The house
A 5,000 square foot estate, restored and lived in
Built in 1845, burned, and rebuilt in 1909 on the original foundation. Restored again in the 1980s. Oak columns in the entry and the master suite, high ceilings throughout, a wide main staircase and a narrow rear one.
- Sleeps
- 20 in beds · 24 with air mattresses · 30 with the guest cottage added
- Bedrooms
- 7
- Bathrooms
- 4 — two on the main level, two upstairs
- Floor area
- 5,000 sq ft
- Where
- Concord, VA
- Dining
- 30 seated indoors · 60 under the covered porches
- Access and mobility
- A portable ramp can be set up for the entrance on request — ask when you book and it will be in place before you arrive. The downstairs master's walk-in shower has grab bars fitted.
Whose house this is
Concord Manor is a family estate on five acres in Concord, Virginia — owned and looked after by the Caricos themselves.
Bill and Patti live in Roanoke, about an hour and a half away, and they spend part of the year at their lake house in Texas. Concord is the third place on that list — they drive over when the house needs them, and when they do they stay in a private ground-floor suite in the detached guest house, with its own entrance and its own deck at the rear.
What that means in practice: if you have taken the house for a week, you are unlikely to see them at all. If you are holding a wedding or a large gathering, they will probably be here — a big event usually needs setting up, and they would rather do that themselves than leave it to you.
Either way you share nothing with them: no door, no hallway, no common wall. The acre the main house and the grounds sit on is entirely yours.
If you need more space, the upstairs of the guest cottage has its own private entrance and can be added to your booking.
Where everyone sleeps
Downstairs
A king master suite of two rooms with its own bathroom, a couch that sleeps one, and a rollaway stored in the closet. A small folding partition for dressing gives limited privacy.
Upstairs
A king master suite and five queen bedrooms. Three of the queens are large enough for a crib, or a twin, full or queen air mattress alongside the bed.
One connected wing
The living room has a queen sleeper sofa and curtains that close it off, and it opens directly into the master suite. That is three connected rooms operating as one private wing with its own bathroom — good for a family travelling with grandparents, or with young children everyone wants on one level. Guests sleeping in the living room use the downstairs hall bathroom.
Travelling with a baby
Two full-size cribs and a pack-and-play are provided. Three of the upstairs queens take a crib alongside the bed.
Guest cottage
One large upstairs room: two king beds, a futon and room for a folding cot — six in all. Its own private entrance, and it is added to your booking as an extra — it is what takes the house from twenty-four to thirty.
Beyond the beds
Twenty is the number we build around: it is what the kitchen is stocked for in dishes. The real maximum depends on the group, because the bed count is supplemented by couches, cots and rollaway beds.
Everybody stays charged
A 10-port USB-A and USB-C charging station, with cables provided — two of the ports are 65W USB-C, enough to run a laptop, centrally located, convenient to all guests. A houseful arrives with twenty-odd devices and never enough cables — here nobody is quietly unplugging somebody else at midnight.
The kitchen and the rest
Outdoor
Private pool · Large fire pit · Gas grill on the deck · Three-vine arbor with outdoor ceiling fans (10 across porches and arbor) · Gardens · Circular drive and brick walkway
Kitchen
Eat-in kitchen with handcrafted oak round table · 6-burner gas stove · Gas oven with electric broiler · Double-door refrigerator with ice maker · Microwave · Two 12-cup coffee makers
Interior
High ceilings and interior oak columns · Separate dining area · Flat-screen TV with Firestick · Gas fireplaces (ambience only) · Air conditioning · Washer and dryer
Connectivity
10-port USB-A and USB-C charging station, cables provided · High-speed wireless internet — access code posted in the kitchen · No landline; guests use cell phones
Linens
Linens and towels provided · Pool towels in the laundry-room wine rack
Services
Private chef available · Massages in spa · Daily maid service for an extra fee
How twenty actually sleep
Without anyone on an air mattress:
- 14 in the seven bedrooms — easy with seven couples
- 2 sharing the living room queen sleeper sofa
- 2 in the downstairs master suite sitting room, on the couch and the rollaway
- 1 on the antique couch in the upstairs hallway
- 1 on a cot in one of the three large queen bedrooms upstairs
We regularly serve family reunions and youth groups of 20 or more. If your group is larger than 20, call us and we will work it out with you.
For two years running, a group of families who had adopted Chinese girls at the same time held their reunion here. All the girls slept together on the floor of the formal living room in sleeping bags — which is the kind of thing this house is for.
A few things about the house
- Keep the front and back doors closed — it is a big house to cool.
- Ceiling fans in the bedrooms and on the porches.
- Lower the pool umbrellas in the evening, or if storms are coming.
- The two gas fireplaces downstairs are vented and for atmosphere, not heat. Please do not leave them running, and check they are off before everyone turns in.
- The deck grill runs on propane. Turn the tank on before you cook and off when you finish.
Fully equipped, and set up for a crowd: six gas burners, a gas oven and a separate electric broiler oven, a microwave, a blender, a refrigerator with an ice maker — and two twelve-cup coffee makers, which tells you what mornings here are like.
Four full bathrooms — two on the main level, two upstairs. Both master suites have their own bathroom entrance, so a group can decide for itself whether those stay private or get shared.
One large flat-screen in the living room with an Amazon Firestick, on the WiFi.