Aug. 21—HOMER, Minn. — Craig Adams and Trina Barrett would love some stories to fill in their imaginations about their property near Winona.
While they’ve walked and sledded on the horse trails built by a previous owner, Barrett wishes they knew more to the property’s history. Perhaps the farm property could have had a smaller farmhouse cottage or another outbuilding marked by a rock foundation piece today. The abstract starts in 1855 with the current home at 36415 Homer Valley Lane built in 1973.
“We’d learned that this was an old riding school and that she used to have all these children come and they’d ride,” Adams said. “It’s as though it soaked up all of that laughter and joy and that’s … kind of a spiritual thing, I think. But it’s almost like it just soaked it all up and that’s what it became. It’s just felt very friendly like this is where you’re supposed to have fun and relax.”
The friendly atmosphere welcomed their sheep, about six or seven ewes, while the couple raised their family. Adams said it was like a dream to see the ram come gently nose to nose with their 1-year-old son. They enjoyed lamb dinners too. The picturesque country property also takes daily work in raising animals and caring for the property.
“We can buy country properties almost anywhere. But the one thing that’s sad about the world is our country is escaping us, right? And it seems like you have to drive farther and farther to get into the country,” said Century 21 Realtor Sarah Hemker. She added the Homer property is close to Winona, commuting to Rochester and La Crosse or traveling on weekends from the Twin Cities. “… When you’re at the property, you truly feel like you’re 100 miles away.”
The bluff-surrounded home is set in the natural beauty of the Driftless area on 51.21 acres. They quickly fell in love with the land — only managing to spend a few minutes in the home before deciding this place would be home. They returned to the property as spring dawned, from the apple trees blossoming to the grapevine on the silo and the water of an artisan spring falling over the rocks.
Adams said “you think of the most beautiful state park you could and then just make it private.” Or reflect on the cottages tucked in the hills of England where he grew up.
“For me, it had a really calm feeling about it and the way that the bluffs hug the property. They’re not overbearing, they’re not close to you but it just felt like you were so protected,” Adams said. The Mississippi River is also visible from the top of the bluff.
On the 5 miles of horse trails and looking into the valley, Barrett said most every landscape is stunning. They’ve enjoyed go-kart races, picking mushrooms, running down the bluff, hiding Easter eggs in the gorge and their sons relaxing around their self-built firepit. Hemker said “it’s just absolutely beautiful back in that valley.”
“We’ll stop and we’ll look around like, ‘this is probably the best spot.’ And then we’ll go and then you know another 20 feet and we’re thinking, ‘well look remember this one, this is really nice too,'” Barrett said. “It’s just that they’re all different in different times of year and for their own reasons.”
With the land as their first love on the property, Barrett and Adams created their favorite interior home spaces through project after project starting in 2021. They arranged the rooms, such as the kitchen where the living room previously was, for usability and creating a cozy home. The primary bedroom also became a family room.
“There wasn’t like any really old things left to bring back to life. It had been rebuilt in the 70s with the upstairs level being done in the early 2000s,” Barrett said of the five-bedroom and three-bathroom home. “We weren’t finding wood floors underneath anything.”
Barrett said “there were times we couldn’t even walk through the house without moving like a table saw.” The main level flooring tied in wood from old barns and cottages and wood stoves brought in warmth. Adams said “we wanted to bring in things like brick and stone and the hardwoods.”
While guessing at how to layout the rooms, Hemker said the “heart of course is the kitchen” which is a “beautiful, quaint country kitchen.” The kitchen includes a wood stove surrounded by bricks and their main dining spot. There is also a separate dining room.
“You’ve got this beautiful bank of windows over your kitchen sink that look out to the back pasture and the prairie,” Hemker said. “It’s amazing.”
It’s also where they soak in the views of dragonflies, wildflowers, butterflies and fireflies. Adams said “it’s just fantastic to see it all come together as nature would have intended” without pesticides.
After long raising horses, Hemker would delight in horses returning to the property. People could train horses and ride them in the bluffs much like she loves on her farm property in Wisconsin. The property is listed for $1,175,000.
“If anybody gets the experience to live with their animals, even their dogs, their cats, like we look at them in a different light because they all have such unique personalities and horses are the same way,” Hemker said. “I have jokester horses, I have serious horses. … It’s just funny to see how their personalities develop and how they interact with people too.”
Though the story of horses at the Homer Valley home is currently a history, Adams and Barrett have added to the legacy of joy with animals and pausing in the beauty.
“When I looked at this property like just driving through the bluffs there off the river, you come into the valley and you see just the beautiful bluffs, the old barn which was turned into a horse barn. It’s a really nice horse facility for people with box stalls and tie stalls and a tack room,” Hemker said. “It takes you to a different time of life … when I drive on Homer Lane.”