Berkshire County in western Massachusetts has a wide variety of rental and vacation properties available to their visitors. In an area of Massachusetts that sees 2.5 million visitors pass through every year, folks can choose from mountain chalet-style homes to unique treehouses and historic colonials.

Recently the Berkshires has seen a trend of renovated old churches or barns to become rental properties including a pretty amazing barn located in Chesire, Massachusetts.

Listed by superhost Jane on Airnbn, Mason Hill Farm is a celebration of everything there is to love about the Berkshires. Mountain views, a rushing swimmable brook, a historic restored barn, and outbuildings surrounded by lush forest. Mason Hill is truly the perfect year-round getaway for any traveler.

Originally a working farm in 1815, the historic Mason Hill is a bucolic getaway in the heart of the Berkshires. Situated on eight acres, the original farmhouse is located on the property with the adjoining post and beam barn fully renovated into a rustic yet well-tended living space.

The home is fully equipped with a modern gourmet kitchen with a dual fuel oven and a large comfortable living room and bar area. The adjacent large bedroom also accommodates an extensive library. The home includes a full bath and shower, laundry facilities, and an outdoor cedar-lined shower with a view of the Berkshire sky, one queen bed and one bunk in the bedroom, two single beds in a semi-private sleeping area enclosed by the historic indoor stable off the living room, and one double bed in a semi-private sleeping area adjacent to the kitchen.

There is a large deck off the west side of the barn for casual dining where guests can listen to the rushing sound of Kitchen Brook, a beautiful trout-stocked brook on the property. Enjoy evenings with sausages and s’mores around the large outdoor fire pit. Perfect for family summer vacations, fall foliage, winter skiing and snowmobiling, and reunions.

 

LOOK: Here are the best lake towns to live in

Many of the included towns jump out at the casual observer as popular summer-rental spots--the Ozarks' Branson, Missouri, or Arizona's Lake Havasu--it might surprise you to dive deeper into some quality-of-life offerings beyond the beach and vacation homes. You'll likely pick up some knowledge from a wide range of Americana: one of the last remaining 1950s-style drive-ins in the Midwest; a Florida town that started as a Civil War veteran retirement area; an island boasting some of the country's top public schools and wealth-earners right in the middle of a lake between Seattle and Bellevue; and even a California town containing much more than Johnny Cash's prison blues.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

 

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