Cape Houses and Lake Beaches

One of our favorite areas on the Cape is a lovely neighborhood where we rented a vacation house for four years. We stayed in three different houses there (one of them, twice). When we were house-hunting for our own place in 2013, one of our finalist houses was in this neighborhood, which could have been a dream come true. The house was really nice and it would have been awesome to have a place of our own in the neighborhood we'd come to love, but the house was too big and not configured quite right and was at the very top of our price range, and that didn't even include the furniture we'd have to buy for it. It wasn't meant to be, and we ended up getting something else a few miles away that was just right. We still go back to this neighborhood though, because it has a great lake beach that is perfect for kids and anyone, really.

Our favorite house in all of our years of renting was a lovely, unique little place that the owner called "Long Pond Cottage." We stayed there in 2010 and 2012. From the outside it looked like a normal ranch house, but the inside had a unique layout and some beautiful architectural features, as well as a spacious formal dining room and a large master bedroom with private bathroom that Peter and I especially appreciated. The owner had great taste and style in his furniture and decorating choices too. I was inspired by this house!

The living room had a classy, colonial, summery feel to it.

I coveted this Lilly Pulitzer loveseat. I still covet it!

 



The family room was a cozy place to hang out.





This super-comfy armchair and ottoman were in a corner of the master bedroom. I loved reading here and taking naps here. It had a good view of the fenced-in backyard which was great for when the kids were out there playing. I miss this little corner paradise!

The outside door into the living room was one of these old-fashioned ones where the halves can be separated.

 

 We liked eating meals out on the backyard patio.

The outdoor shower, and also the window of the aforementioned bedroom corner that I loved.



This hydrangea bush was gorgeous when it was in bloom!

{I now interrupt this blog post with a hydrangea reverie.}

Okay, back to business. I got a little distracted. My photos of those hydrangeas came out surprisingly well.
I love hydrangeas!

It's great having a place of our own now, but I still miss staying at Long Pond Cottage sometimes! 

I took some pictures when I was taking a walk in the neighborhood.
More hydrangeas...
hydrangeas for days! 

I love this front porch. This house is right on the lake. Peter's dream is to have a lake house, so this house would have been perfect for him. Unfortunately for us, it's a million-dollar house! I'm stating the obvious here, but real estate on Cape Cod, especially waterfront properties, is very expensive. 

Lovely houses...

(I must have really liked this one--I took pictures of it from two different angles!)

Someone strung a collection of buoys along their fence, which was picturesque.

"Cape Cod Times"

I took the above pictures two years ago in 2013, which is the last year we stayed in the neighborhood. But like I said before, we still go back to this neighborhood every summer for the lake beach. We love the ocean beaches of course, but lake beaches are more calm and sometimes much less crowded. We spent a nice afternoon here on our last full day at the Cape before heading home to Iowa.

John and Sam are in the center of the picture below.





They had so much fun pulling each other around on the boogie board.
(Until the strap broke!)





   Colorful kayaks. 

I NEED to try paddle-boarding this summer. It looks like such a fun way to get a good workout.

 I like ducks, and the ducks at this lake are particularly cute, curious, and friendly.

Can you spot John and Sam in the picture below?

We'll see you again in a little over three months, Long Pond!