Distinctive HOMES
of the East Bay & South Coast
DISTINCTIVE HOMES
of the East Bay & South Coast
A supplement to the East Bay Media Group newspapers
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A Barrington family enjoys life in an exclusive coastal setting at Rumstick Point.
Built after meticulous planning and engineering, this home is a technological marvel that nests beautifully in its Farm Coast environment.
Only three families have owned this 84-acre farm in the past three centuries.
It’s a great time of year to visit your local farmstand — or find all the farms in one place.
Homes in this secluded enclave rarely change hands – this one is on the market for the first time since it was built.
Ten years ago, they left the city, moved to the country and launched a small, family farm — It’s a Sweet (& Salty) love story.
Interiors
More than a house,
it’s a lifestyle
Nestled at Rumstick Point, a Barrington family enjoys life in an exclusive setting, surrounded by bay, beach, river, crabs, herons, nature and coastal living at its best
BY SCOTT PICKERING
Barrington is home to some of the most diverse housing stock in this region. Capes from the 1950s sit beside boxy Colonials from the 1970s, which sit beside McMansions from the 1990s, which sit beside ornate captain’s houses from the 1800s, which sit beside sprawling luxury estates from the past decade.
There are more than 6,000 households in the town, but there is only one like the home at 6 Stone Tower Lane.
Unassuming from the outside, created within the shell of a late 19th-century stone barn, the home of Ann and Vinu Malik and their three children is simply breathtaking — with the emphasis on “simply.”
Nothing about the home is showy or loud, yet it boasts an unmistakable “wow” factor. It blends cavernous spaces with comfortable nooks. It mixes modern fixtures with grainy woods from the 1800s. It nests wide windows of the 21st century within stone walls of the 19th century. It is simply … “wow.”
“I don’t think we expected to this to be such a huge project,” said Ann Malik. “We wanted to renovate, but we didn’t realize how big it would become.”
The Maliks purchased the home, which is located near the tip of Rumstick Point, facing east, across from the Audubon Environmental Education Center on the line between Bristol and Warren, in October of 2012. Before moving in, they immediately set about renovating the space, which had been converted from a horse and dairy barn into a single-family residence in the 1950s.
The Maliks were the visionaries for the design of the house, but the final result came from a great collaboration between
owner and builder. Ann said the popular website Houzz was new on the scene back in 2012 and 2013, and they would regularly pluck images they liked from Houzz, share them with builder Brian Hughes, and together they would turn the web images into reality.
Of course it wasn’t that easy. A kitchen designer stepped in to lay out the kitchen and the rest of the floor plan. An architect created structural drawings for the roof, the support beams, etc. But the bulk of the actual “design” – the layout, the look, the feel, the vibe — was created by the owners and their builder.
“Brian came in, and he said, ‘I’m going to make this the coolest place in Barrington,’ ” Ann said. “This all started when we collaborated with Brian out of love and excitement for what this project could be.”
Practically, it all started with some sledge-
Converted from an historic barn into a residence in the 1950s, this Rumstick Point home went through a complete gutting and renovation 11 years ago. A collaboration between owners and builders created a modern space that still pays homage to its origins.
hammers.
“We gutted the whole thing,” Vinu said. Standing on the first floor of the house, he added: “When we bought this, these ceilings were only 7 feet, 6 inches high. Now they’re 9 and a half feet high.” While gutting and renovating, crews dug down three feet, poured a new cement foundation for the home and laid out two and a half miles of PEX tubing for the main heating system. That was overlaid with a rich wood floor that runs front to back, which is where the eye naturally travels — toward wide, open views of the water through enormous windows and large sliding doors.
The house today is supported by steel beams, but many of the original wood posts and beams were saved, cut to different sizes and re-purposed. Many form the stairway to the second-floor master suite. One creates the new mantle over the fireplace. Others appear as decorative elements throughout. They are not the only homage to the home’s origins. Its entryway is a rich testament to what once was. A decadent chandelier dangles from the towering roof of the former barn, hanging from the same metal track that used to swing bales of hay from one end of the barn to the other a century
ago.
“At noon, during the winter, the sun hits that chandelier, and there are rainbows all over the floor and the walls,” Ann said.
