Lopez Farm Cottages & Tent Camping

A Working Landscape on Fisherman Bay Road

Lopez is the flat one, the San Juan island people cycle rather than climb, and the one where drivers still lift two fingers off the wheel when they pass. Lopez Farm Cottages occupies thirty acres of meadow and woodland on Fisherman Bay Road, a mile out of Lopez Village and across from the vineyard. The cottages are Northwest Scandinavian in shape, plain boards and clean lines, set apart from each other with their own porches and decks. Behind them the farm continues into trees and grass. Nothing about the property announces itself from the road, which is exactly right for the island it is on.

Why It Works

One cottage takes dogs, and it earns the entry on its own. Cottage 4 gives an animal a private porch, a rear deck and thirty acres of grass and trees beyond the door, with no corridor, no lobby and no neighbour above. Dogs of any size are accepted, which rules out the polite discrimination most properties apply. The second reason is what surrounds it: a farm rather than a garden, an island where the traffic is light enough to walk the verges, and a village a mile away. The third is that the house is honest about the limits, publishing the rule rather than burying it, which saves everybody an argument at the door.

Why This Location

Lopez Island is reached by the Anacortes ferry and rewards people who slow down once they are on it. The farm sits a mile from Lopez Village, which holds the market, the bakery and the bookshop, and directly across the road from Lopez Island Vineyards. Fisherman Bay and its spit are close enough for a morning walk, and the island's beaches and county parks, Otis Perkins, Agate Beach, Shark Reef, are short drives with a dog in the back. The island is also the easiest of the San Juans to cycle, being largely flat. What the position asks is a ferry booking and a willingness to shop in one village.

Fast Facts

• Price: Upper mid-range

• Vibe: farm quiet, Scandinavian plain, adults only

• Rooms: freestanding cottages with fireplace, kitchen, front porch, rear deck and jacuzzi, plus tent sites and camp nests on the same land

• Best For: couples with a dog, cyclists, slow island weeks

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Cottage 4, the one that takes dogs, with its own porch and thirty acres behind it

• Dining: a breakfast basket brought to the cottage, kitchens in each unit, and the village a mile away for everything else

• Amenities: jacuzzi on the cottage decks, fireplaces, free private parking, showers at the campground, bocce court, adults only

• Attractions: Lopez Village a mile away, Lopez Island Vineyards opposite, Fisherman Bay and the spit, Shark Reef and Agate Beach

What Is Inside a Cottage

Each cottage is self-contained: a fireplace, a kitchen with refrigerator, sink and microwave, a front porch facing the meadow and a deck behind with a jacuzzi on it. Breakfast arrives as a basket rather than as a dining room, which suits anyone who would rather not leave the dog to go and eat. One cottage is wheelchair accessible. The furnishing is restrained and wooden and the light is the main decoration, which is a Pacific Northwest habit and a good one.

Camping on the Same Land

Half the property is given over to tent camping, with showers, a camp building with a fireplace and barbecues, and a set of camp nests for people who want the field without the groundwork. Several sites are built to accessible standards. It gives the farm a second rhythm, and it means the land is used rather than merely looked at, which is part of why a dog fits here so easily.

What to Know Before You Book

Ask for Cottage 4 and say a dog is coming, because it is the only unit that takes one and there is a nightly charge per animal. Dogs cannot be left unattended in the cottage, so plan the days around outings rather than around dinner reservations. The farm does not take children. And book the ferry from Anacortes early in the season, because the crossing, not the cottage, is usually the hard part.