Beautiful mornings; Love of horses and the land bring couple to Hardwick.

Byline: Pamela H. Sacks

They had spent the winter months searching for just the right place to develop a horse farm, scouring Princeton, Harvard and Acton. But nothing had the amount of land they needed.

Then a real estate agent urged Torrance Watkins, a world-class equestrian, and her partner, Erik Fleming, an aerobatics pilot from one of America's elite agricultural families, to take a look at a piece of property in Hardwick. Watkins was short on time; she had to catch a plane to return to her home in Virginia, where she kept 12 horses. Still, something told them to take the agent's advice.

"We're following her on back roads," Watkins remembered. "We start down the driveway ..." Watkins was stunned by the wooded hills and overgrown fields that stretched out before her. "Erik can hear me saying, `Oh, oh, oh, we can't afford this.'"

"We went through the house. It was like putting on an old glove," Fleming said, recalling his first tour of the 18th-century Georgian Colonial he would come to call his home.

Watkins canceled her flight; they returned for another look. Within a couple of months, in June 1995, Fleming and Watkins had bought the property, which consisted of two buildings and 105 acres. They named it Morningfield Farm.

On a brisk morning not long ago, I was wide-eyed at the breathtaking sight that unfolded as I turned off Greenwich Road and headed down the same half-mile drive that had so impressed Watkins. On either side were superbly groomed horses, each with a colored blanket across its back, grazing in pristine paddocks separated by stone walls and white fences.

The farm's landscape is dotted with small barn-like structures called run-in sheds that are painted in peach with white trim and dark green doors. In the middle distance is an outdoor arena set up with a variety of obstacles.

Watkins is sought after as a riding coach and horse trainer. She has scaled the equestrian heights, winning trophies, cups and ribbons in top-level competitions both in the United States and abroad. Along with three members of her team, she captured a gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The driveway at Morningfield Farm curves around to the rear of the house, where an elegant U-shaped stable comes into view. Eighteen stalls boasting arched split doorways allow the horses to overlook a brick courtyard laid out in a herringbone pattern. Attached to the stable is a guesthouse with two apartments for live-in stable assistants, a...