Southern Living Home & Acreage

Farm Description

REDUCED over Southern Living Cottage of the Year

THE AREA:

This home and 21 acres is located in the Millerville community about 8 miles south of Ashland, Alabama. Ashland and her sister city, Lineville, offer small town settings with a hospital, grocery stores, country diners, a few fast food businesses, car dealership, service businesses, antique shops, and schools. The Talladega National Forest is only minutes away to the west. You can see the mountain range from the property. The immediate area is rolling hills, pastureland, rural farm and timberland with low population density … there are less than 13,800 residents in Clay County, Alabama.

About 25 minutes west is Sylacauga, AL and 25 minutes south is Alexander City, AL which have all the amenities necessary for a modern lifestyle… Wal-Mart, Home Depot, restaurants, grocery stores, medical care, US Highway access…etc. Also, about 20 minutes away is Cheaha Mountain and State Park, the highest point in Alabama. About 90 minutes to the northwest is Birmingham, Alabama and less than an hour is Anniston, Alabama - both offer malls and shopping centers and everything found in a big city.

THE LAND:

The land is a total of 21.1+/- acres of old farm and pastureland with about 65% pasture currently being maintained for hay production. All of the fields have been well-maintained by a neighbor who takes the hay for his cattle farm and the relationship could be continued or not.

The home sits on a beautiful knoll on the southeastern area of the property. A large pasture is just off to the west of the home and the property gently rolls away from the home in all directions. A small brook runs east-west in the bottom pastures and connects to Drake Creek which forms the northern border of the property. There is plenty of room on the bottoms to construct a very nice size pond if so desired. Between the brook and Drake Creek is a large, flat pasture producing 14-16 bales of hales 3 to 4 times a year. Along the borders of all of the pastures and all along Pepper Road are good stands of various mature hardwood trees - some reaching heights of 80 feet. There are plenty of areas to make good wildlife food plots and deer and turkey roam the property on a daily basis and are seen regularly from the home. So bringing out a prize buck or Tom on your own property is not going to be a problem.

A 140-foot deep well serves the home with a 3-stage filtering system that provides spring-like water. There is a power utility pole set near the driveway entrance at Pepper Road with power running underground from that point to the home. Century Link is the telephone/Internet provider with underground cable along Pepper Road providing High-Speed Internet and phone service to the home.

A young but producing orchard is located on the property with fruit trees. There are also some raised planting beds, and a small vineyard as well. A nice red barn for storage with side sheds, a half loft, and concrete floor really complete this property well.

THE HOME

This 3,400 sq. ft. home (plus three open porches and one screened porch AND adjacent insulated barn) is custom built from Southern Living House Plan #593. This plan was chosen by Southern Living’s Cottage of the year for their 50th Anniversary Edition. Constructed in the summer of 2007 with the current owners occupying in December 2013. It has 4 bedrooms with an additional sleeping loft, and 3.5 baths.

The SL 593 floor plan incorporates multiple common areas, including a wide porch across the front and a screened dining porch with large fireplace that connects the main house to the guest house. The first floor of the main cottage encompasses three distinct spaces: sitting, dining, and living. The hardworking kitchen is equipped for a big family or lots of guests, and an adjacent laundry room makes chores easier. A vestibule leads to the master suite where, in the bath, there is plenty of room with his and her custom-made vanities with Silestone counter tops and large mirrors, walk-in closet with custom cabinets, and a beautiful and large Wet Room enclosing a gorgeous tile shower room with large soaking tub. Both upstairs bedrooms are big and have private dressing and lavatory areas that lead to a shared bath with tub and shower enclosure. The guest house off the screed dining porch has its own full bath with shower, sitting/TV area, and loft bedroom big enough for a Queen bed, and a sitting porch with a view of the property to the west.

Lots of hidden extras and energy efficiency are built into this unique Southern Living home. All outside walls have 2-inch sprayed-in foam insulation to keep this home cozy warm in the winter and comfortably cool in the summer. Windsor Low-E, dual-paned, Argon gas, aluminum-clad windows for energy-efficient protection (and low maintenance) as well as providing a wonderful view of the beautiful property from any room. All inside walls contain R-13 fiberglass matting insulation and the crawl space floor is protected with R-19 fiberglass matting. Ceiling fans in every room to help control energy usage as well as fans on the porches to keep the breezes flowing while relaxing outside. The roof is metal and silver color bringing additional energy efficiency to the whole house through its reflective characteristics.

The main house is cooled and heated by a geothermal vertical closed loop heat exchange system (also called ground source heat pump) that operates efficiently by exchanging the air through four (4) 200-foot deep wells. This system maintains the heating and cooling in the main living area as well as the master bedroom. The guest house and upstairs each have their own separate high efficiency, 2-speed, heat exchange units. The separate units allow the owners to reduce operation to only when needed. Except for a propane gas-cooking top, the home is totally electric and average electric bills for 2013 and 2014 were around per month. It is very energy efficient.

To help conserve energy in the winter, there is a Woodstock Soapstone Wood Stove in the main living area. The Woodstock Soapstone wood stove is one of the most efficient wood stoves on the market. This one is the Keystone model rated at 47,000 BTUs. Through two winters, burning it almost daily, the stove used around 1.5 cords of wood each winter. The efficiency comes from the design of the Woodstock that incorporates a combustion chamber (similar to a catalytic converter on your car) that allows the stove to operate at a high temperature and burns even the gases from the wood or fire source. In addition, when operated properly, allows almost no smoke to leave the chimney. Everything is burned. Plus, it is double-lined with soapstone that absorbs the heat and stays hot for long periods of time. And the stove keeps the main living area at a very comfortable 70-72 degrees, even when the outside temperature reached into the teens last winter.

This award-winning home has hardwood floors throughout with hickory in the main living area and oak in all other rooms. Planks are varied widths from 3 to 5 inches. Solid wood, 5-panel doors in the main house with knotty Alder entrance doors in main house, guest house and master bedroom.

The kitchen incorporates custom built cabinetry with Silestone counter tops, island with 4-burner propane cook-top, prep sink and wine cooler, all GE appliances including convection oven, microwave, and French door refrigerator. Sits off the main living area making entertaining and socializing a breeze. Off the kitchen is the dining porch with its large fireplace and the perfect place to entertain or just spend a relaxing evening after a great meal.

ACCESS:

The property is accessed from Pepper Road, a Clay County maintained, all-weather dirt road, about 1 mile from paved Bowen Road (to the east) and about 2 miles from paved Alabama Hwy 9 (to the west). About 90 minutes from Birmingham, about 1 hour from Aub