Remodeled camp is landscaped for stability above Lake Champlain

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Games, toys, blankets and other items are stashed neatly in storage cabinets beneath window seats — a clever way to save space and create a comfortable place to read a book or work on a laptop.

“We call it our treehouse,” Susan Iverson said recently, looking out to the gardens and lake.

Landscape improvements

Properties with steep embankments — such as this one — pose challenges as rain channels down and leads to erosion and loss of shoreline.

For the first phase of landscape construction, the Iversons asked Matt Karlin, a stonemason, to build a new set of stairs to the lake. They wanted to replace the old wooden steps with something more permanent while also addressing the deep culvert that ran beneath the stairs. Karlin and crew used a crane to hoist large bluestone slabs into place and routed the stairs around existing cedars to preserve the trees.

The masons also re-graded and stabilized a retaining wall and built another stone wall that curves around a secondary gravel pathway that leads to the lake. Because of its steep drop-off, the path is lined with a rustic rope-and-cedar handrail for safety.

A small circular patio and a stepping-stone path to the front door were other components in the master plan designed by Jenn Bouffard of Maiden Leaf Designs in Underhill.

“We were conscientious about what we used in the landscape plan,” recalled Bouffard. “We used a lot of native plants to deal with erosion control and roadside screening. White pines, cedars, and birch were planted along the driveway to complement what was already there; and shrubs with vigorous root systems like junipers and Russian cypress went into the new garden above the retaining wall.”

Bouffard, who studied landscape design at the University of Vermont, brought color into the scheme with flowering shrubs like native summersweet ( Clethra alnifolia ‘Compacta’) and smooth hydrangea.

Long-blooming Russian sage and hardy lavenders send up purple spikes among tufts of ‘Heavy Metal’ switchgrass, daylilies, mounds of spirea and patches of culinary herbs planted among rocks and boulders excavated on site.

Anchored by groundcovers and shrubs, the gardens are punctuated by other colors that come and go as the summer season changes.

Lake views

After the first round of landscape construction was completed, the owners settled into their new surroundings. They ultimately felt that the circular patio — built among cedars overlooking the bank — needed to be relocated in full sun.

Built with large pieces of tight-fitted stone by Peter Demick of Vermont Walkways in Charlotte, the new elongated patio has room for a row of all-weather Adirondack chairs that have a commanding view of Lake Champlain sunsets.

Just recently, a small gazebo was added.

Custom-built with cedar shakes to complement the main camp, it sports a copper weather vane with a pine tree motif. Furnished with comfortable chairs and wired for electricity, it’s the perfect place to sit for morning coffee or to read a book after dinner, bug-free, big enough for two with room for the couple’s golden retriever.