It was a stunning summer day in Aroostook County. The sun shone hot and bright in the clear blue sky, and the fields spread out like a patchwork quilt as far as the eye could see. Potatoes and canola were in bloom, and their blossoms of pale lilac and blazing yellow punctuated the rolling green hills.

On a day like this, everyone wants to be outside. Well, everyone except Julian the cat, who had curled up for a nap inside his owners’ “summer house.” And who could blame him? In this breezy, screened building behind C.K. and Donna Keegan’s Presque Isle farmhouse, Julian had it made in the shade.

The house, with its whitewashed walls and airy d?cor, is a modern take on a local tradition.

“All farmhouses used to have summer houses,” Donna Keegan explained. “We had one up on the top lawn. … Because it was so hot in the house – they would have wood stoves to cook things with – a lot of families slept in summer houses. When I was little and lived here, we had a summer kitchen, too.”

The Keegans live in the farmhouse where Donna’s father was born. Though her family sold much of the surrounding farm years ago, the couple now work the land in a different way. For the last 16 years, Donna has owned and operated Myrtle Tree, a nursery and landscape center. C.K., a finish carpenter by trade, is an integral part of the business.

“C.K. said to me, ‘If I had a little place out here where I could take a 15-minute nap, it would make all the projects seem so much easier,'” Donna Keegan said.

Five years ago, C.K. built his sleeping room, inspired in part by the “hootches” he encountered when he served in Vietnam, which had solid roofs and screened walls.

The Keegans have added simple but clever amenities. Beside the bed, books and Bibles are stacked inside wooden crates mounted on the wall. Donna cut a painter’s dropcloth in half and turned it into curtains. Candle lanterns provide light in the evenings, and there’s always a cool pitcher of iced tea on hand. During a recent visit, a bouquet of heirloom peonies perfumed the air.

Because the property borders a golf course on one side and a busy road on the other, the Keegans have surrounded the house with evergreens and flowering shrubs. C.K. has plans for a waterfall and a series of ponds near the front door, which is flanked by stonework. Given C.K.’s fine-carpentry background, it’s no surprise that the exterior looks like a storybook cottage, with its rounded door and intricate gingerbread molding.

What started as a small, basic sleeping area has become a warm-weather retreat for the couple. Summer is the busiest time of the year at Myrtle Tree, and as their business has grown, the Keegans haven’t been able to steal away for a weekend. Instead, they’ve created a getaway steps away from their own home. And they’re thinking of extending the season by installing windows and a small wood stove.

“We just feel like we’re at camp,” Donna Keegan said.

House Call

A summer place

Owners: Donna and C.K. Keegan

Where: Presque Isle

Built: 2002

Interesting design features: rounded cottage-style door, wooden crates as bookshelves, dropcloths as curtains, whitewashed walls, intricate exterior molding.