South Middleboro Vacation Rental house

We found this cottage pretty much by accident as we'd originally been looking for a rental on Cape Cod in April. Rather amazed at the prices there, we'd broadened our search to include cottages on ponds and up popped this one, just south of Boston. We all wanted to be near the water as I have a small sailing dinghy and the kids (6 & 7) wanted to go paddling and fishing. From the photos and description this cottage looked absolutely perfect.

And it was!! What a stunning location! The proximity to 495 made the journey very easy (without then having to fight our way up Cape Cod!) The cottage itself is reached via a small private road that meanders through the woods around the pond and it has plenty of space outside to park cars, boats, etc.

And it really is RIGHT next to the pond - as in "step-off-the-lower-deck-down-into-the-water" close. Yet it's as safe as it gets for kids, the water is only a few inches deep at the shore with a sandy bottom that shelves very gently indeed. The kids jumped into the water the minute we arrived (literally!) and spent much of the rest of the week paddling, swimming and hunting down the plentiful freshwater mussels to use as fish bait. Fishing was GREAT fun - we simply stood or sat on the bottom deck, reeling in pan fish and trying to identify the different types. We were there in April and the little jetty hadn't been put in the water but this proved no problem for my sailing dinghy which I simply anchored within a few feet of the shore and waded out to.

Inside, the house is nicely furnished and nearly all the rooms enjoy views over the pond. The main room in particular is quite spectacular with a big fireplace and huge windows giving an almost uninterupted view over the water. An exterior deck off to the side proved to be a glorious spot to watch the sunset in the evening and we took many very nice photographs from that postion throughout the week, one of which has become the wallpaper on my PC at work! Upstairs, the main bedrooms again look out over the water with their own balcony. Very nice in the morning with a cup of coffee. Equipment levels are very good - particularly appreciated by my wife who is a keen cook.

Despite the peaceful location, amenities are plentiful and easy to get to in nearby Middleboro, including Stop & Shop, liquor stores, diners (Dave's proved to be the favourite!) and fishing tackle stores. It also proved to be a great base for exploring the area as we were keen to visit "Plimoth" Plantation, the Mayflower, Boston and Cape Cod while we were there. The whaling museum at New Bedford, and the surrounding National Park were also really interesting and well worth the short trip.

All in all we had a magical week. We were accompanied by my wife's parents, on vacation from the UK, and they were bowled over by how beautiful it was and how much there was to see and do in the area. In fact they are still talking about what a great time we had, six months on. And the kids LOVED it. We joked throughout the week that they were becoming feral but in all seriousness I had my 6 year old son tugging me out of bed at 6am to go fishing with him and my 7 year old daughter collecting bucketfuls of mussels and trying her hand at rowing. At the end of the week we actually had a few tears as we put them in the car which were only staunched by the promise that we would book it again. And we have done, for next year - can't wait....!!!