Lake Winnisquam Vacation Rental cottage

We stayed here Sep 19 to Sep 26, 2009. Had a great time. Here are some highlights if you are interested in possible activities:

· On advice from Tom and Deb, we did two day hikes in the Hamlin park area. It’s easy to get to and close by, just ask them for directions. The hikes were moderate, and since we had our old dog with us it worked out great.

· We also went to Castle in the Clouds. Before we drove in the entrance, we went past it just a bit to a trailhead parking area. Then we did a short hike up towards the Castle. We ended up doubling back a bit on a “Brook” trail. This ended up at a waterfall area. What surprised us is that there were people there, obviously not hikers! Turns out the road that leads to the Castle has a stop at this same waterfall. We just took the hard way in I guess. We then hiked back down, got in the car, and paid the entrance fee to drive in. The drive is fun, following a narrow, windy road. The castle tour and history were well worth it. We had lunch on the patio with a perfect view. Wind was from the north, so the patio was protected. Food was excellent, and so was the beer. And don’t forget some quarters so you can feed the trout when you leave. They had two feed dispensers there.

· Taking Tom and Deb’s advice, we stocked up on groceries at Market Basket as you get off 93 at exit 20. There’s also a small convenience store just north of the cottage that had a very good selection of meats and deli items in the back. Also had fishing licenses here. A little farther up the road just after the town docks area is another supermarket.

· The fishing was great, as long as you don’t mind small stuff. We stuck to the shore areas and used worms. When we switched to surface plugs, the action slowed, but as expected the fish got bigger. We bent all our barbs back as we really didn’t care if we actually got them into the boat. If you like to explore, head to the north east corner. There’s a connecting stream there that you can follow a good ways in, as long as you have a canoe or kayak.

· When we were there, a beaver would swim over each night to our left to munch on fallen acorns. Not sure if you’d see him any other time of year though. Also, if you have a good flashlight, you can spot all kinds of fish and crawfish that come up to the shallows at night.