Bungalow-style house & large yard in a charming neighborhood close to Boston USA
House • Arlington MA United States
9 Guests
4 Bedrooms
2 Bathrooms
Pets welcome
Primary home
Exchange types accepted
Simultaneous
Non-Simultaneous
Non-Reciprocal & Globe
Statistics
Listed March 2023
Views 870
General overview
We have a bungalow-style house with 9+ rooms and a large yard in a lovely, tree-filled neighborhood, a short subway ride from the fabulous city of Boston.
Our home is also within easy reach of other exciting destinations such as the rocky coastline of Maine, the gorgeous White Mountains of New Hampshire, miles-long sand beaches on Cape Cod, and New York City.
The space
The house has an open living room with beautiful wood trim, a fireplace, and windows overlooking the neighborhood.
The dining room and kitchen are like a double, open room with a peninsula counter between them. The dining room table expands to seat 8. The kitchen has the usual amenities - induction stove, fridge, dishwasher, microwave, toaster oven.
The remaining rooms on the first floor are a small library (with a Queen sleeper sofa), a schoolroom, and a full bath.
Upstairs are three bedrooms, a home office, and another full bath. One bedroom has a King bed with a memory foam mattress. The second bedroom has a low bunk bed with a sleeping space underneath as well - our twin daughters sleep here - they are very tall so these sleep spaces are long enough for adults. The third bedroom - our son's room - has a single bed.
In the basement is a finished room that we use as our TV room, but it can also be used as a bedroom as it has a double sleeper sofa/futon.
For home entertainment, we have the following:
• a flat screen TV w/Apple TV box
• Sonos wireless speakers
• WiFi (fiber optic)
• a laptop
• an electronic keyboard
• lots of books and board games
We love our big back and side yards. My husband likes to garden, so we have lots of flowers in spring and summer. Just out the backdoor is a stone patio with table and chairs, a gas grill, and a low grassy area. The rest of the yard has great stuff for kids: swings, a low zipline, hammocks, & a platform tree house.
Some of our electricity is provided by solar panels on the roof. Heating and AC are provided by heat pumps. Except for the basement room, which is nice & cool in summer and can be heated via a space heater in winter. There is a high efficiency clothes washer and a dryer in the basement.
Guest access
Three floors (including basement). The house is on an elevated lot, so you have to come up a flight of steps to get to the front door.
In contrast, the back door of the house requires only two steps to access the back yard. When a family member with limited mobility comes to visit, we drive through the backyard down to the back door and bring them inside that way.
Notes
We have 4 bikes for adults or tall kids - could probably borrow more for neighbors.
We have camping equipment for 5-6 people.
We have a couple of sturdy inflatable boats, including an inflatable kayak.
Features
Washer
Dishwasher
Clothes dryer
Oven
Microwave
Coffee machine
Fridge
Iron
Hair dryer
Heating
Air conditioning
TV
WiFi
High Speed Internet
Bathtub
First aid kit
Wheelchair accessible
Smoke alarms
Fire extinguisher
Bed sheets
Towels
Workspace
Fireplace
Home cinema
Toys
Gym
Sauna
BBQ
Pool
Hot tub
Balcony
Garden / yard
Deck / patio / courtyard / terrace
Covered porch / verandah
Kosher home
Meat-free kitchen
Gated community
EV Home Charger
Bikes
Camping gear
Kayak
Tennis court
Standup paddleboard
Travel Styles
Family
Relaxing
City
Cycling
Good public transport
House rules
Suitable for infants under 2
Suitable for children ages 2-12
Pets welcome
No smoking
Allergens
Cat free
Smoke free
Dates of Availability
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Neighbourhood
NEIGHBORHOOD
We LOVE our neighborhood. Arlington is very close to Boston but is not as urban as Cambridge or other neighboring towns. We live on a shady, curving street with great neighbors, just a three minute walk from a beautiful wooded park with a fishing/skating pond, a playground, and walking paths. Within a 10 minute walk is another fantastic park with a spectacular view of the Boston skyline. You can also walk or bike to nearby grocery stores, many fun restaurants, a theater, & a gorgeous library. Just a little further away (short bike rides or drives) are the local swimming pond, an Audubon Sanctuary for walks and wildlife viewing, a large pond for kayaking & canoeing, the Mystic River (walking & boating), and the Minuteman Bikeway (a great bicycle path for exploring the area).