The main living area on the first floor is wide, vast and open. “It’s not easy to make a big space feel comfortable, so we added a lot of seating,” Vinu said. In the course of a day, he is likely to sit, at various times, at the huge kitchen island, at the table facing the water, on the couches beneath the mantle, and in the family room nook in a corner of the space. At all times, the family can be separated, but together.
“As our family grew, and we had three kids, we spent a lot of time together. Our family activity is everything, so making the house feel fun and comfortable was important to us, and it’s really worked great,” Vinu said.
There’s a ping-pong table near the rear sliders, a foosball table near the home’s entrance, a 3D printer in a separate playroom, and an outdoor shower with water flowing from a vertical surfboard. The furniture throughout the first floor is deliberately chosen to be big and pronounced, to create within the large spaces, warm, comfortable nooks.
“There are tons of seating areas, and we use them all,” Vinu said.
Surrounding all those common areas are the wide windows. “When we were starting our renovation, my parents had just been doing a home project, and they used a lot of windows and glass, so that kind of inspired us,” Ann said. “For instance, we wanted to get the biggest sliders you can possibly get with hurricane-rated glass — basically as big as we could get and still have security.”
The sliders open to deck and patio and a vast lawn that slides down toward a marshy area that is bisected by a path to the water. Halfway down the path are the first views of “Secret Beach,” a sandy area not easily accessible unless you live at Rumstick Point or take a boat there. Looking over at the beach, Ann said, “At low tide, you can walk from Secret Beach, around the entire Point, all the way across to the other side, which is remarkable. And then there’s Snake River, which goes in between and snakes around the whole Point, and you’re just surrounded by blue herons and white cranes and mussels and turtles. The location is just, special.”
At the end of the Maliks’ path is the last remaining deep-water dock on the east side
The heart of the first floor is a wide, open area of kitchen, dining and living spaces, with tall windows, sliding doors, big furniture, comfortable spaces, and a little dose of fun. Steel beams frame the space, all of which looks out over the water.
of Rumstick Point. At some point in time, many in that area had docks, but all were lost to neglect or storms. The Maliks’ dock is certainly not neglected. At the base, it is wide enough to create an outdoor living space, home to plush seats that they use as a bonus family room.
“You can’t get a dock this wide anymore. The only way you can do this is if you already have it,” Ann said.
The Maliks rebuilt the dock after moving in, and they said it’s a draw for friends from the area. “We’re out here on this dock almost every night at this time of year, and people pull up on their boats, say hi and join us for a drink,” Vinu said.
Another unique feature of the property is an original stone wall from the farm. Farm walls are commonplace in the South Coast, in places like Tiverton, Little Compton and Westport, but they are exceedingly rare in Barrington.
Back inside, the entire second floor of the home is a loft-style, spectacular primary suite beneath the high, vaulted ceiling of the 125-year-old barn. During the day, the space is lit by skylights. Facing the water are sliders to a small balcony and soaring windows that face east toward the marsh, the water, the Secret Beach, the Snake River and the morning sun.
The Maliks have put the house on the market, and though they are not eager to leave, they are willing to — reluctantly — if someone meets their price (it is listed for $4.6 million with Kim Ide of Mott & Chace Sotheby’s). They say they have loved their decade of life on Stone Tower Lane.
“This is not just a home, it’s a lifestyle,” Ann said. “It’s not like you’re buying just a house and you’re focused on your bedroom and your bathroom … This is very different. Here, you’re buying an experience. You’re buying the fact that you can run out back and jump into the water. You’re buying the fact that you can go for a walk and see these amazing crabs, the ones with one huge claw and one small claw; that you can walk and see turtles and cranes and herons and all that comes with it … This is an experience, and I think that’s the hard part of letting go. But it’s also the gift of giving someone else the chance to experience all these wonderful things about nature that you typically can’t get in your back yard.”
Standing in the lawn, looking back at the home with the modest facade and triangular roof line, she said: “This home is not about ego. It’s about loving this experience.”
The home has spaces within spaces — a cozy seating area to the left, a large nesting area before the fireplace, dining area and kitchen space are all seen here. Off this large space are three bedrooms, mudroom, playroom/ office and more.
