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The Providence Journal Sandor Bodo

The peace of Little Compton and the privacy ensured by 19 acres of elegant English-style gardens, sweeping lawns and vineyards can be found at Broadlawn, a country estate at 43 South of Commons Rd., which is on the market for $4.5 million.

As the address implies, the property is a short distance from The Commons village center, a bastion of small-town New England charm. A long driveway bordered by stone walls separates the house from the public street. Towering elm trees provide shade near the main house.

The longtime owners, Earl and Susan Samson, are also the owners of Little Compton’s Sakonnet Vineyards.

The Samsons bought Broadlawn in 1980 from the Richmond family, descendants of the Richmonds who received a land grant from the English monarchy in the 1600s. The Richmonds still own neighboring properties and farm their land.

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At the time, the Samsons lived in New York and used Broadlawn as a summer home, but they moved to Little Compton on a full-time basis after buying the Sakonnet Vineyards in 1987.

At Broadlawn, the main house is an English-style cottage built in the 1930s. The property includes five buildings: the 4,262-square-foot main house, a 2-bedroom guest house with a 3-bay garage, a poolhouse, a children’s playhouse and a garden shed. There is also a 76-foot lap pool surrounded by tall hedge rows.

The additional land is divided by stone walls into five parcels and includes a vineyard.

The main house has every convenience and plenty of living space, but also has the unpretentious, simple charm of a country cottage.

The galley-style kitchen is modern, with two dishwashers, a large stainless steel refrigerator, a six-burner gas rangetop, two built-in ovens, and a warming oven. The 464-square foot kitchen includes a pantry and a breakfast area with windows that give views of the spacious lawns.

The house is decorated in the strong, bold colors preferred by Susan Samson: wall colors include bright shades of green, purple and pink.

What had been a fourth bedroom on the second floor has been changed into a separate dressing room that is part of the master bedroom suite, which also includes a fireplace and two separate bathrooms. The master suite is cut off from the rest of the second floor and is accessed by one of two staircases leading from the first to second floors.

Susan Samson, who has four grown children, said this change was made to provide privacy, but the configuration could be changed by a new owner.

Although there are six full bathrooms in the main house, only one bathroom has a bathtub, and this is in Susan Samson’s private bath in the master suite. “Which means all of the grandchildren have had to have their baths here,” she said with a smile.

Other changes made by the Samsons include a new entryway at the rear of the house, facing the driveway, and changing a former maid’s room into an office space with window seats.

One of the few neutral-tone rooms is the library, which is wheat-colored and has pickled antique pine paneling and built-in bookshelves.

The basement has a temperature-controlled wine cellar and tasting room, a laundry room with plenty of counter space, a large cedar closet, and an exercise room with a sauna. The wine cellar has a ceiling that is almost completely covered with corks from wine bottles opened at Samson family events.

The guest house is smaller and more rustic in character but is equipped with two bedrooms, a kitchen and a fireplaced living room, a screened porch that looks out onto the pool, and a three-car garage. The playhouse was formerly used as an office space by Earl Samson and is equipped with a woodstove.

The Samsons said they plan to downsize and may make their new home on the grounds of their vineyard.

Broadlawn, at 43 South of Commons Rd., in Little Compton, R.I., is on the market for $4.5 million. Annual taxes are $6,647. House purchases in Little Compton are also subject to a one-time conservation tax, $1,500 for the first $225,000 in sales price, and 4 percent of the price after the first $225,000. For further information, contact listing agent Catharine Katzenbach of Katzenbach & Company Real Estate of Westport, Mass., (508) 636-7777, www.katzenbachandcompany.com

In a separate real estate offering, 5 approved house lots at the Sakonnet Vineyards, each at least 12 acres, are on the market, priced from about $1.9 million to $2.45 million, or $11.3 million for all 70 acres; contact Michelle Kirby at Gustave White Sotheby’s of Newport, 401-848-6714, for more information.

The remaining land, about 100 acres of the 170-acre vineyard property, is protected from future development.How to submit a House of the Week

A different House of the Week appears each Saturday in the projoHomes section of The Providence Journal. The feature tells the story of the house and the people who have lived in it. If you would like us to consider a house for sale as a subject of this news feature, send a photo, information about the house and why it is of interest, to Christine Dunn or Andy Smith, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902; fax (401) 277-8250; or e-mail pjhomes@projo.com. For more information,

call Dunn: (401) 277-7913 or Smith: (401) 277-7262.

cdunn@projo.com