BOSTON...
From our house, you drive 5 minutes (or bike 15 minutes) to a subway stop - from there the ride is only 20 minutes to the middle of downtown Boston. Here are some quick facts about Boston....
• Home of the first public park & the first public Botanical Garden in the US
• Revolutionary war sites such as Bunker Hill, the Old North Church, Paul Revere's House, the USS Constitution
• Many museums e.g., Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, New England Aquarium, Boston Children's Museum
• Many music offerings, e.g., Boston Symphony, Boston Pops
• Several professional sports teams - Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, Celtics
• Endless dining options in neighborhoods such as Chinatown & the Italian North End
• http://www.cityofboston.gov/visitors/ OR http://www.nps.gov/bost/index.htm
Getting to my home
Boston Logan International Airport is about 9 miles away. In light traffic it's about a 20-25 minute drive to our house. Takes longer in heavier traffic - very much dependent on day of the week and time of day.
You can also take an express bus/subway combo directly from the airport terminals to the Alewife stop on the Red Line subway - total trip time about an hour. Visiting members of my family used to do this all the time. Alewife is less than 3 miles from our house, so we would pick them up there. But you could take a taxi from Alewife as well - takes less than 10 minutes.
You can also take a combo of express bus then subway then city bus bus to a stop that is about a 10 minute walk from the house.
Nearest airport
Boston Logan International Airport (airport code BOS).
Boston-area residents sometimes also use alternative airports that are further away. One is TF Green International Airport in Warwick Rhode Island (airport code PVD), which is about 49 miles south of our house. Another is Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester NH (airport code MHT), which is 49 miles north from our house.
Getting around
As mentioned in the description of the neighborhood, we are within walking or bicycling distance of many amenities. Boston is within easy reach by bus/subway.
Many other destinations are within reach by car, bus, or train. Keep reading for ideas!
OTHER DAY TRIPS...
One of the great things about living here is that so many other great places are within easy reach of day trips...
• Arlington itself was the site of the fiercest battle between British soldiers and colonial Minutemen on the first day of the Revolutionary War
• Walden Pond - where Henry David Thoreau lived and wrote (20 mins W)
• Lexington & Concord, MA - Minuteman National Park - various sites related to the first day of the Revolutionary War (1/2 hr W)
• Beautiful beaches & coastal towns of Rockport & Gloucester, MA (< 1 hr N)
• Plymouth, MA - where the pilgrims settled (1 hr SE)
WEEKEND (OR LONGER) TRIPS...
• White Mountains of New Hampshire (2.5 hrs N)
• Green Mountains of Vermont (2.5 hrs NW)
• Acadia National Park in Maine (4.5 hrs N)
• Montreal (4.5. hrs NW)
• Beaches & sand dunes of Cape Cod (1.5-2 hrs SE)
• Mansions of Newport Rhode Island (1.5 hrs S)
Map of Approximate Location
Feedback
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Trial Member
Deborah
We are a family of five. I am Deb and my husband is Tim - we have 3 kids - one son (age 20) & twin daughters (age 17). We all love travel, reading, music, animals, & being outdoors . Other interests include science (me & the girls), digital design/art (the girls), computer programming (my son).
Tim works as a consultant on energy/environmental issues. I studied engineering & then did environmental work for a while but currently stay home to manage the house & kids.
Tim and I have both traveled a lot for both work and fun. Tim lived in England for 2 years, and I have lived in Germany and Alaska. I speak German, a little French & Spanish, & tourist-level Japanese. We have done house trades (via other websites) to Texas, California, Washington DC, Arizona, Quebec City, Germany, and the UK.
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