Years ago, Delton Curtis decided he wanted a pond. Some trout would be nice. Add in a pristine hidden valley where he could raise some chickens, hunt a few deer, and share a wonderful rural life with his wife, and everything would be perfect.

Perfect.

Somewhere along the way, the dream of Delton and Becky Curtis grew. One pond became two ? then three ? then five. He built the home he’d always dreamt of building, using the majestic pines that grew on his parents’ land.

And now, in that pristine hidden Thorndike valley, friends and family (and trout) abound. A friendly pack of wide-eyed Pomeranians patrols the front yard. And Rainbow Valley is a reality.

Perfect? That’s not for me to say. But you’re invited to go, sit (and fish) for a spell, and find out for yourself.

According to their Web site, (www.fishinmaine.com) Rainbow Valley is a place to go and fish for the rainbow trout and brook trout that the Curtises have stocked in five ponds on 75 acres. That only begins to scratch the surface of what the place is all about. And it doesn’t come close to explaining the couple’s dream.

“We wanted to get to the point in our lives where we could stay here and have a couple of businesses where we could just stay home and enjoy it,” Becky Curtis said. “This is our little piece of heaven, our little piece of paradise.”

Fishing is certainly a part of Rainbow Valley, and is the reason people will visit; visitors can pay a fee for a half-day or a full day of fishing on the picturesque ponds. Three hours of fishing will cost you $35. A half day is $60, and a full-day is $95. If you want to stay over, there’s a cabin you can rent.

But Rainbow Valley is far more challenging than “fishing in a barrel.” And going to Thorndike just to fish is ignoring the most important part of the Rainbow Valley experience: You get to spend time with the Curtises ? and if you’re lucky, Becky will feed you.

“I do all the cooking and the cooking that I do is from things that I grow here on the farm,” she said. “All our fruits and berries and vegetables, venison that we’ve shot ourselves, and chicken that we’ve raised ourselves, and pigs that we’ve raised. So we like to keep things as homey and natural as possible.”

On Friday, the menu consisted of venison stew, homemade biscuits, and strawberry-rhubarb pie. No one left the table hungry, I can assure you.

The Curtises opened for business a year ago, and they see Rainbow Valley as a perfect place for people to introduce novices to fly fishing (or fishing in general), or as a place for children to fish safely with their families. Veteran fly casters can also have fun, as the areas around the ponds are well-cleared, making snagged backcasts a thing of the past.

Originally, Rainbow Valley was going to focus solely on fly-fishing, but the couple found out that many people wanted to bring friends or children who didn’t know how to fly fish. This year, one pond has been set aside for general angling.

Still, Delton Curtis’ passion is fly fishing. And now he gets to practice his casting near the place where he began to fish as a child.

“I was a kid and used to come up brook fishing in this little stream,” he said, pointing to an area not far from one of the ponds. “There’s a good spring runs into it. When I finally bought the land I put a pond in.”

Eventually, Delton Curtis began fly fishing. As many others have found, the sport had a certain allure he couldn’t ignore.

“I started into it, and I enjoyed it so much,” he said. “Once you get caught up in it, you can’t stop fly fishing. It’s a lot more challenging.”

But enough about fishing. The thought of watching your young child battle with a hefty, leaping rainbow trout will get you to point your truck toward Rainbow Valley. The other things you find there will make you want to go back.

The fish are the attraction. But they’re not the dream. Not really.

The dream ? as far as I was able to tell in a few short hours ? is about family and friends. It’s about hospitality and recognizing that the term “old-fashioned values” needn’t be a clich?.

It’s about giving, and sharing, and making others feel welcome ? and having those same people return, not as strangers, but as friends.

Of course, your Rainbow Valley experience may be different than mine ? and even better.

“My philosophy of this whole thing is I want to treat each and every person who comes here the way I want to be treated when I go somewhere,” Becky Curtis said. “I don’t want anyone to go home disappointed, to go home not having the best time possible, and I want them to always remember the experience they had here at Rainbow Valley.”

The Curtises also love the fact that they’ve created a rural playground that young people enjoy, and that their grandchildren can call their own.

“We also wanted to do this as a legacy for our grandchildren,” Becky Curtis said. “Today, with so much going on in the world, we wanted to keep everything as close to the country, good old down-home living as we could, and (provide) a place where our grandchildren could come and really appreciate everything.”

Their grandchildren undoubtedly do ? and visitors surely share the sentiment. A week ago a non-fisherman from the Bronx caught the first fish of his life at Rainbow Valley. The Curtises are still talking about how big the fledgling angler’s eyes got ? and how much fun he had watching the hefty trout leap out of the water.

On Friday, the fish were smaller (though, just like in the wild, we were sure that The Big One was merely a perfect cast away). But the fish ? eventually ? cooperated (a black sinking wooly bugger is the best bet right now, according to our unofficial survey of hungry rainbows).

Fishing in a man-made environment isn’t for everyone. Neither, for that matter, is fly fishing. But for those who may want to introduce newcomers to their sport, Rainbow Valley is a wonderful option. And for those who like to eat ? well, let’s just say that Becky Curtis won’t let you go hungry ? even after you leave her special place in a hidden Maine valley.

“I send people home with flowers and asparagus from our asparagus garden,” she said with a chuckle. “Anything you can think of ? and usually a piece of pie and a few cookies.”

Coming up on ‘Going Outdoors’

If you want to get a closer look at Rainbow Valley, consider tuning in for our ‘Going Outdoors’ segment on ABC-7’s 6 p.m. newscast on Monday.

Cameraman Dave Simpson got some great footage during our visit, and we’ll share it with you.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.