Wouldn’t you love to start your vacation a bit early? Wouldn’t you like to avoid the hassle, stress and expense of driving or flying somewhere? Well if Vermont is on your list of places to visit (and I hope it is), and you live on the east coast, why not try the Vermonter from Amtrak?

There are many benefits to taking the Vermonter.  The first is your vacation begins the moment you get on(…)

There is a movement across America to begin purchasing products that are made locally.  Whole Foods, food cooperatives and local grocers have gained serious popularity in the last few years.

I think people are moving this direction for several reasons.  One reason is certainly the recent contamination scares from imported produce.  This year it was salmonella in tomatoes (but really they meant peppers) and don’t forget that last year it was scallions.  Of course, I also(…)

Coming from New Jersey, there really aren’t all that many “hot” days in Brattleboro.  Of course, when the thermometer does climb, there are some perks to living in Southern Vermont?  One is the luxury and serenity of a nice dip in the river.  There is nothing more refreshing then a swim in a nice cool fresh water river.  One of our guests’ most frequently asked questions is “where are the swimming holes?”.  Well, the great(…)

As a kid (or even an adult) did you ever dream about running away to join the circus?  Didn’t we all.  Of course, if you really wanted to run away to join a circus you’d better do some work on developing your performance skills.  As luck would have it you can do that right here in Brattleboro, Vermont at the New England Center for Circus Arts.

This school was established in 2003 by identical twins Elsie(…)

Brattleboro is a lively little town celebrating the arts whenever possible.  This past Tuesday Tim and I were sitting out on the back patio chatting with some guests over a cold drink when we heard some great music coming from the park.  We strolled down the block to see what was going on and settled into a blank on the grass.  We had stumbled onto a brassy band, Jazzberry Jam, playing a mix(…)

We are happy to welcome the new Grafton Cheese Factory and country store here to Brattleboro.  As you would expect, this new state of the art facility has a viewing gallery where you can watch the process of cheese making through the large display window on the second floor.  What you may be surprised to find however is that the first floor is a wonderful place to literally get a taste of Vermont.  Not only(…)

Many of you may be familiar with some of the big name grocery stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joes. Some of you may not realize that those stores are based on a much older community based grocery store, the Cooperative. The Brattleboro Food Co-op began in 1975 as a small buying club. Today, the Co-op is a 16,000 square foot supermarket that is enjoyed by the Greater Brattleboro community. (…)

Next to the Putney Road Pub located right here at Forty Putney Road Bed and Breakfast, the Flat Street Pub located on Flat Street in downtown Brattleboro is the hot spot to grab a drink. With 20 microbrewed beers on tap, a nice wine and cocktail list Flat Street Pub has a drink to suite everyone. My personal favorite is the BBC Drayman’s Porter, while Tim is a huge BBC Coffeehouse Porter(…)

So our inn, Forty Putney Road Bed and Breakfast, backs up to a nice trail along the water that is apparently called the “Hogle Wildlife Sanctuary”. In doing some research I cant seem to find any reference to the history of this sanctuary online.

I have asked some folks around and haven’t had much luck with that either. So far all of the details that we have are that the area east of the(…)

So one of our recent guests checked in the other day and commented, “Brattleboro was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today”. Surprised, I asked what the article was about. He answered “All of your naked people”.

Of course, this was both a surprise, and not. It seems that in recent months, Brattleboro has been getting a lot of attention for some rather off-beat news. As a matter(…)