October 2011
New England Fall Colours reconnaissance trip

Leaving Stowe was a wrench – such a beautiful place. The weather has been truly glorious and it really lights up the colours of the foliage and seems to make it glow and hillsides appear ablaze. Apparently the colours this year are not as good as normal, thanks to Hurricane Irene with her torrential rain and winds causing the leaves to brown early or fall off. All I can say is that it sure looks wonderful to me, so ‘normal’ years must be incredible!

We headed south along ‘temptation alley’ so named as it’s lined with specialist food producers, with such delights as cider doughnuts, and Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, to Waterbury. Turning west to the shores of Lake Champlain, we visited the superb Shelburne Museum. This is really worth a visit of at least 3-4 hours, wandering around an open-air collection of period buildings from across the region, a paddle steamer, and an incredible array of artefacts within each. This is one of New England’s ‘must see’ attractions, giving a rare and fascinating insight into life of the early settlers in the 1600s through to the early 20th century.

Next door is Shelburne Farms, a showcase farm created by the omnipresent Vanderbilts, and a beautiful demonstration of perfection in agriculture. For those interested in horses, the Morgan Horse Stud is also not far away either, near Middlebury – itself a nice college town. The route then winds across the Green Mountains to Rochester and south to Woodstock, where the tour is staying for three nights over the Columbus Weekend. This is a gorgeous little town and the Woodstock Inn is really stunning and extremely comfortable. This part of Vermont was badly affected by Irene in August but I am amazed and extremely impressed just how hard Vermonters have worked to clear up, repair the roads and bridges, and make good the flood damage. It is really hard to believe that so much can be done in just 6 weeks, so I doubt there will be too much evidence next year, and certainly no disruptions. We have encountered a few route detours as some roads and bridges are out at the moment, but these will be fixed in the coming weeks.

Woodstock has a buzz about it, being the long holiday weekend. As the Inn is right in the centre, the entire town is within a 5 minute walk and there is no need to drive. There are lots of events over the weekend, from craft and country fairs to fall festivals and farm events. I have put together a short drive on one day, encompassing the Coolidge Homestead at Plymouth Notch, and the other day is free for participants to visit the Billings March Rockefeller Farm and Homestead, visit the nearby Sugarbush Farm to see how maple syrup is made (and taste and buy many items made with it), or just relax in the sumptuous inn. We managed to do all of that, and visit the local craft fair, see the Quechee Gorge, with Simon Pearce Glass Studio alongside, and wander around town, drifting into the variety of shops and galleries lining the sidewalks.

From Woodstock we drove south to our next stop, Dorset, in southern Vermont. We stopped in the charming village of Weston, nestled around its village green, and visited the tiny ‘historical district’ with its water mill, tin-worker and old crafts. There are also two superb country stores in the village – both well worth a visit. These stores are like a step back in time, and it’s incredible to see the sheer range of items and products they stock, often merchandised with every-day antiques, old signs and country implements. Each has a food ‘hall’ where we bought some lunch and enjoyed a lovely picnic in the dappled sunshine on the green. We crossed the Green Mountains again, to Manchester and onto Dorset. We’re staying at the divine Dorset Inn – a quintessential old Vermont inn with oodles of character.

After an indulgent breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup (well, why not?), we drove the small circular loop we’ve planned for the tour, taking in a visit to Calvin Collidge’s homestead at Plymouth, and then going to Manchester. Manchester is particularly known for it’s quality retail outlet stores, so we did a spot of shopping. It’s also a mecca for fishermen, as it’s the hometown of Orvis and the flagship store is here, along with a large trout lake, to test the rods and equipment. Down the road in Manchester village is Hildene, home of the Lincoln family, and also worth a visit. We bimbled back to Dorset, stopping at the old marble quarry, which is now a lake, and marvelled at the enormous blocks of pale marble that has been used for building in much of the area – including all the sidewalks in Dorset.

We have very much felt that Vermont has been our favourite state. Which will yours be?