River Cottage, the dream, has finally become River Cottage, the reality! For you to know how special this really is, I should give you a bit of history on its evolution. In 1955, I was born to a wonderful family who lived in a magical house, the Cherry Mansion, circa 1831. It isn't really a mansion by today's standards, or by any standards really, but it is a wonderful place. Growing up there was absolutely perfect...so perfect that when I finally left for college, I was miserably homesick for my house and for the river that it overlooked. The weekends didn't come fast enough for me. I couldn't wait to get back to my special place, my home, my heart.
Needless to say, when I graduated from college, I made a beeline for my hometown of Savannah, Tennessee, and for my beloved house. I became a teacher in the elementary school that I had attended as a child. I married a hometown boy who understood my love of place, and we began to make plans for a house of our own on the grounds of the Cherry Mansion. So in 1984, River Cottage was born. It didn't have a name back then, but it did have a young family who loved it very much and who felt so lucky to be there. We started our family, had two perfect little boys and many beloved pets. We could run next door to my parents' house several times a day and most nights where my mom cooked the BEST suppers.
Of course, life marches on and times change. My perfect little boys grew up, and my parents are no longer with us. My husband, Anthony, and I moved into the Cherry Mansion, and the little house where we raised our family and made our memories suddenly sat empty. And it began to fall into a state of disrepair. We had to make some serious decisions. Should we sell the house? No way! Should we simply rent it to a new family and let them begin to make their own memories? I didn't think I could stand that. So, the final verdict was to let me do something I had always wanted to do anyway: create a perfect cottage to share with visitors who would come and go and enrich our lives along the way.
That's how River Cottage Guest House was born. Or, should I say, the idea of it was born. The transformation actually took several months and many dollars. Along the way, we were so lucky to find an amazing carpenter (or should I say, ARTIST), some really neat painters, and a bricklayer who imagined the same sidewalk that I had imagined for over 20 years. My friends at Flower Friends Garden Center provided lots of advice, inspiration, and many lovely plants to revive the neglected flower beds that surrounded the house. And I had a great excuse to haunt the flea markets, junk and antique stores that I loved and look for just the right furnishings for River Cottage. The whole process was the most fun I've ever had!
Now River Cottage is ready to welcome guests. I hope everyone who visits will come to love it as much as I do.
