Becket — The Dream Away Lodge, located on 1342 County Rd., will reopen with new owners in April. The lodge, which operates out of an over 200-year-old farmhouse, has a legacy that goes back more than 90 years, from its founder Mamma Maria Frasca to its most recent owner Daniel Osman who purchased the lodge back in 1997.
In 2020 as the pandemic went on in the spring and summer, the lodge was open for outdoor dining events. However, it closed in September 2020, and Osman subsequently put the lodge up for sale in March 2021 for $1,250,000.
In February, the Davis Companies of Boston announced their intention to establish the lodge and an adjacent parcel at 1402 County Rd. as the location of both a restaurant and a glamping facility to be known as the Dream Away Campground. After many months of public hearings by the town’s Planning Board and subsequent resident protests, however, the company eventually backed out of its plans.
On Sunday, October 2, it was announced that Osman had sold the restaurant. The new owners are Daniel Giddings and his wife April Wilson and Scott Levy and his wife Sheryl Victor Levy. The four have created The Dream Away Lodge Restaurant LLC ownership group. “I’ve been coming to the Berkshires my entire life,” Scott Levy told The Berkshire Edge. “My family purchased a home in Becket back in 2004. We’ve both frequented the lodge and we’re both friends with Daniel Osman.”
“I live in Redding, Connecticut, but I’ve been going up to the Berkshires for quite some time,” Giddings said. “My best friend’s grandparents had a house just across the border in New York. Since I was seven years old, we would go to all the cool cultural stuff in the Berkshires.”
Giddings has previously owned three other restaurants, and he said that going to the Dream Away over the years has been a memorable experience. “There are a lot of restaurants that I’ve been to that weren’t memorable,” Giddings said. “But every once in a while, there’s a place that you’ve come to and you still talk about it years later.”
Giddings said that Osman gave both him and Levy a tour of the lodge back when it was closed in October 2021.. “He invited a bunch of friends to have dinner with us when it was closed down,” Giddings said. “It was a memorable experience because it was almost as if the Dream Away was back open for business and alive again.”
As for changes to the restaurant when it opens, Giddings said that the ownership group intends to keep The Dream Away Lodge the same as it has been as much as possible. “For me, the first thing that comes to mind is there’s something so unique and special when you walk in the door,” Giddings said. “There’s a transformation that occurs in time and tastes in a way when you walk in. And you’re always greeted by wonderful, warm people, including guests and patrons of the restaurant, along with Daniel and all his staff and Chef Amy [Loveless] who was there at the time. There’s just a warm and positive, kind of artsy, fun, playful way about the place. When you combine that with the history of the Dream Away, I think when you see something like that, you want to preserve it because I think a lot of people that come in want to change it. I think we saw this as something that was in danger, and something special to be preserved.”
While Loveless will not be back as the chef when the lodge reopens, Giddings said that, when it reopens again, the menu for the lodge will have something for everybody. “We’re not going to be doing some esoteric specific type of food,” he said. “We want a menu that’s well rounded that can be great for a couple out on a date or family. We want that to be a gathering place for everybody.”
The two said that music performances will return to the lodge once it reopens.
However, the ownership group has no plans to pursue the previously applied for glamping resort plans. “We have absolutely no plans for that,” Giddings said.
The press release announcing the new owners states, “The Dream Away will once again be Berkshire’s magical spot—so close and yet so far, the secret place you either know about or don’t!”
“That was Daniel Osman who wrote that,” Giddings said. “What he meant by that is, back in the good old days of the Dream Away, you had to be told about it because they didn’t advertise or use marketing. You had to know somebody who knew about Dream Away and invited you there. It was even hard to find before they had Google Maps. It was very unique in its day, and there are still people in this area who don’t even know about it. I would say what really is a secret is how wonderful it is.”
Giddings added that he hopes Osman will still be involved with the Dream Away Lodge in some way once it reopens.
