THE HOME OF OUR (EXPENSIVE) DREAMS

Orford, New Hampshire $2.7 million

Where to begin? With the rich and famous, that's usually a safe bet. Orford was home to Fanny Runnels Poole (a popular novelist of the 19th century), Samuel Morey (inventor of the steam-powered ship, though Fulton took the credit), and General John Wheeler, the man who financed the famous Dartmouth College Case back in 1819. Washington Irving once wrote of Orford: "In all my travels in this country and Europe I have never seen any village more beautiful than this. It is a charming place; nature has done her utmost here."

A few miles out of the village on a quiet dirt road, nature and man have been doing their utmost for 200 years: Strawberry Hill Farm has been an operating farm for that long, 400 acres of woodland, pasture, and meadows, and the closest thing to Eden this side of heaven. Miles of painted post-and-plank fencing run through meticulously kept grounds; the maple trees and distant views and the ponds and the animals—all is just as it should be. The main residence is a hipped-roof Federal on the National Register dating from 1785 and is almost southern plantationlike in its stateliness. From its perch well back from the road, the 15-room (tenfireplace) house overlooks formal gardens and brick walkways and a gazebo. In back stands a structure said to be the oldest in Orford. The echoes are strong here.

We toured the property with the caretaker of the estate, Gary Mosley, who showed us the various farm buildings and talked about the registered Black Angus cattle they use for breeding and showing. By the time we were finished, our brain was already fast at work figuring out how we could swing the property's $16,000 annual tax bill.

Serious buyers should contact Nancy Snyder of McLaughry Associates in Hanover (18 miles away). They are the Sotheby's representative here, (603) 643-6400.

Washington Irving liked the town; the Moseyer loved the house.