The house faces east, with deck, balcony, patio and windows all looking out to the water. Note the stone tower (at right), which has stood since the entire area was known as Stone Tower Farm back in the 1800s.
The primary bedroom suite has sweeping views, sitting areas, office areas and a towering ceiling.
The science of zero
Built after meticulous planning and engineering, this Tiverton home is a technological marvel, a ‘zero-energy’ residence that nests beautifully in its Farm Coast environment
BY SCOTT PICKERING
A century ago, even two centuries ago, the “World’s Fair” would lure enormous crowds to bustling cities so they could marvel at the ingenuity of a rapidly industrializing world.
Today, nestled in the meadows and salt marshes of the Seapowet region in south Tiverton, lies a structure that is its own World’s Fair. The home at 451 Seapowet Ave. appears modest and unassuming, like the rolling farms and conservations lands that surround it. That is by design — as is every other detail of every square inch in this meticulously engineered, zero-energy home that is truly, uniquely, one of a kind.
Building in a pristine area of the Farm Coast, the owners did not want to construct a sprawling mansion that clashed with its surroundings. They wanted to look like they belonged among the farmhouses and seaside cottages of the region. So they
designed with purpose, creating the most modest profile possible from the view of the public street, while laying out wings and resort-like space in areas less visible. The result is a massive structure, designed to last for 1,000 years, looking perfectly content in the quiet of the Seapowet region.
“This house is engineered to the most meticulous, scientific levels,” said owner Clint Clemens during a recent tour of the property, which is currently on the market for $7,995,000, listed with Jessica Chase of Gustave White Sotheby’s.
Clemens and his wife Kathy have a history of living in unique places. They renovated and lived within a lighthouse in Tiverton. They bought a dilapidated firehouse in Newport, took it down and rebuilt it brick by brick, incorporating green technologies and modern engineering throughout, ultimately winning historic preservation and design awards for their ingenuity and accomplishment.
When they first saw the property where they now live, it contained an old farmhouse on a large, grassy lot that stretches to the Sakonnet River. They had a vision for something very new, and very different, and they found a perfect partner for that vision.
Michael Cabral is co-founder of Newport Renewables, a company devoted to green technologies. “We met Mike out here, and I knew within 20 minutes that this was the guy for this project,” said Clint Clemens.
“He is very focused on the engineering and the science behind it, which is why I believe this house is so successful.”
A zero-energy home
The science behind 451 Seapowet is very dense, but the concepts are very simple. First, the house is built to be airtight – perhaps seven times more tight than the average “stick-built” home (typical wood-frame construction). This requires the construction of foundation, walls and roof with very
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLINT CLEMENS
As seen from the street, the house at 451 Seapowet is modest and unassuming. Seen from within, it tells a different story, of science, engineering and technology.
non-traditional materials. When done right, it means the house is more consistently regulated than the average home, putting far less strain on the heating and cooling systems.
Next, they regulate the air with a very nimble set of air handlers which act very differently than a typical home’s heating and cooling systems.
Finally, they power everything with solar arrays that create the energy to support every system within. The home consumes no fossil fuels and creates as much energy as it consumes — often more.
Fueled by the sun
The house has three separate solar arrays, all placed on top of flat roofs and hidden from view unless seen from above. Those solar panels feed energy into the command center of the home, which is a small hut on the south side of the property,
known as the “battery shed.”
It contains eight lithium-iron batteries and a computer brain that is constantly measuring the power being produced by the panels and the power being consumed by the house and its systems. “The entire system is a micro-grid … and this brain is constantly trying to figure out how to be as efficient as possible,” Cabral said.
The entire system is backed up by two generators that can be fueled by 1,000 gallons of propane stored in a tank on the property. “As soon as this home loses grid connection, within three milliseconds, instantaneously, the batteries dump, keep the house running, and the brain starts figuring out, ‘Okay, what just happened?”
The entire micro-grid can be tracked in real time on an app on the owners’ phones, so they can always see what the house is producing, what it is consuming, and what is happening out there in the battery shed.
A ‘system-based’ approach
The solar panels create the energy, but that is just one part of the science. The other principles are equally important.
“This is a system based approach,” Cabral said. “You can’t do one without all the others. You need all the components present, together. And you have to engineer this; you really can’t guess at this kind of stuff,” Cabral said.
