Apartment Look

As beautiful as parts of Connecticut are, the state’s landscape will never be mistaken for the mountain ranges of northern New England. However, step onto the property at 2910 Mountain Rd. in Suffield and it’s easy to forget that. Built in 1981, the 6,178-square- foot house features a four-car garage, an in-law apartment, and a 28-by-40-foot barn with solar panels. The house has plenty of updated features, including new kitchen appliances, a new HVAC system, and new roofing. But it’s the nearly 30 acres of land in scenic West Suffield near the Massachusetts border that sets the property apart. Included in that acreage is a professionally landscaped yard with fruit trees, a perennial garden, an invisible fence, an outdoor patio and a gazebo. Situated on a hill overlooking Mountain Road , the front of the yard faces west and features scenic sunsets and views of distant hills. “It’s views of nature at its best,” says agent Sharon Dillon Rispoli of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices . M...

As a kid, I lived outside. Not in the eating and sleeping sense of the word, but in a looser and more spiritual sense. Never did I feel better, never did I feel more at peace, than when I was out there, somewhere, in our country yard. I’d kick the heads off dandelions and the sandy roofs off anthills. I’d bite into yellow-red apples that had dropped from sagging limbs in our orchard. I’d chuck a well-worn football, straight up into a blue sky, and then I’d run off to catch my own plummeting spiral. Life was good. In some ways, looking back, life was better. Several weeks ago, I decided to take a hike. I’ve been spending more and more time outside my apartment recently, having bought a kayak and a mountain bike, and figured that hiking would bring me another step closer to nature. There’s no better way to see the world, it stands to reason, than to walk right through it. After work one evening, I traded my slacks for shorts and put on a T-shirt. In the kitchen, I filled a bag with almon...