"An Air of Magic": Scandi, Shaker, and Snug Lodgings in Bovina, New York

Have you pored over the handwritten menus and Shaker-style dining room of Bovina Farm & Fermentory and wanted to book a trip to upstate New York? Wait til you hear that the couple at its helm, Elizabeth Starks and Jacob Sackett, are now accepting overnight guests—and unsurprisingly, they have a knack for running a cozy inn.

“The world of hauling laundry baskets, bed making, sneaking treats onto pillows, and rising with the sun to bake bread for breakfast is one which certainly suits us,” Elizabeth wrote to us a few weeks back. With the addition of a new-build guest cottage, a redone bedroom evocatively called the Pasture Room, and two lodgings above the restaurant, those who come to Bovina for home-brewed beer and a candlelit communal meal can tuck in afterwards in linen sheets and bed down by the heat of a wood stove.

By way of background: “We began building the main house and brewery barn in 2019 with the help of a local barn builder and my father,” Elizabeth writes. “We took about two years to reach ‘completion’—completion in quotes because things are constant works in progress around here.” The two welcomed dinner guests downstairs (read more about the restaurant here) and stayed, meanwhile, in the empty apartment upstairs. “Jake and I lived there for a while with no furniture. I remember sitting on a quilt on the floor with our new puppy and reading through old cookbooks weeks before our opening. We were radiating with anticipation and truly couldn’t care less that we were living in a construction zone.”

Fast forward a few years, and the couple has finally finished the lodgings they envisioned. “We wanted the inn spaces to match the simple, airy interiors of the dining room in the farmhouse, but with some extra warmth and comfort layered in. We stuck with the basic staples you might find in an old farmhouse or tavern: striped bedding, wrought-iron candlesticks, wooden stools that serve as bedside tables. There is minimal art or flourish in our spaces, as we like the views down the valley over the cow pasture or out toward the sheep paddock or into the woods and ferns to do the talking.”

Today, Elizabeth takes us on her rounds about the inn. Join for a tour:

Photography by Sarah Elliott, courtesy of Bovina Farm & Fermentory.

The Cottage

“Jake and I built The Cottage from the ground up, mostly just the two of us, but pulling in many friends and my father along the way,” Elizabeth says. “We built out the foundation in the winter of 2023—it was a particularly mild December and January.

“Even as a build site, The Cottage had an air of magic all around it—it was hard to pull ourselves away up the hill to get back to the restaurant sometimes. Before we started, this plot of land was densely wooded and thick with ferns and brambles that made a nearly impenetrable forest floor. It hadn’t been touched by human hands for maybe 70 years, and the beauty of that was obviously striking. We gently took down trees, leaving as many as we could, and watching this plot of land carefully transform under our nose has been magic all on its own.”

inside, the cottage has tall windows and pale green walls. &#8\2\20;it was 18 — Above: Inside, the cottage has tall windows and pale green walls. “It was inspired heavily by the one-room schoolhouses that are found in our area of the Catskills,” says Elizabeth. “There used to be one standing just across the road from our property, The Pink Street Schoolhouse. The Cottage is proudly environmentally sustainable: It’s off-grid, powered by a small solar array, and is equipped with a wood stove, a small kitchen, a banquette bench and table, a deck of cards and candles—and yes, a hot shower!. It has what you need and nothing more, and most folks shortly after entering its glass French doors declare, ‘Oh yes, I could live here.'”

The green interiors were inspired by the land the cottage sits on, “its own secluded patch of woods ” studded with cherry trees. “The exterior, the interior walls, the cabinetry, and the bed nook curtains are all varying shades of green: Farrow and Ball Bone, Farrow and Ball Vert de Terre, DeVol Wikes Green, and a green blue linen gingham, respectively.

“The wood floors and butcher block countertops are cherry. Our neighbors recently restored their old farmhouse using cherry trees that they cut and milled from their own mountain, and we realized how integral cherry was to our area’s original homes and furniture. The depth and warmth of the dark, toasty cherry immediately welcomes you in and makes you feel held in a space. I think cherry is due for a comeback in interior design, but really we chose it simply to match the trees and materials that have been used in our region for hundreds of years. I’d say that’s the trick to nailing interiors: using natural materials that are found in your region. (Take it with a grain of salt coming from someone with no design background.) Like in the restaurant: What grows together goes together.”

there&#8\2\17;s a kitchen in the cottage, but inn guests are also welcomed 19 — Above: There’s a kitchen in the Cottage, but inn guests are also welcomed to join in the dining room for breakfast come morning. On the menu: “our rye sourdough, homemade butter and jams, jammy eggs served up in ceramic egg cups alongside rye sourdough pancakes with local maple syrup, farm sausages and fresh yogurt topped with honeycomb and whatever fruit is ripe for harvest,” says Elizabeth. “Breakfast is our favorite time of day—I would say to order one of everything.”

“Whenever we’re about to embark on a new build, even for an outbuilding like a new chicken coop or woodshed, we head to The Shaker Village in Hancock,” says Elizabeth.” Every time, we see a new bit of architectural ingenuity or innovation that inspires us and reminds us to stay grounded in design that is beautiful due mostly to its hardworking functionality.”

