New Hampshire "Get-Away" Specials

First, the positive. We wanted a fairly rural setting and this is it in spades. We were surrounded by woods, just a little ways off of a country road, so very quiet. The house is spacious and somewhat rustic in it's design and decor, totally in keeping with its rural setting.

We also wanted a place to branch out from. We wanted to travel in all three NE states, and the Conway area is a great location for that. If you're into the touristy stuff, Conway is great for that as well.

Finally, the owner, Ray, was terrific to work with. He communicated quickly and was helpful to a fault. We've not dealt with a more responsive owner.

So why four stars? First, there is very little, if any, place to put your clothes. The main bedroom has two dressers and a very small closet. All of the dresser drawers were full of the owner's clothes or linens, etc., for the house. The closet was half full of the owner's clothes and had just two or three extra hangers. If I'm staying in a house for a week I don't want to live out of a suitcase. In fairness, the owner let us empty a few drawers so we could put our own clothes in. The other two main bedrooms (those with a double or queen bed) had no closet or dressers available at all.

Second, some things didn't work, or didn't work well. We arrived during the evening and quickly found that the main house heater was not working. We immediately informed the owner, who quickly arranged for someone to come out the next day. It was working properly by the next evening, but that first night was a little on the cool side!

We also struggled with the TV. The TV worked fine, but the DVD produced video but no audio. It took over an hour to rewire some of the components, with the owner's permission, so that we finally got sound. Part of the problem was trying to learn the universal remote, which didn't control all the of the devices, or all of the features on the devices it did control.

The upstairs shower produced a tiny stream of water at the shower head, not suitable for taking a shower. The three of us just used the shower downstairs, so not a big deal, but if there'd been six or eight of us . . .

Finally, the laundry pair was quirky. It took as almost twice as long to wash the linens on our last day because the washer would just stop mid-cycle and refuse to restart. We tried rebalancing the load, reducing the load, but nothing worked. We finally just started over, and then, surprisingly, it worked.

This place is great for families with kids. There is a badminton/volleyball net set up, horseshoes, a hammock, a bunk-house and the chalet with lots of room to spread out. The kitchen is very well equipped. The sun porch is heavenly with a very comfy bed for reading and naps, and direct access to the wrap-around deck. Plus it is a very dog-friendly place.

I didn't give it 5 stars for a few reasons: No sheets on the bed and we had to look around to find them. Same with the towels. No one greeted us and showed us around. I didn't see any instructions at first. The book was in the open, but I didn't know to go look for it until the owner texted me about it. At first, there was no water. The owner was very helpful and immediately responsive to every question we had (with instructions to turn on the well-pump, for example). The refrigerator had a lot of food items in it. The fridge door shelves were packed. So we had a bit of trouble fitting in our supplies that we brought with us for the week. Lastly, the chest of drawers in the bedroom was full of the owner's clothes, so we had nowhere to unpack our clothes. We lived out of our suitcases for the week.

There are easy fixes for all of these issues. Otherwise, we loved the place and would definitely return, especially for the pleasure of spending lazy days on the sun porch.

We had a great time at Freedom. It was a great house with the room we needed for our family vacation as many of us are grown with our own families the layout was great to accommodate everyone! We enjoyed the houses secluded location but close enough proximity to things we wanted to do. Ray was very helpful and great to work with. I'd definitely recommend this house to others and hopefully we'll be able to rent it again in the future.

2 families fit comfortably with all the beds here. Bunk house gave the teens a space of their own. Yard has lots of space and outdoor games to entertain while you grill. Don’t worry about what you forgot because they probably have it here for you to borrow. Great spot!

Exceptional & attentive owner, clean & welcoming home with everything we needed for a fabulous family ski trip. Looking forward to visiting again.