Thyme in the Country Cottages — Hotel in Town of Claverack

I was feeling like a Purdue Chicken, trapped in the four walls of my concrete New York apartment, stacked over countless others. Yes, there’s a beautiful vista outside our wall of windows...but I felt contained. Trapped. Sitting at my computer, absorbing who knows what toxic rays, with only an occasional foray into the kitchen for coffee and a snack or a bit of yoga in front of the flat screen oversized TV, I was feeling achy and depressed--too frequently. Not quite as restricted as the chicken, perhaps. And eating a better diet. But not breathing fresh air. And not getting real exercise. The thought of negotiating the elevator and then NYC traffic with my bicycle or pounding the concrete walkways (even if they were in Central Park or along the Hudson) was not appealing enough to get me outside on a clammy Spring day. What to do?! Why not get out of the city? my husband suggested.

Enter Zipcar. I was able to secure a hybrid vehicle parked within walking distance of our address replete with E-Z Pass. As it was a weekday, we had our choice of B&B’s within a few hours reach. It was a crisp morning and we opted to head north to Columbia County where we’re familiar with several places to stay, walk and buy incredible locally produced food.

First stop: Chatham, NY. Unfortunately Our Daily Bread, a favorite lunch stop is closed Mondays. We found another place Ralph’s Pretty Good Food which was...pretty good. Then followed a walk around the Ooms Nature Conservancy, a sparkling lake surrounded by fields of green with specks of homes dotting the distant hillsides. Geese and a couple of dog walkers were our only company. Idyllic!

We chose to return to our favorite inn in the area, Thyme in the Country. A charming B&B run by Mary Koch, the house is located on her family farm. Four cozy rooms nestle above the downstairs living space replete with wood burning fireplace, upright piano and walls of books. Mary greeted us with fresh milk from her cows, home-baked muffins and apples stuffed with local cheddar cheese which we snacked on in front of a crackling fire. Then, after a walk through neighboring fields, I soaked my tired muscles in the inviting claw foot tub in our bathroom.

For dinner, we went into nearby Hudson and had a scrumptious and inexpensive dinner at The Diner. Everything comes from Grazing Angus Acres just up the road: the burger and fries, the no-nitrate hot dogs and the milk and ice cream in the thick old-fashioned shakes made from seasonal flavors. Chocolate and Vanilla are standards; Summer Strawberry substituted for Autumn Pumpkin Music was provided by a gleaming standing juke box that played 45‘s and took us back to the 50’s.

The following morning, Mary served us a frittatta filled with fresh herbs from her garden and gluten-free oatmeal pancakes garnished with steaming cinnamon apple slices. A dollop of rich, homemade yogurt topped it all off and coffee with Mary’s own warm milk washed it down. Yum!

The sun had given way to clouds and drizzle, but the lilac and apple blossom scented air beckoned us outdoors for another walk. It was too cool to partake of the salt water pool in the backyard, but not to wander past Mary’s vegetable patch to visit with the chicken, pigs and cows who’d provided the basic elements of our mouthwatering breakfast.

Before returning home, we left Mary’s with eggs and milk produced that morning, various cuttings and dirt from her garden for the planters on our terrace back in the city as well as a special present requested by my farm-minded daughter: earthworms to mineralize our soil! We visited Grazing Angus Acres to stock up on assorted cuts of beef and pork grown right there on their sprawling farm; then zipped back to Manhattan in time to cook up some of our goodies for dinner. We’d barely been gone 30 hours; yet, away from electronics and with views of green, pink and purple instead of steely gray, our batteries had been re-charged. At least temporarily. What a difference...

Thyme in the Country Cottage was a unique experience. Some people will love it and others will not. I was concerned about booking because there were no current reviews. This is because it used to be a bed and breakfast, then shut down for a few years, and now reopened, offering no bed and breakfast but instead two cottages for rent. There are no longer additional amenities such as breakfast. I am leaving a long review, so you know what it is like now. However, they just opened their cottages a week ago so some of the items I have listed for improvement or ‘good to know’ may have changed and you may wish to check with Mary, the owner, if they are concerns for you.