He and his team design a home like 451 Seapowet in computer models, again and again and again, until they find the right combination of construction, orientation and systems that will work together to create the most efficient house possible. In order to work, the actual construction materials are critical.
“A good way to think of this home is like a Yeti cooler,” Cabral said. “The reason why a Yeti cooler works so well, is because it’s air-
Continued on page 14
VISUAL TEXT PHOTO CREDIT TO MEGHAN SEPE
The main living area at 451 Seapowet features wood planks drawn from a centuries-old mill, and marine-grade steel running along the stairs and supporting the second level, a space the owners call “the getaway room.”
tight and well-insulated. We apply that same concept to these homes. We want to try to build them as airtight as possible and as well-insulated as possible to form the enclosure.”
An Erector set
This starts with the walls, which are structurally insulated panels resembling big Oreo cookies. They have two hard outer shells with soft interiors. “The walls are EPS foam, with two skins on either side,” Cabral said.
The walls are basically large-scale Erector sets, created with precision in a factory and then meticulously pieced together on site. They are 8 1/4 inches think, and the roof is 12 1/4 inches thick.
“You end up with a really rigid structure that is super, super quiet,” said Clemens. “For instance, when we get the wildest of storms, we don’t even know they happen. We sleep right through them. We don’t hear a thing.”
Cabral said that, when pieced together correctly, these 4-foot-wide, factory-produced panels create an amazingly strong
The pool, seen from a second-floor
is another area of careful design. Placed where it is, the
provides shade across a sitting ledge on the side of the pool. The cabana includes an outdoor shower (the second of two on the property), a full bathroom, and an artist studio.
and sturdy structure. “When you’re done and this is all nailed together, it’s basically like this thing is just one piece, as if you did
reinforced concrete in a single pour. It’s an extremely rigid structure,” Cabral said.
“When you build a good house, it’s proba-
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLINT CLEMENS
The home includes (from left to right) a two-car garage with gorgeous in-law apartment above, the owners’ bedroom wing, the main two-story living area, a wing for guest bedroom and office, and the pool and cabana.
VISUAL TEXT PHOTO CREDIT TO MEGHAN SEPE
balcony,
cabana
bly going to be there for 100 years,” Clemens said. “This house is going to be here for 500 to 1,000 years. Easily.”
Because the house was designed and engineered by a computer system, with panels created in a factory and pieced together in a precise fashion, the end result is a structure where every line, every angle, is essentially perfect. “Every wall is exactly true,” Clemens said. “The quality of construction is reflected throughout. You’re not trying to shim and fix all kinds of problems or cover things up.”
Added Cabral, “One of the details of this house is that there are no details. There are just clean lines everywhere. It looks simple, but it’s actually tricky to pull off.”
It’s in the air
With an airtight envelope, the next priority is to regulate the air within.
“This house has air-source heat pumps,” Cabral said. “It’s basically like a refrigerator. Your refrigerator doesn’t add cold to the air, it takes heat out. This house operates on the same premise.”
In most houses, two separate systems control the temperature within — one for heat and one for air conditioning. In this design, one system does double-duty.
“Here, the heat pumps are used for both heating and cooling,” Cabral said. “They have reversing valves. So basically, in the summertime, they’re pulling heat out of the house and exhausting it outside. And in the winter time – even though it’s 32 degrees out, there is still technically heat in the air – they pull the heat out of the ambient air outside, and through the refrigeration process, with pressure, amplify that heat, transfer it into the air handlers and then push it into the blowers, gently.”
The heating and cooling system are also decentralized. There is no single unit powering and treating the entire house. “Traditionally, you have a big, giant boiler or something that’s in the basement, with big trunk lines running throughout the house. Here, this house has eight different zones with little pieces of equipment that are really nimble and are super efficient, quiet,” Cabral said.
The attention to detail – and to material – extends to the windows and doors, all of which act like the lid on a Yeti
Continued on page 18
VISUAL TEXT PHOTO CREDIT TO MEGHAN SEPE
The rear of the house blends science with the beauty of its surroundings. These massive sliding doors use a complex locking system to make them as airtight as possible when closed, while allowing sweeping views over the property and the water beyond.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLINT CLEMENS
The property at 451 Seapowet includes about 4 acres in the pastoral Seapowet region, but that is extended by another engineering marvel. Back in the 1960s (as the story goes), a former owner who was friendly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers got the corps to bring rocks from the demolition of ledge during the creation of Route 24 to his property, to create this totally unique, massive, private jetty. There is nothing else like it anywhere in the region. The distance from the tip of the privately-owned jetty to the house on the same property is about three football fields.
