The Grass Is Greener

This is the Long Hill property in Beverly, Mass. which is owned by the Trustees of Reservations and open to the public for free. The trustees own a lot of great parks, properties and land in the area, which is lucky for us since that allows the public to enjoy these beautiful locations (www.thetrustees.org).
This estate, built and originally owned by the publisher of Atlantic Monthly magazine, is the perfect daytime retreat. It has walking paths in the woods, gardens, a mansion with an impressive yard, and it was quiet. Without meaning to, we ended up spending the entire afternoon here: picnicking, walking and eventually sitting on the bistro chairs and lawn in front of the mansion while Maya chewed on sticks. I mentioned multiple times that I could live at this place. Maya, overhearing this, seemed to think we had in fact decided to move there because by the end of the day she began to growl at an old lady walking down "our" new front lawn.

Alas, at the end of the day we had to go back to our peasantry lives, but the estate was a great find and the perfect place to make believe...if only for a day.