Serene Nature's Bliss

This colorful tiny home community in upstate New York is attracting people from all over the country. People who want a simpler life surrounded by nature without giving up a sense of community. To me, a place like this seems incredibly appealing. This place has such a nice feeling of community. So when I heard about this community hidden away in New York's beautiful Finger Lakes region, I knew I had to check it out. In this video, I'll explore the community, tour inside its whimsical tiny homes, and talk to the creator behind it all. I'll also speak with residents about what it's really like to live here, how much it costs, and whether it's truly worth it. Let's find out. I am just leaving Ithaca, and I've got about a 15-minute drive out to Boyceville to see this small home community. We're getting out there already. It's already feeling pretty rural and farmland. These cottages are so cute and colorful. They look like little gingerbread houses. I would love to live here. I am so used to tiny homes being sleek, modern, elegant things, and these are such a breath of fresh air. Cheerful, happy. Okay, I think this red one behind me is my favorite color so far with the yellow trim. It's really cute. This community room is really nice. They have a full kitchen, kind of seating area with board games, books, and a TV. Beautiful views outside, and then they also have a little gym in here. If you like rural living, but you still want a sense of community, it's not a bad spot. That's the bell. What's the bell? It rings out the hours. I'm Bruno Schickel. I'm the creator of this community, Boyceville Cottages. I was inspired by a children's book called Miss Rumpheus. I was reading it to my daughters. Now we have a total of 140 cottages here. It's become a really popular, fun community to live in. You get people in their 80s down to people in their 20s, some infants. The community aspect of it became more important, actually, than the cute little house. You can make friends instantly. Put your name on the calendar and block it off. And, you know, there's no cost. There's open wifi in here. These houses here on the right, these are little townhouses. I call them gatehouse cottages. This is, this gives you a little sense of- Wow. The interior as well. It's so bright in here. Yeah, lots of light. Lots of light. But they're very cottagey, cavity feel inside. There's stained concrete floors. Wow. Beautiful, bright bedrooms. Nice bathroom. Wow. Cool window. So, you know, it's pretty cool. I'm not pushing anything into an attic that you can't have access to. We're using all the space right to the peak. I bought those two fountains up in New Orleans. I bought, I saw them at an antique store. I actually created the curve. Hey, if it works. I think this one is my favorite. We actually took the rafter and we- Wow. We turned it at an angle. Truthfully, it was very wasteful, but it was like never again. They have a big living room, a big bedroom, bathroom, little kitchen table here, area here. And it works out pretty well. Yeah. And it's a sort of some open field as you go through. So plant trees that don't get real big. I got peach trees, I got cherry. You're not going to want to swallow them. They're the juices. It's more like something for the juice. They're very meaty, but the juice is fine. Very tart. Gorgeous. Got the bird feeders. Stunning. Beautiful back here. Pond here, another bigger one beyond there. This meadow is nice. 140 houses built on 40 acres. And I use, there's septic. I have multiple septic systems. And then I have two wells and I have what's called a public private water system. Community space right here to share with her friends and neighbors. And she asked me to get her a picnic table. So I bought a brand new picnic table, brought it over this past week. She wants to sort of share this little spot that she loves so much. And she's only lived here less than a year. And how big are these really tiny ones? So those are 650 square feet, but the footprint and the foundation is 22 feet wide, 24 feet long. So those ones go from anywhere from 1,995 up to about 2,295, depending on the size. Yeah. So this is what I call my tiny house cottage. So cute. And I shrunk it down so you have a little, you know, living room with a decent size. The kitchen's kind of nice. And I have a little stairway that swings up to the upper. Okay, there's pretty high ceilings up there. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. And then you got a bedroom here. Nice. Decent size bedroom. And then a bathroom. With a shower. Water dryer, nice. And a small washer and dryer. These are great. Honestly, this is a pretty cool bedroom up here. Oh yeah, people definitely use it. The heating portion of the gas bill will be probably $300 a year. $300 a year? A year, yeah. What's really cool about this heat, it's made by Yoho. It does not require any electricity to operate. When the power goes out, everybody here has heat. The views that you get out your window, it's so beautiful. No pet fees here, which checks out because I'm seeing a lot of people walking their dogs around here. And what's the pet limit? No more than three, well behaved. Is that dogs or pets in general? Pets in general. Got it, so I could have two dogs, one cat. That's true, yeah. Some people do. And there's no pet, there's no fees. I don't require an extra deposit. I don't require any extra cost for pets. So we're very, very, very pet friendly. And the dog park is all on a curve too. All of the edges of it are curving around. So I created a great big fan here. It's a beautiful dog park. Yeah. Hi, you must be Christine. Yes, this is Angel. Hi, Angel, hi. This is just an ideal place. It's a community. There's so many things that make it that. The way Bruno designed the houses in these like pre-together, so you know your neighbors. You know, you can sign up for any activities. We do book club there and of course craft night. Walking the dog, I know more of the dog's names than sometimes I know the people. And what's your favorite thing about living here? I suppose the people. And it's so diverse. I didn't want to live in the senior citizens place. And it's not, you know, we shovel our own sidewalks in the winter. And you know, I love shoveling snow even at my age. But if it gets too heavy, they'll come out and say, oh no, Mrs. you go, go home, you know, we'll do it for you. So that's always nice. There is a storage problem. You have to, you know, really know what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. I know some people do rent storage units, but I just realized, you know, what was important and got rid of the rest. And that was good. Of course I've bought more. How many garden boxes do you have? You've got four. The sense of community here is really nice. A lot of people downsizing, having less stuff, more meaningful connections with other people. More importantly, I feel like most small homes kind of lack a little bit of personality, right? They're like modern and sleek and really nice. But these look like gingerbread houses. They are so unique. I haven't seen them anywhere else in the world. And it's right here in upstate New York.