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cooler or thermos. They use gaskets to seal tightly when closed.
Standing before one of the massive sliding doors at the rear of the main living area, Cabral said, “These are German windows and doors of triple pane, air-tight, tempered, laminated. The R-value of this 30-foot by 10-foot door is equivalent to a conventional frame house this is fully insulated. It’s pretty impressive stuff. So it allows us to keep the heating and cooling loads manageable.”
Design choices
Blending with the technology of the house are endless design choices, led by the owners themselves. Everything within is simple, clean, muted and consistent. The colors of white, brown, gray and black form every palette in the house. Steel and sunlight and natural woods blend together in every living space.
The wood floor in the main living area is a story unto itself. Newport Renewables connected the owners with a company that has bought miles of wood beams and planks from old mills and re-uses them in modern construction. So the wood floors in their house actually originated from Southern Pine trees that grew 400 years ago, were built into a mill in Attleboro, then disassembled and re-built into a mill along the I-95 S-curves in Pawtucket, then disassembled again and brought to the company that is re-purposing them for a variety of uses.
“They really are a great architectural feature, and they look beautiful. There are actually three different flavors of reclaimed boards here,” Cabral said.
Some boards show the screw holes and markings from where machinery was once anchored. Clint Clemens is actually the designer who mapped out the plan for the floor boards; they were not laid by chance, but through the careful eyes of an artist. The
center island was constructed of the same reclaimed wood.
“This is one of the houses where you have to spend a lot of time in here to appreciate all the little nuances,” Cabral said.
Bucking the theme of technology buried within the home, hidden from sight, are iPads mounted directly into the walls. They can be used to control lights, audio, heating and cooling – room by room, or through the entire house.
The unassuming house at 451 Seapowet is an engineering marvel, but it is designed to not show it. Other than those iPads, everything else looks quite normal. “The systems here are very discreet,” Clemens said.
The builder said everything within the home is there for a reason and grounded in science. “You have to combine all these concepts together, in the right order,” Cabral said.
“That’s the tricky part. A lot of architects, builders, customers, will try to do something like this, but they’ll say, ‘oh, we don’t need to have the windows, or we don’t need to have the electrical engineering. But’s is a system-based approach. You need all of it. And you must engineer it. You must iterate it. And you don’t get it on the first shot. You have to have a couple of iterations before you massage it together.”
Clemens added, “This is how houses should be built in the future.”
PHOTO BY RICHARD W. DIOINNE JR.
Michael Cabral of Newport Renewables talks about the science behind 451 Seapowet while standing next to one of three solar arrays. The arrays are all placed atop flat roofs and designed to be hidden from sight at ground level.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLINT CLEMENS
Though thoroughly modern in terms of systems and technology, the home is designed to blend modestly with its surroundings.
BAILEY’S LEDGE: Little Compton’s hidden gem
BY LUCY PROBERT
Weave your way up Bailey’s Ledge, one of the most beautiful and secluded roads in Little Compton, and right off the water sits a home cherished and lovingly maintained by the same family for more than 60 years, boasting amazing views of the Sakonnet River and the ocean beyond. Built originally by current owner Beth Bullock’s grandmother in the early 1960s, today’s version of the home, shingle-style and custom-built with a coastal aesthetic, was completely renovated in 2018 and has been the heart of many family gatherings.
“My grandfather originally owned 16 or so acres on Bailey’s Ledge and built the house adjacent to this property in the 1930s,” says Beth. Her present home on 61 Bailey’s Ledge is set on two acres about 500 feet from the water, with three acres of protected land in front. “In 2007, my grandparents generously donated three acres of the property in front of the house to the Little Compton Agricultural
Though built in the 1960s, the home underwent a full renovation in 2018, and it was infused with a coastal aesthetic.