&#8\2\20;the restaurant antiques come mostly from france,&#8\2\2\1; eli 20 — Above: “The restaurant antiques come mostly from France,” Elizabeth says, “either by way of the internet or our suitcases, loaded up with $2 copper ladles and sauce pots packed in between our socks for the journey home. But the couple found many of the antiques for the Cottage and inn rooms online: “Jake is a hawk on Facebook Marketplace,” Elizabeth says. “I think it’s in his blood, because his grandfather spent so much of his time puttering about the local auctions here, bringing home all sorts of antique stoneware or furniture or sometimes even a new horse for the family! A lot of the antiques in the inn actually came out of Jake’s grandparents’ farmhouse in the neighboring town of Bloomville.”

There are pieces by small makers and friends, too: The pendant above the kitchen table is by “local friend Camille Callahan, who also makes sconce versions, candlesticks, and other objects.”

&#8\2\20;we like the jotul woodstoves, made in norway. their designs are si 21 — Above: “We like the Jotul woodstoves, made in Norway. Their designs are simple with a touch of whimsy, with bears or lions featured in the cast iron, and they are workhorses, keeping the house toasty even in the depths of February.”

&#8\2\20;the bed nook was decided on early in our design for the cottage, m 22 — Above: “The bed nook was decided on early in our design for The Cottage, mostly due to the small footprint of the space,” says Elizabeth. “Building the bed into a nook that is situated in a corner helped us to save space. The curtains felt like a cozy way to make the bed feel just a bit separate from the rest of the room. Paired with the antique step stool, a wool Welsh blanket, and an iron candlestick, with the misty mountain view down the valley nudging you awake through the wall of windows, it’s my idea of a perfect night’s sleep.”

the bath is kept simple, with antique mirror and hot water, though the cottage 23 — Above: The bath is kept simple, with antique mirror and hot water, though the Cottage is off grid.

The Bedroom

&#8\2\20;a bit of scandinavian design has made its way into the house with 25 — Above: “A bit of Scandinavian design has made its way into the house with the accordion wall lamps and our wood stoves,” adds Elizabeth. “I just love the way the lamps can fold out for use, then fold back away to sit flush against the wall. Those were antique Etsy finds. I found the roller shades from Melton Workroom, who hand-stenciled the borders which play nicely with our stamped border on the walls. Melton Workroom is currently working on some more shades and an embroidered bench cushion for The Cottage as well.”

The Maison

we&#8\2\17;ve featured a peek of this upstairs space before—see a shaker 26 — Above: We’ve featured a peek of this upstairs space before—see A Shaker Cook Space in the Catskills (Root Cellar Included)—but it’s now finished and known as The Maison, available for stays. “

More details made by artists and friends, according to Elizabeth: “We asked Kelli Cain, local ceramics artist and owner of Luck Dragon arts supply store in the neighboring town of Delhi, to make our coffee mugs for the inn. The hand-dipped beeswax tapers placed around the guesthouse and restaurant come from family-owned Green Tree Home Candle in nearby Treadwell, NY. Maura O’Connor, artist and longtime family friend, drew up the detailed property map that is placed in each inn room and Stephanie Hare of Share Studios in Downeast Maine supplies the handmade papers that Elizabeth scribbles dinner menus on each week. The list goes on—we are so lucky!”

the bedroom in the maison—and elizabeth&#8\2\17;s must have for the guest 27 — Above: The bedroom in The Maison—and Elizabeth’s must-have for the guest bed? “Linen sheets are a must. Airy and lightweight but so soft, and the vision of linens hanging on a clothesline in the summer breeze, come on!”

the bath features a clawfoot tub and wood cladding. &#8\2\20;all of the woo 28 — Above: The bath features a clawfoot tub and wood cladding. “All of the wood came from a local mill, which has noticeably more texture and character than what comes from big stores,” says Elizabeth. “We decided to not seal knots or try to conceal these textures and instead let it all shine through. You can see marks from the mill and burls and rings and knots from the trees. We let the wood look like wood.”

of running an inn, elizabeth writes: &#8\2\20;the rhythms of running the gu 29 — Above: Of running an inn, Elizabeth writes: “The rhythms of running the guesthouse have a beautiful monotony to them.”

“The sun rises, we slip out of bed and into the arms of a warm oven loaded with dutch ovens filled with baking bread. We work quietly, hoping to wake our guests only with the smells of coffee and rye sourdough wafting their way through the floor vents. The morning gives way to breakfast and farm chores, and then to garden tasks, housekeeping, or whatever jobs are beckoning us that day. Fires are tended to; supper bubbles across various pots and pans before coming together in the evening, the ovens remain hot for molasses cookies that make their way onto pillowcases come nightfall.

“In the dark, I can smell the chimneys and see soft lamp light pouring out from windows. Rinse, repeat. Through the changing seasons of nature and of life, we have these constants. We feel like little worker bees, up here on the mountain carrying out all of these small jobs that hopefully add up to something a little bigger and beautiful.”

For more info, and to book dinner and a stay, head to Bovina Farm + Fermentory.

And for more cozy, autumnal places to eat and stay, take a look at:

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