Most Lake Carmel cottages make you choose between the lake and elbow room. 37 Woodstock Road doesn't. Picture mornings on the lake and evenings by the fire: a single-level ranch on nearly a third of an acre — 13,068 square feet with 111 feet of frontage, one of the more generous lots in the community.

At 1,114 square feet, it lives larger than the typical lake cottage: two bedrooms, a full bath, and a living room built around a wood-burning fireplace, everything on one easy floor. Outside, the yard is ready for a vegetable garden, a fire pit, a patio for summer dinners — or simply breathing room.

Lake Carmel community rights include the private beaches, the lake and its walking paths. Swim and paddle in summer, walk the shoreline when the leaves turn, and watch the fireworks over the water. Why share walls and pay condo fees when you can own a detached home with lake rights?

Enjoy it year-round or as a weekend retreat — Carmel Central School District, minutes to Route 52, I-84 and the Southeast Metro-North station, about 60 miles from New York City. Arrive in time for fall, when the fireplace earns its keep.