The home at 61 Bailey’s Ledge sits on two acres, which abut three acres of conservation land, all of it looking out over the Sakonnet River and the Atlantic Ocean.
Conservancy Trust to ensure its long-term preservation, prohibiting any future construction on the land,” says Rebecca Rubin, sales associate at Compass, a member of Kirk | Schryver Team, and also Beth Bullock’s daughter.
Each spring the field is allowed to grow, delaying cutting until mid-July to provide ample time for birds to nest, resulting in a beautiful, natural setting. A 40-foot flag pole installed by Beth’s father in 1975 anchors the property, with the American flag serving as a heartwarming and welcome symbol.
“I have so many wonderful memories growing up on the Ledge,” says Beth. “As a little girl, when we would come down with my family for the summer, school vacations or long weekends, we would stay in my grandparents’ ‘big’ house next door, which had heat, unusual back then for houses on Bailey’s Ledge, as most of them were summer cottages.”
At 61 Bailey’s Ledge, from the three bedrooms to the kitchen, living room, office and dining area, is almost 5,000 square feet, on two levels, offering multiple spots to enjoy the views.
The first-floor primary suite includes two ensuite bathrooms, which come together with a walk-in shower and soaking tub. The second floor, also accessed by an elevator, has two bedrooms, each with a bathroom and south-facing water views.
The chef’s kitchen includes high-end appli-
A cozy family room – like all rooms in the house – looks out toward the water.
ances, stone countertops, a wide-open floor plan and cathedral ceilings, perfect for entertaining and family living. Treasured heirloom furniture has been mixed in with new pieces and fabrics to help update the space and make the home feel grounded in its past in a comfortable and elegant atmosphere.
“One of the unique things about Bailey’s Ledge is it’s really a very private little
enclave,” says Beth. “It’s not a road you’re driving through to get to somewhere else. It’s always been very special to us.”
The property is being offered for $7.85 million with Rebecca Rubin at Compass. “There have only been two other homes sold on Bailey’s Ledge in the past 15 years. This is truly Little Compton’s hidden gem,” she says.
The home has been in the same family for more than 60 years. This will be its first time on the open market.
History-rich Fogland Farm traces back three centuries
BY LUCY PROBERT
Tiverton’s Fogland Farm, built in 1730 on an elevated rise overlooking views of Nonquit Pond with the Sakonnet River and the ocean in the distance, is on 84 acres and steeped in history. Only three families have owned this home in its nearly 300-year history, with the most recent residents the Taradashs, who purchased it in 1977.
“Right after the Bicentennial there was a great deal of interest in Colonial America, and my father, who is a big antiques collector, bought the house, with all of the contents included, some from when it was originally built,” says Nick Taradash, son of the owner Bernard.
Grander than most farmhouses of its day, the home was originally built as a Georgian with a prominent portico entryway into a hall
with parlors to the left and right and a staircase ahead. Around 1812, a Federal-style addition was added for a new kitchen, and a Victorian mansard roof was built around 1870.
With hardwood floors throughout, six over six sash windows fill the house, with more on the second floor extending up to the Victorian cornice level. There are eight bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms in more than
Fogland Farm dates back to 1730 and has been owned by only three families in its entire three-century history.
Grander than most farmhouses of its day, the home was originally built as a Georgian and had numerous additions over the years.
4,500 square feet in the main house, which also features two drawing rooms, a living room, four working fireplaces and a screenedin porch on the east side. Along with the original home, the property also includes two smaller houses and three barns.
Growing up on Fogland Farm, Nick will always remember the details within the walls. “One of my favorite features is the fireplace in the formal dining room,” he said. “When the house was being restored, the fireplace was boarded up, and when we reopened it we found that it had been decorated with original English delft tiles from the 18th century, which depict scenes from Aesop’s Fables.”
Family lore and history of the house and property include stories of a battle during King Philip’s War fought on or near the property before the house was built, and it is rumored that in the early 18th century the farm was attacked by pirates who stole their livestock. Colonel John Cook, a relative of the home’s original owner, served in the American Revolution from 1775 to 1779 in Newport’s 2nd Regiment. Cook’s son-in-law sold it to the Bateman family in 1819, and it remained in their hands until the Taradash
family bought it in the mid-1970s.
