Cheshire's Country Charm Back on Market
 Owner Linda Lykkebak said she is unsure of the future of the Route 8 relic, the Country Charm. |
The landmark restaurant on Route 8 once famous for its prime rib and roasted chicken, not to mention the giant fiberglass rooster on its roof, was shuttered several years.
After a plan to reopen it as a dance club fell through, owner Linda Lykkebak of Orlando, Fla., said she was putting it on the market after some sprucing up.
"Right now, I'm just trying to paint it before the winter," Lykkebak said recently.
Motorists along the Route 8 corridor could see a change in the property this fall as the flea market operating out of the large shed in the back was cleaned out and the exterior of the restaurant painted.
Lykkebak hadn't selected a real estate agent yet but said she will hear serious offers directly during the winter and list the property with an agent in the spring.
A restaurant operated for 33 years at the Route 8 location, first as the Chicken Stop diner and then as the expanded Country Charm, but shut its doors in 2004.
Lykkebak retained control of the property after leasing it for more than a year in September. She noticed the sun was fading the paint on one side of the building so she quickly began a painting project to help protect the wood from the dampness of the winter.
The paint job was finished in November, she said.
With the painting complete and workers still making other renovations, Lykkebak was undecided at first what to do with the building but did not expect to open a restaurant. She considered attempting to sell it or continue with renovations.
The 6,200-square-foot restaurant, two cottages and a garage-type structure on nearly five acres were foreclosed on more than a year ago by Berkshire Bank after owner Trent P. Gaylord defaulted on a $300,000 mortgage dating from 2003. The Gaylord family had operated the restaurant for years before Trent Gaylord's parents retired. The building was abruptly closed one day with everything left inside.
Berkshire Bank took the property to foreclosure auction in August 2008 and Robin Sayers of Becket placed the high bid of $350,000 on behalf of herself and partner Richard Rockefeller. That deal never came to fruition and Sayer's sister, Lykkebak, and her husband Donald Lykkebak, purchased the property for $141,015 in June 2009 and leased it to Rockefeller.
Rockefeller opened the flea market and planned to renovate the main building and turn it into a dance club. Lykkebak said Rockefeller was unable to complete his plans and she took the property back.
