here back in the early twentieth century.  Our guests and participants in the weekend long events have gotten to walk the halls, and hang out in our bar in the shadow of these famous actors and we'd like to think they approve of our continuing the acting traditions here, where these famous folks used to come to relax.

Of the four themes we've hosted:  1920's Riverboat gambling, 1940's Debutante party, 1950's High School reunion, and now the 1970's Disco Dance party.  All have been a absolutely amazing time, with guests coming dressed in costume:  Flappers with Boa's, Gentlemen and lady socialites, Pimps, Priests and Nuns we've seen them all.

And we get to decorate the Inn to help add to the weekend and illusion of your fun.

Disco Era:

         

1950's High School Reunion:

1920's Prohibition:  

We just plain like to have fun and hosting events like murder mystery weekends are one of the myriad of ways we have found to do it.

Come check us out one of these weekends, or better yet, give us a shout and give us your vision of what you'd like to do to help you and your friends have a funtastic weekend at the Rosewood!  

Phone 603-938-5253 or www.RosewoodCountryInn.com 

Wildlife abounds at the Rosewood Country Inn

You never know what you will encounter here at the Rosewood.

Everyday you see chipmunks here at the Inn.  What's funny is when you see chipmunks on a very windy day and they jump for there hole only to be blown off course mid-bound.  This happened to one little fellow just the other day.  He was surprised when a couple of humans walked up behind him and scared the guy which made him dive for his hole, only to get blown slightly off course and the poor little guy flew smack into the wall of the garage (next to his hole).  He stopped, looked dazed for a moment then wandered slowly into his hole.  Poor little guy luckily was uninjured but it made both the humans stop for a moment, shake our heads and then laugh out loud at his poor timing!

We've also had occasion this spring to catch the wonders of nature with Robin's nesting and hatching their young.  This happened in a shrub/tree just outside the window of the dining room in the Inn.  We could go up to a room above to see the beautiful blue of their eggs earlier, then when they hatched got to watch mom and dad feed their young chicks beak to beak.  It was a great experience for our boy, and he loved it.

Then, another day we opened the basement door one morning to find a cow moose just on the other side of the creek behind the Inn.  She looked up and then trotted off into the woods up the hill behind us.  We'd been here a year and a half already and I'd been looking all over, just to find one not 15 yards away in the backyard.

The following day, I was cooking breakfasts for our guests and our boy came briskly into the Inn kitchen and announced "Daddy, daddy I just saw a black bear!"  He was quite proud of himself for catching the fellow, essentially in the same spot as I'd seen the moose just the day before.

Then two days ago, our fellow whose been helping us replacing some of the siding on the side of our lovely old Victorian was up on the scaffolding.  He told me he heard a commotion behind him only to find a doe jumping our stone fence along the side of the road.  She stopped and waited, Dan didn't know why, then he saw it.  She was waiting for her fawn to follow her.  According to the description the fawn must have just been born, it was maybe 2 feet tall and couldn't possibly jump our stone fence that was as tall as it was, so he/she came around the fence and ran just below our man - not 10 feet away.  Neither the fawn nor it's mother saw Dan because he was up on the scaffold, but he had a birds eye view of the wonders of nature.

                                                                                                                                    For this city boy transplanted willingly to the wonders of New Hampshires "quiet corner" of the Dartmouth/Sunapee region 
 we love being here.  We get to see the beauty of nature everyday, while still being close enough to the city's to keep us fully connected.