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The Tour: Driveway

November 10th, 2012

I have received lots of requests for a tour of the new place here in Maine. We’re still unpacking some things and settling in. I’m a little reluctant to to a tour since there has been no painting, only cleaning and unpacking. There are also still things in boxes and we have to paint before some things can be put away. I guess all the images will make great before photos for my before & after posts – so here starts to tour. Additional areas will be toured in upcoming weeks and I’ll add links to the bottom of the posts.

I’ll start with the driveway, which deserves it’s own post. After all, we have our own road name and our own curvy road sign.


It’s a long driveway, about a third of a mile, which we actually like after living so close to the road back in Ohio. It’s good to know that when I let Dexter outside, I don’t have to worry about traffic on the road.

There are all kinds of twists and turns which take you through the woods and up the hill. It’s pretty steep; thank goodness we now have an old truck with a plow to keep the road cleared in winter.


Almost every day, we take the dog and walk down the driveway to get the mail. It’s the perfect walk in the middle of the afternoon. It stretches your legs, wakes you up, gets the blood flowing, and invigorates you for the rest of the afternoon.

Sometimes we even get lucky and Dexter joins us on our stroll. He usually meets us halfway down when we’re on our way back.

This is the view back down from the top, well almost the top. There’s still a little bit of driveway to go, but you would see the house and garage/barn if I included it. That will come next week.

No doubt there will be times in the middle of the winter when we can’t make it up the hill. That’s OK with us, we’re always prepared with boots and extra socks in the car. That won’t be anything new either, several times each winter we would be unable to get up our rather steep driveway back in Ohio as well. We’d rather have to hike up the driveway a few times each winter than live too close to the road!

How long is your driveway? Is it curvy, steep, gravel, paved?

27 Comments to “The Tour: Driveway”
  1. erica thompson on November 10, 2012 at 5:48 am

    Wow, what a wonderful environment for you to live in, I am feeling envious. Looking forward to the house shots.

    Reply to erica thompson's comment

  2. Jaye on November 10, 2012 at 7:36 am

    I live in a city and really have no driveway, but boy, yours is pretty awesome!!!! It’s exactly as I picture a Maine country driveway to be :) Can’t wait to see the rest of the property and house!

    p.s. I love Dexter, he’s a real character.

    Reply to Jaye's comment

    • Susy on November 10, 2012 at 8:10 am

      Dexter is a character, he’s probably the best cat we’ve ever had.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. jennifer fisk on November 10, 2012 at 8:05 am

    I too own my own road which is 1/4 mile long. About half way in is my boarding kennel and at the end my home and farmette. For the first, 10 years of living here, I was surrounded by woods and no other houses. Now there is a subdivision beside and behind me but it is still very private, quiet and I love it.
    You could station barrels of sand in critical places along your road.

    Reply to jennifer fisk's comment

    • Susy on November 10, 2012 at 8:06 am

      We have barrels of ash to place around during winter, we just haven’t gotten around the moving them.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  4. kristin @ going country on November 10, 2012 at 9:07 am

    Our driveway is fairly long–about 300 feet– but it isn’t long enough; we are WAY too close to a very busy state route with a lot of loud trucks.

    We don’t anticipate ever buying our own land, since we’ve ended up with this, but if we did, you can bet we would never, ever buy anything close to a road again.

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

  5. Deb on November 10, 2012 at 9:29 am

    Love it. i would give most anything to have a place like yours. I’ll never get that and at 50 I really don’t want to go through moving so will have to live with what we have. Our home is close to a rural county road but can be busy at times. Have lost several cats to it. One especially greatly bonded one that I literally rescued from starving. Our kids were old enough to stay from the road when we moved here 17 yrs. ago so that wasn’t a worry. With all the trees along your driveway, maybe it won’t get so full of snow. Thanks so much for sharing. Even if everything isn’t painted I’m sure we’d all love to see it and as you said it could be great for before and after mphotos. Like many of us I’m sure things need painted/redone etc. but we still love seeing or showing things to folks. I’d love to see the barn with the bar and outhouse too. Enjoy this good weekend. We are to have almost 70* here south of Findlay, Ohio on Sunday.

    Reply to Deb's comment

  6. Annie on November 10, 2012 at 9:39 am

    My drive is about 600 feet long and winds through the woods, rocks and alongside a creek, so that all that and a couple of hills block most noise from the road. Plus, I can’t see any neighbor’s houses either so it gives a real secluded feeling. It is gravel, so that has to be replenished every few years, but I love it anyway.

    Reply to Annie's comment

  7. Maybelline on November 10, 2012 at 11:02 am

    Nope. My drive way is typical suburbia. Just a short slab on concrete connecting the street to the garage.

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

  8. daisy on November 10, 2012 at 11:03 am

    What a lovely start to the tour! Who wouldn’t want to walk down to the mailbox with those surroundings? Looking forward to seeing the rest. Enjoy!