The two other smaller homes on the property, both built in 1990, are a one-bedroom, one-bath Cape-style and a ranch with two
bedrooms and a bathroom.
A 12,000-square-foot horse barn, built in 1984, includes an indoor rink, 15 stalls, high
Continued on page 24
With hardwood floors throughout, there are eight bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms in more than 4,500 square feet in the main house.
ceilings and a heated tack room. Another almost 3,000-square-foot gambrel-roofed barn was put up in 1950 and has seven stalls. A smaller two-level barn with a loft is currently used as an art studio.
At its height, the larger barn housed more than 20 horses. Nick Taradash has many warm memories of his mother Martha, who participated in dressage events, raising horses and riding on the farm. “She would wake up at the crack of dawn and ride her horse down to Fogland Beach, where they both would take a swim in the river,” he said. “And at Christmas time we would hitch a pony up to the sleigh, adorned with bells, and ride through the snow.”
There are also stone walls and trails throughout the 84-acre property for riding or walking as well as an old growth apple orchard “Prior to Prohibition, cider was the drink of choice in New England,” said Nick. “We have a rare variety of apple cider trees growing here, as well as old cider equipment still here from previous owners.”
The farm and properties are being offered for sale at $5,950,000, with Liz Kinnane and Cherry Arnold, sales associates at Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty. “There
really is no other place quite like it,” said Nick. “What I would love for the next owners of this very special property is for them to love and cherish it as much as we have, to
keep some of its unique historic elements, but at the same time see its incredible potential, to add some innovation, bring new life in and make it shine.”
The farm encompasses 84 acres and includes the main house, multiple smaller houses and multiple barns.
The season for markets
It’s a great time of year to visit your local farmstand — or find all the farms in one place
Our area is dotted with farmers markets, usually held on weekends, May through October, offering produce and other goodies from local farms and food businesses. Now (and into the fall) is a great time to visit them …
n Providence Farmers Market
10 Sims Ave., Providence
This custom-built facility, the largest indoor farmers market in New England, houses a
sizeable selection of local vendors year-round. Open Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
n Hope Street Summer Farmers Market
Corner of Hope Street and Blackstone Boulevard, Providence
A farmer-run cooperative selling fruits, vegetables, flowers, cheese, breads, pastries, eggs and more. Open Saturdays, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
n Mount Hope Farmers Market
250 Metacom Ave., Bristol
Well over a dozen full-time vendors sell organic farm fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oils, locally raised meat, breads and raw hon-
ey. Open Saturdays, 9-12:30 p.m.
n The Aquidneck Growers Market
25 Enterprise Drive, Middletown
Regional, easy to access seasonal food, both organic and conventionally grown, is available, including fresh vegetables, cut flowers, breads, meats, seafood, cheese and prepared foods. Open Saturdays, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
n Tiverton Farmers Market
Tiverton Town Farm Recreation Area
3588 Main Road, Tiverton
Offers the community fresh and local produce, meats and seafood, honey and baked goods. Open Sundays, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
RICHARD W. DIONNE JR.
Caitlin DeGarmo, son Grant, daughter Adeline and husband Andrew check out Westport’s Neighborhood Farm at the Tiverton Farmers’ Market earlier this summer.
A true passion project
Ten years ago, they left the city, moved to the country and launched a small, family farm — It’s a Sweet (& Salty) love story
BY LUCY PROBERT
At Sweet & Salty Farm, a small dairy off of Shaw Road in Little Compton, grass-fed Jersey cows graze on land that stretches down to the water’s edge and their milk is processed into fresh yogurt and several varieties of cheeses at the farm’s own creamery barn. Owners Laura Haverland and Andrew Morley are almost 10 years into a life’s journey they worked hard to achieve.
“We fell in love with the idea of having a small farm, found the perfect spot and moved here at just the right time to make it happen,” says Laura.
After living and working in New York City and marrying in 2010, both Laura and Andrew knew that wasn’t the life they wanted for themselves. “We both had desk jobs and began exploring different avenues to an exit from that life,” says Laura.
Andrew was interested in sustainable agriculture and left his job to apprentice at a few
dairy farms that were making cheese from their own milk around New York and in Virginia. Meanwhile, Laura had always been interested in working with food, with thoughts of becoming a chef. As one step led to another, by 2011 they made the move to Little Compton, where they had been married and Laura’s family owned a home.
