Luxe listing: A lovingly restored farm compound in Newtown Square for $2.1 million

Four years ago, Christy Eichinger thought she was done with being a stay-at-home mom to three kids.

Her older two were out of the house, the third would soon head to college, and she was fixing up Echo Valley Farm, the historic Newtown Square property she and her then-husband had just bought. Restoring it would be a satisfying use of the energy Eichinger had once poured into child-rearing.

She loved the rustic beauty of the circa 1708 compound. Its former granary had been converted to a main house; the big barn into an inviting, pub-style recreation space; and separate milk and hay houses into snug cottages. The farm’s 11,000-plus square feet of thick stone walls, beamed ceilings, and quirky crannies would solidly counter some updated kitchens and bathrooms.

As Eichinger toiled, she made constant discoveries: grown-over stone steps in the walled garden, a hidden closet in the barn that still held yokes for the farm’s long-ago workhorses, odd drawers in surprising places.

“The property reminded me of farms in Belgium,” said Eichinger, who’d been enamored by whitewashed stone abodes during a vacation there. And guests were charmed by it: Echo Valley quickly became the go-to place for parties and weekend visits from out-of-town family and friends.

Then COVID-19 shut down the world, Eichinger’s kids came home, and she entered a new phase of stay-at-home mothering, this time with adult children.

The older two, partners in tow, took over the cottages, and the youngest moved into an apartment in the main house. In their free time, everyone hung out in the barn, at the in-ground pool, or around the fire pit on the flagstone patio.

“For the first time in years, we were all together in the same place for an extended period of time,” said Eichinger. “I get choked up, remembering how wonderful it was.”

The joy compounded when Eichinger’s daughter and boyfriend became pregnant. Echo Valley spaciously accommodated all of what came next: Throwing the couple a baby shower in the barn, helping them adjust to new parenthood, watching their child take first steps, hosting the couple’s wedding in the barn just last month.

The children have since moved south — to Tampa, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Charleston, S.C. — so Eichinger is headed there, too, and is now looking for a new place in need of a little TLC. While mothering remains her first passion, Echo Valley taught her that restoring a special property is her second.

The home is listed by John Bolaris at Keller Williams Philadelphia for $2.1 million.