    Reply to daisy's comment

  9. Songbirdtiff on November 10, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    *sigh* My driveway is about 20 feet. Which is fine for now, while we save up for our future farm. :)

    Reply to Songbirdtiff's comment

  10. Peggy on November 10, 2012 at 12:33 pm

    OH thank you for sharing your lovely views along your driveway. We have two driveways… one about 4 car lengths of asphalt (our current home) and the other (our farm in NY where we will be moving in a few years) just under a 1/4 of a mile with lots of curves, a few trees, and a narrow (rail-less) bridge. It is truly lovely and I look forward to the day when we will be able to enjoy it on a seasonal, if not daily basis.

    Once again thank you for sharing and we all look forward to your home tour!

    Reply to Peggy's comment

  11. tj on November 10, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    …That is WONDERFUL! Throw in a lil’ snow and I’m seeing a future Chiot’s Run Christmas card here. ;o)

    …I love that Dex’. He reminds me so much of our big cat, “Gabe”. He does the same thing if we’re both outside and I walk up and get the mail. Sadly we are victims of urban sprawl and it really isn’t safe anymore for our cats to take walks with us. We go no futher than the mailbox, years ago we used to walk around to the back edge of the lake which is a mile and a half walk. Like Dex’, our Gabe would meet me on my way back. I love dogs but cats cam be like miniature finicky dogs, gotta love ’em. :o)

    …Thanks for the walk up the driveway – it’s beautiful you two! Can’t wait to see the rest of the place too.

    …Have a lovely weekend!

    …Blessings :o)

    Reply to tj's comment

  12. Sherri on November 10, 2012 at 1:59 pm

    What a GORGEOUS driveway! We live on a dirt country road on 2.5 acres, so our driveway isn’t near as long as yours… It IS however, too long to shovel it by hand, or even a walk behind snowblower, so we have a tractor with a bucket for blading and pushing the snow and an auger snow thrower. No steep inclines here – we are on the flat prairie!

    Reply to Sherri's comment

  13. judym on November 10, 2012 at 3:59 pm

    Beautiful driveway! What a relaxing walk to get the mail and great exercise as well. Our drive is over 600 ft with just a smal incline,just enough to get the blood flowing. Have fun putting your own personal touches to your new home!

    Reply to judym's comment

  14. Heidi on November 10, 2012 at 7:20 pm

    I’d walk your driveway everyday!

    Reply to Heidi's comment

  15. amy on November 10, 2012 at 9:43 pm

    Beautiful!

    Reply to amy's comment

  16. Mich on November 11, 2012 at 9:19 am

    My farm drive is a mile long with a slight incline which is fine all year round but if we get snow/ice the car is hopeless!
    So glad I bought a 2nd hand 4×4 a couple of years ago…its proved useful last couple of winters!

    Reply to Mich's comment

  17. Lisa on November 11, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    I have a very short driveway, just the sort you park in. It is paved, but most of the neighbor’s still have gravel driveways. Mine was when I bought the house (2011) but when the street was widened I asked road workers and paving company to do my driveway while they were at it. It was expensive, but so much nicer than gravel!

    Reply to Lisa's comment

  18. katie on November 12, 2012 at 9:03 am

    Pine needles scattered on the driveway, the trees standing as guards. It is so breathtaking and beautiful!

    Reply to katie's comment

  19. Johanna on November 12, 2012 at 10:20 am

    What a pretty drive! I love that you have your own “Curvy Road” sign :)

    Reply to Johanna's comment

  20. Lynn on November 12, 2012 at 10:37 pm

    Our driveway is gravel and steep. My husband has a tractor with a plow to dig our way out in our Ohio winters. The only thing that would keep us from getting out is ice. There is a perennial border on either side of the driveway and they get topped up with some of the gravel from the driveway now and then. My first job each spring is to dig the gravel back out so the flowers can grow.

    Reply to Lynn's comment

  21. Misti on November 13, 2012 at 1:17 am

    My driveway is probably 200′ or so, which is nice compared to what I could have gotten if I’d bought in a suburb! My ferals love to come greet my car when I come home from work.

    Reply to Misti's comment

  22. Rocky on November 13, 2012 at 11:46 am

    Wow, what a beautiful driveway. I don’t mind taking walk to get mail every day, if mine is like this. But, but, but…a third of a mile long drive way. Thank goodness you’ve got your own plow truck. ;) Do you get broadband connection that far from the main road? Or do you have your own dedicated T1 connection?

    Reply to Rocky's comment

    • Susy on November 13, 2012 at 11:49 am

      We have a broadband connection, not quite as fast as it was back in Ohio with cable internet. There is fiber down by the road, sadly there’s not tapping into it.

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • Rocky on November 13, 2012 at 1:19 pm

        You are very lucky to have a high speed internet connection that far away from the main road in any rural town in Maine. It might have gotten better by now, but when we were looking for a house 7 years ago, we had to severely restrict our choice of a house to purchase due to lack of connectivity. I had to have internet connection for my job. That’s why we live right on the state highway with very, very short paved drive way. Even though our back woods are beautiful, front yard is totally off limit from our dogs due to the danger of traffic. I envy your drive way.

        to Rocky's comment

  23. Chris on August 29, 2020 at 3:27 am

    Looks like a wonderful place to live. Do you happen to know the slope of your driveway. I’m sure it changes a lot, but do you know the steepest or average areas what they might be? I’m looking a a strep plot of land and just trying to get some ideas. Thanks in advance!

    Reply to Chris's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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