“At that point we were ready to take the plunge and do it on our own,” she says.
Across the street from Wishing Stone Farm, they lease their land from a family who has
Fizz is a firm, aged cheese which is washed three times a week with Westport River Vineyard’s Farmer’s Fizz sparkling wine and has a sharper flavor and an almost crumbly texture.
owned and farmed there for many generations. “They were retired dairy farmers, and after many conversations about our plans they decided to take a chance on us and we signed a long-term lease with them,” says Laura.
By 2013 they had put up a building to make cheese and yogurt and started adding cows.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better spot than across from Wishing Stone,” says Laura.
PHOTOS BY RICHARD W. DIONNE JR.
Laura Haverland and Andrew Morley met and married in New York City, but decided they wanted a different life than grinding away at desk jobs in the big city. They found it in the farmlands of Little Compton.
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“They have been farming for 40 years and have been so generous with advice, guidance and even lending equipment. Owner Skip Paul drove us around when we first moved here, showing us around to several places and making introductions. Our farms do different things but we have so many things in common.”
A small herd of some 15 grass-fed Jersey cows are on about 40 acres, and their milk is processed into cheese and yogurt with no chemicals, pesticides, hormones, GMOs or antibiotics used. They also have several other cows that give birth in the spring whose milk is used for the calves. They produce the cheese and yogurt from about the beginning of April until December, then the cows get a break for the winter.
Drive down Shaw Road in Little Compton on a summer Saturday and in their driveway near the farm, cheeses and fresh yogurt can be found for sale. The varieties of cheeses they produce include Little Something, spreadable, buttery and in the family of a traditional Brie or Camembert. Little Mermaid is also spreadable and aged an additional two weeks, then sprinkled with organic Maine kelp.
Their firmer, aged cheeses include Peach
Fizz, which is washed three times a week with Westport River Vineyard’s Farmer’s Fizz sparkling wine and has a sharper flavor and an almost crumbly texture. The Plain Cream-Top Yogurt, with a smooth texture, rich flavor and a hint of tartness, has a cream that rises to the top and is made with only milk and cultures. The cheeses are sold mainly at farmers markets and their online store, with in-person pickups at the farm.
Laura Haverland turns over newly made cheeses within the aging room at Sweet & Salty Farm. The farm produces a wide variety of cheeses and yogurts.
stores and farms (Wilbur’s General Store, Young Family Farm and Wishing Stone in Little Compton). Both are also sold on Saturdays in the summer at their home farmstand at 68 Shaw Road.
The yogurt is also locally available at a few
“The learning curve has been steep, and we’ve learned a lot along the way,” says Laura. “But it’s also been an incredibly humbling experience, and we’re so grateful to be doing what we love. We are so happy here and can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
DISTINCTIVE HOME Services
DISTINCTIVE HOME Services
557 Hope Street | Bristol, RI 401.374.7064 • sarah.principe@raveis.com
557 Hope Street | Bristol, RI 401.374.7064 • sarah.principe@raveis.com sarahprincipe.raveis.com
Experience makes the difference.
BAYBERRY FARM - Little Compton, Rhode Island
Milbury
An unparalleled 108-acre waterfront estate. A private, mile-long laneway meanders through pristine woodlands and open pasture, as the residence rises provocatively on the horizon Substantial and brilliantly designed, this dramatic illustration of New England Vernacular architecture is set on high presiding over the Sakonnet Passage and ocean beyond. Offered at $22,500,000. Contact Will Milbury at 508.525.5200.
WYNDFIELD - Westport, Massachusetts
An unassuming crushed shell drive meanders past stone walls, through woodlands and open fields, to this supremely private saltwater farm, featuring curated gardens, meticulous orchards, private two-bedroom guest house, studio and barn complementing a spectacular main house While offering all the historic charm and appeal of a gracious farmhouse, it rivals nearly any new construction home with its quality, attention to detail, and modern conveniences Acres of pastures cascade to the water's edge where you will find a dock on the Acoaxet branch of the Westport River A magnificent saltwater farm in the heart of the South Coast! Offered at $7,950,000 Contact Will Milbury 508 525 5200