If you are used to the Marriott and Hilton stays, this is not that. The cottage is a low carbon footprint experience. The toilet has no flush or water connected. It works great and does not smell but again, this is an experience in reducing your carbon footprint. And being all natural. No toxins, chemicals, etc. Read the website for more information.

There was nothing bad about our stay, just different since I usually stay at Marriotts and Hiltons.

Positives:

They are located out in the country. It was very quiet. Very peaceful. Very private. No sirens or car noise.

They have nice comfy bathrobes that are warm and comfortable.

The towels were very nice – felt hung dried.

The shower was hot - note: you will need to give it time to warm up. It does get hot.

The bed is beautiful and the two side pieces they have are very nice. I like having the light switch, plugs, and a shelf to put my phone on all within hand reach. Very cool. Both sides too.

Improvements needed:

There is no key to lock your cottage. We only stayed one night so it was not a big deal, but I do not think I would stay multiple days without the ability to leave my stuff there knowing that the door is locked. Note: you can lock it when you are in the cottage.

There are no night shades so the light will most likely wake you up in the morning. The gradual increase in light was nice to me.

Good to know:

As described on the website, the bed is a double with a headboard and footboard. I am used to king beds, so I felt like my head was at the top and my feet were pushing on the footboard. The bed is a firm bed and was harder than we like.

They do not use chemicals and you are in the country. We did find two stink bugs in the room and there was one earwig under one pillow in our bed. Nothing that freaked us out too much, but we did zip our suitcase to make sure no bugs crawled in it which ended up being a bit overkill (LOL). I was impressed how few insects were in the cottage for being in the country. I expected a few flying bugs but there were none.

Everything felt used and worn. However, this is part of the point. Trying to not generate lots of new stuff building to an already crowded country of things.

There is no TV but there is Wi-Fi service and the Wi-Fi worked fine.

The fence by the parking spot made it hard to see when backing out onto the road. I tried turning around and that was better, however, it was still hard to see past the fence.

The Eco Cottage where we stayed is small, with one relaxing chair and two regular chairs at a small table. There is a small sink and one bed. All of this is in a small room with a separate room for the toilet and a walk-in shower, no sink in the toilet or shower. The size was not an issue for us because when we go on vacation, we use our room as a place to crash in the evenings. I felt the size of the room was about the size of some of the rooms I have stayed in in New York City but smaller than most Marriott and...

Thyme is the country is a unique but warm and special place to stay. I don’t normally write reviews on lodging but since there aren’t too many reviews here and I’ve stayed here several times since 2016, I felt that I was well overdue to write one because this is a really nice, well run, small business.

I routinely stay in the eco-cottage, which is a warm, cozy, and clean place. The queen bed is comfortable and the shower is spacious with an overhead rain shower that feels pretty luxurious. The shower does take a minute to warm up but not out of what you’d expect for any shower. The room is quiet and when you come and go, you get the most amazing views of gardens and a wooded field. You even get a glimpse of the sunrise during certain times of year. When it rains, you’ll hear a soft pitter patter on the roof, which adds to the cozy earthly feel.

This place has an environmentally friendly design, it is most certainly clean, every time, with no chemical smells. I am sensitive to odors so the absence of chemical smells is important to me. The eco friendly design of the room and overall management of the property appeals to my personal values of prioritizing an environmentally friendly BnB, which is one of the main reasons I keep coming back.

Mary and Barry, Thyme’s owners, are attentive and quick to respond, and they are friendly. They truly have figured out how to create a nice home away from home while maximizing environmentally conscious practices without sacrificing cleanliness. The location is in a good location: it is in close proximity to Hudson (good for walking, restaurants, etc) and close to the train station so a quick/easy trip to Albany or NYC (not that close to the train station, you won’t hear it!)

I read a review from the fall season that someone found insects in the eco cottage. I suppose it’s possible, this is an environmentally friendly stay, however, I have been a repeat guest for 6-7 years now (I’m excluding covid closures) with roughly 2-3 visits/year and haven’t experienced this. Is this a Hilton or Marriot? No, but frankly, I hope I’ve been able to share with you that this is a compliment and a feature that I personally prioritize.

I will come back and I hope...