Three years after buying the former Golden Lamb Buttery and 588 acres of farmland and woods in Connecticut’s rural Quiet Corner , Lori and Venus Corriveau have sold more than half the land to a national environmental nonprofit to ensure it remains undeveloped in the future.
The Corriveaus’ Little Dipper Farm in Brooklyn and its ambitious agritourism activities will remain, and their new farm glamping operation — glamour camping with an agricultural flair — will soon get under way.
The Corriveaus are holding onto 271 acres along with the popular dining operation in the barn that took the place of the Golden Lamb Buttery , an iconic restaurant in northeastern Connecticut for decades.
But they’ve sold 317 acres of the property to The Conservation Fund, and ultimately that land will end up in the hands of the Wyndham Land Trust, Lori Corriveau said.
“When we first bought it, we had so many plans. We were out in those woods trying to get the trails cleaned up and make it a good place for biking,” she said Thursday. “Very quickly we realized it was too much for us, and this land wasn’t where the core of our property was.”
The sale ensures the land won’t eventually wind up with real estate investors and developers looking to build shops, subdivisions or condos.
“It’s a good thing for the town. That land is a prime piece of property and we don’t need to have it developed,” Brooklyn First Selectman Austin Tanner said Thursday afternoon. “This is very good.”
In a statement, Wyndham Land Trust board member Janet Booth praised the Corriveaus for finding a way to protect the land.
“They breathed life into the conservation efforts of this iconic 317 acres of forest and wetland habitat in Brooklyn and Pomfret,” Booth said. “Importantly, these 317 acres connect to a much larger area of conserved land. Connecting large blocks of habitat is paramount to the survival of the other species that share our world and is a keystone to preserving the quality of life for all.”
The Conservation Fund is spending $550,000 for the 317 acres, and Corriveau emphasized that it will maintain public access for hiking its 6-mile loop trails.
The deal began with a sadder development in 2019, when Brooklyn lost a cherished and surprisingly well-known business after 55 years. Located along remote Wolf Den Road in a town of fewer than 9,000 people, the Golden Lamb Butter nevertheless built a wide-ranging base of loyalists impressed by its early adaptation of upscale farm-to-table dining.
In 2014, Fodor’s decribed the Golden Lamb’s popularity, writing “Connecticut’s most unusual dining experience has achieved almost legendary status.”
The family that operated the restaurant and the surrounding Hillandale Farm retired in 2017, though, and the next year the entire 588-acre property went on the market for $3.9 million. There were no takers, and some residents of Brooklyn and neighboring Pomfret grew concerned that developers would inevitably descend on it.
Instead, the Corriveaus bought it during the pandemic. Lori Corriveau said she and her wife paid $2.5 million, and embarked on an extensive agritourism campaign.
The farm now offers tours and activities ranging from afternoon teas, farm dinners, salsa festivals and seasonal festivals to hikes, cooking classes, scavenging for wild blueberries and the “Bourbon in the barn” whiskey tasting.
They converted the restaurant to the Chef’s Table, but that business closed in December. Andy Gutt, owner of the Stone Row Kitchen & Bar in Willimantic, this year is operating the dining operation as Field & Feast for farm events and for special dinners for Little Dipper members.
Last year the Corriveaus won local zoning permission to offer farm glamping on the property, providing overnight stays for guests who want to reconnect with nature and perhaps try their hands at farm activities.
“We’re doing things that immerse people in the farm environment and in nature,” Corriveau said.
“My wife and I come from backgrounds of appreciating nature and conservation, and she has been hiking this property for many years. And we know the Wyndham Land Trust is revered in northeast Connecticut,” she said. “We knew the property would be better in the hands of this conservation organization.”
The Conservation Fund will hold ownership of the land with a plan to eventually transfer it to the Wyndham Land Trust.
“The Little Dipper Farm is a local gem, and I applaud the Corriveaus for demonstrating how conservation and economic development can go hand-in-hand,” Kyle Shenk, Northeast regional director for The Conservation Fund, said in a statement.
Most Popular
Comments / 0