The Ballard Norris house is a majestic, beautifully maintained Colonial Revivalist home in Silver Spring - a stone's throw from the D. C. line and a 10 minute walk to the famed Washington D. C. metro system. The home and our family was featured in the Washingtonian magazine highlighting the best neighborhoods in Washington. (www. washingtonian. com/schools/bestplacestolive/ woodside. html) and was featured in the first Silver Spring Historic Home Tour in 1996. Originally with 7 bedrooms, we have converted two rooms into an office and a meditation room.

Having spent 10 years in Africa and having a family interested in travel has helped to fill our home with original art and artifacts from around the world, including a number of Leslie's original watercolors. The breakfast room in the kitchen is full of plants and stained glass, and has an open gas fireplace for the chilly months. There are antique pine floors on the first floor and three sets of 10 foot chestnut pocket doors. A two-level porch with gas grill and hot tub look over a well-kept, fenced-in half acre of yard. There are four bedrooms on the second floor, with thermapedic california king, two queens, and a bunk room with a double and a single. There is also a fold out coach in one of the offices.

Our home is very casual and livable, and is used to hosting large groups of people. We have a pool table room, a piano and other musical instruments, and a full gym in the basement. There are games and books galore, 5 televisions with digital and analog cable, and four computer stations with high speed internet access. We can also make arrangements to leave you our bicycles and a car.

Woodside has been in existence as a community from the late 1800's and was one of the first "bedroom" communities of Washington D. C. We can walk to the Metro, to numerous great local restaurants, and to the newly-renovated downtown area that has, for example, 10 new restaurants, a high-end organic grocery store, and a brand new 18-screen movie theatre. The nationally reknown American Film Institute previously housed at the Kennedy Center has just moved into a beautifully renovated theatre within walking distance showing a variety of film festivals, classics and foreign films.

The whole Silver Spring area has numerous inexpensive ethnic restaurants, and of course access to the incredible diversity of restaurants, museums and sites of downtown Washington D. C. Over a hundred miles of bike paths run from close to our home throughout the whole area including the beautiful Rock Creek park past the Smithsonian National Zoo. There are outdoor concerts, fairs and a neighborhood picnic in the summer months, and museums galore in the winter.

Our diverse and worldly neighbors are from every walk of life including diplomats, artists, non-profits executive and managers, retirees, and young families, and are always available to lend a good idea or direction.

We have a housekeeper/nanny who has lived with us for over 15 years who can either stay during your visit to clean and converse, live out and clean, or not come at all! We also have a cat Tyler. He has a definite presence, so if you are allergic, this wouldn't be a happy home for you! We also have a lovely and friendly lab/retriever named Schooner. He can stay with you or not depending on our circumstances,

Summer months, winter break, spring break. We're somewhat limited by private high school holidays.

Open to any dates

Anywhere - we love out of the way places as much as city travel. Always interested in beach exchanges too. Caribbean in the summer also has its appeal. Looking for a place for third week in March 2010 for a family reunion preferably Central America

Howard and Leslie have 4 kids, twin grand-daughters in Seattle and two in Boston. Jake is currently 15 and in high school, and his room would be a palace for any youngster, with a great treehouse that Howard built in the backyard. Leslie is a watercolorist, and loves the light in her studio. Howard grew up in Washington D. C. and knows the ins and outs better than most people. We'd love to have you in our warm, inviting home!

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