Stay details: Vermont Treehouse Airbnb in Hardwick, Vermont. A 5.5 hr drive from New York City.
I’ve been craving snow more than ever this year. Since living in Amsterdam, I’ve been more aware of how experiencing a new city can be so different depending on the time of year. Some of my favorite trips in the past couple years of traveling have been to winter destinations in Europe! I’ve had my sights set on spending the night in a treehouse Airbnb for awhile now, so between missing the Christmas Markets and our annual ski trip this winter, I decided to book us a last minute getaway.
It didn’t take long for me to stumble on this Vermont treehouse on Airbnb, which was one of the few in the area that wasn’t fully booked yet. I ran it by Jacob and he was up for the drive — so after mulling it over for a night, I pulled the trigger. There was snow on the forecast, so we packed lots of layers, boots, comfy pj’s (these are my favorite, they’re the softest ever!) and rented a car to drive up from New York City.
What I love about Airbnb is the ease of communication with hosts. Before moving abroad, Jacob and I spent three months driving through Europe and relied mostly on Airbnbs. We only had one negative experience, and it was minor (a host incorrectly telling us where to park our car). By coincidence, the host of this Vermont treehouse was heading down to New York City the same day we were heading up. She sent us all the info we needed and let us know we’d have the property to ourselves.
We stopped for groceries and arrived just after dark, grabbed the keys from the main house (conveniently located 200 feet from the treehouse) and walked down a candlelit path to the treehouse. I was so eager to get to sleep early so I could see the property in the morning! We climbed up the ladder to the bed and fell asleep early. I loved waking up the first morning — the first thing I saw was snow falling down.
Cozy Cabin Essentials
Bowls and Mugs
The treehouse is compact and only has the basics. There’s no WiFi, but the main house down the path has WiFi. It was perfect for us. It’s so hard to disconnect these days, so it was like a forced detox! Jacob and I weren’t spending our time checking our phones or laptops. If we needed to get back to emails, we just had to walk one minute to the main house — so it forced us to shut off as soon as we were back. We spent a lot of time reading by the fire, talking, and relaxing.
On the second day, the snow had stopped and we decided to cook lunch using the local produce we had bought. Since the kitchen was basic, we wanted to keep it simple but still use some fresh ingredients. I love wild mushrooms, so we decided a mushroom pasta would be easy enough. Something I haven’t talked about is that I recently found out I’m intolerant to gluten and dairy, so we’ve had to be more creative with our meals lately. The pasta we made was gluten-free (my newly discovered favorite brand, Ancient Harvest) and the pesto we bought had a kale and cashew base. I sliced up almonds with truffle salt to top it off. All in all, four ingredients, all of which can be found at Whole Foods.
My Favorite Soft Pajamas
Warm Cableknit Sweaters
Our host let us know there would be high winds, so we spent that evening inside. The power went out at 7pm and the treehouse was creaking like crazy! Luckily the fireplace stayed on despite the outage, and we curled up by the fire that evening. We ventured into the nearby town of Hardwick the next day on a mission to find Vermont apple cider. It was the funniest experience because the power was out in the local grocery store, but they stayed open. Jacob and I couldn’t stop referencing scenes from zombie movies since we had to use our phones as flashlights down the aisles. It was deserted except for us and the checkout counters!
The sun came out in the afternoon and we explored the grounds a bit, warm chai tea in hand. There’s a creek steps from the treehouse, but it’s frozen over in winter. The surrounding area is so peaceful. There’s a hike to a lake nearby as well, so I’d love to come back in spring or fall. It would be a completely different experience. Though we definitely didn’t mind the excuse to stay cooped up inside this time around.
Overall, our experience here was perfect. Despite the bed being nooked away with little room, it was extremely comfortable and cozy with flannel sheets on it. The treehouse has a lot of character. Expect a hodgepodge of items and a bit searching to find some of the items you need. The owner is in the process of installing running water for the kitchen (the place is still fairly new), so if that’s a dealbreaker to you, I suggest perusing other Airbnbs in the area. You can also try this treehouse in Vermont, and this one in Upstate New York — both beautiful options, but usually booked up months in advance! Personally, we love the simplicity of this treehouse and found three nights to be the sweet spot for a getaway here.
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