Owning a Bed and Breakfast in Brattleboro, Vermont is so much fun.  One of the questions we are often asked by our guests is “why did you choose Brattleboro?”   So here is a quick list (in no particular order) of reasons why Brattleboro, Vermont is an awesome place to stay, play and live.

1. Great downtown – stroll through our active downtown with all of its big city amenities
2. Live theater – 3 Theaters for live performances downtown (Hooker Dunham Theater, Latchis Theater, New England Youth Theater)
3. Caffeine – 3 Independent Coffee Shops (Mocha Joe’s, Coffee Country & Cafe Lotus)
4. Food – 30+ Restaurants to choose from
5. Pizza – 8 Pizza Shops (what can I say we like pizza around here)
6. Sushi – 3 restaurants to get great Sushi
7. Brattleboro Museum and Art Center
8. Martinis – on the deck at Alici’s Bistro in the summer
9. Vermont Jazz Center
10. Galleries – Gallery in the Woods, Artisan Design, Gallery 215, Artist Loft Gallery…just to name a few
11. Architecture – Beautiful historic architecture
12. Beer – McNeil’s Brewery in the historic fire house
13. More beer – 40 Tap Handles at Flat Street Pub
14. Cheap beer – $2.75 Draft Beer on the Fridays on the roof top deck at the Riverview Cafe in the summer
15. Movies – Check out the Art Deco Latchis Movie Theater
16. Only a 2 hour drive from Boston, MA
17. Only a 3 hour drive from New York City, NY
18. Only a 5 hour drive from Philadelphia, PA
19. The Vermonter - Amtrak service from Washington D.C., Philadelphia and NYC to Brattleboro Vermont!
20. Small town – only 12,000 residents
21. How Tom at Peter Haven\’s Restaurant met me once and remembered my name 2 years later
22. Countless Boutiques – Beadnicks, Altiplano, Blue Moose, Knit or Dye, Distinctive Decor…just to name a few
23. So many books – 5 Book stores downtown (Baskets Paperbacks, Book Cellar, Brattleboro Books, Everyone’s Books, & Mystery on Main)
24. Community Appreciation Day – free lunch served by the Brattleboro Savings and Loan
25. Brattleboro Food Coop – local and fresh food!
26. The Hospital – yes, best experience I ever had at a hospital (kind, courteous and only waited 5 minutes to be seen)
27. Our Local Butcher Shop – North End Butchers
28. Gallery Walk – 1st Friday of every month – over 40 galleries, shops and restaurants displaying local art
29. Local newspaper daily – all the news I need in the Brattleboro Reformer
30. Drive in Movies -  Northfield drive-in theater
31. Wantastiquet – great hike with an odd name
32. Chesterfield Gorge
33. The Retreat Trails – hike them right from our backyard
34. Mount Monadock - sure it’s not in Brattleboro, but it’s close and awesome
35. Picking Berries – love Dutton Farm
36. Road Biking along the West River
37. Strolling of the Heifers (ever seen cows strolling down main street before, well see it here)
38. Spofford Lake
39. Mountain Biking
40. Tubing down the West River
41. Swimming holes on the West River
42. Kayaking on the Connecticut River
43. Hogle Wildlife Sanctuary
44. Canoeing in the Retreat Meadows
45. The Treasured Tree Tour – including our enormous Japanese Maple Tree – you have to see it to believe it!
46. Golfing at the Brattleboro Country Club
47. Hogback Mountain Scenic Overlook
48. Fishing
49. Fall Foliage
50. Corn Mazes – including the Gaines Farms’ giant cow
51. It’s haunted… The Spooky Side of Brattleboro (Madame Sharri\’s Castle and the Retreat Tower)
52. Shelburne Falls – Pot Holes and Bridge of Flowers
53. Picking Apples  – love Scott Farm
54. Cider – Donuts & Fresh Apple Cider from Green Mountain Orchards
55. Snow
56. Ski Jumping – Harris Hill Ski Jump
57. Ice Fishing on the Retreat Meadows (I love watching them from our 2nd Floor Sun Porch, like a Norman Rockwell painting)
58. Snow Shoeing
59. Cross Country Skiing at the Brattleboro Country Club
60. Down Hill Skiing at Mount Snow (just a short 20 minute drive)
61. Diversity
62. The Circus is always in town at the Nimble Arts Circus School
63. School for International Training
64. Protests – who doesn’t dig a good peaceful protest
65. The smelly hippies
66. Bartering – check out Boomerang, Turn it Up, and other shops
67. Vermont Fresh Network – restaurants, growers and producers working together
68. Free Wi-Fi – not just at our inn, but throughout downtown!
69. A Bush and Cheney free zone
70. First Home Depot in the US to close – citing local competition-Brown & Roberts Hardware rules!
71. Supporting local businesses
72. Keeping Walmart out
73. Sustainability – Check out the store called Save the Corporations From Themselves
74. Easy to be Gluten Free
75. Easy to be a Vegetarian
76. Easy to be a Vegan
77. Cheese – Grafton Cheese Company (watch them make cheese, visit their country store or pet the animals at the farm)
78. Weddings – in the apple orchards at Scott Farm
79. Sugaring – see them make the Maple Syrup at Harlow’s Sugar House
80. Candy – Tom and Sally\’s Handmade Chocolates (something for the kids and something for the adults as well)
81. The Brattleboro area Farmer\’s Market (year round)
82. Thai food – Anon’s Thia food at the Farmer’s Market and Thai Bamboo – both rock
83. The Awesome 80’s hour on WTSA 96.7 FM (while I iron the sheets)
84. Walking our dog and feeding the ducks in the Retreat Meadow (one for them, one for her)
85. 175 years of history at the Brattleboro Retreat
86. Antiquing on Route 30
87. Irish Sessions on Wednesday nights at JD McCliment’s Pub in nearby Putney
88. Live music at the Weathervane
89. Summer Concerts in the Park
90. Brattstock – local music festival in August
91. Renew Building Supply – plenty of reclaimed parts for your (and our) old house
92. Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters  – the biggest little store you have ever seen!
93. Chelsea Royal Diner – try their ice cream
94. Wine – great local shops (Windham Wines) and producers (Honora)
95. Basketville
96. Our Downtown Waterfall – how many towns have one of those!
97. Fish Market
98. Festivals (Keene Pumpkin Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, Yellow Barn Music Festival, Dummerston Apple Festival, Newfane Heritage Festival, Brattleboro Literary Festival…just to name a few)
99. Newfane Flea Market
100. Covered bridges
101. And of course, Forty Putney Road Bed and Breakfast!

Did we miss anything?  What are your favorite Brattleboro things?  Please share your favorites in the comments!

One of the unique stops along the Retreat Trails is the Retreat Tower.  This tower was built by the patients of the Vermont Asylum (now the Brattleboro Retreat) in 1887.  At the time, doctors believed that hard, meaningful labor could help mental patients regain their stability.  So a group of patients was put to work building this large stone tower, as a scenic overlook of the Asylum grounds.

While I’m sure that the doctors had the best of intentions, some patients chose to use the tower in a different manner.  In the years following its construction, according to the book “Weird New England” a fair number of patients climbed to the top of the tower and hurled themselves off of it onto the rocky cliff below.  While the number of suicides at this site is a closely guarded secret, the tower was sealed off and remains so today.

For those looking for the haunted side of Brattleboro, ghost hunters report sightings of an airborne human-like form at the top of the tower that appears briefly and then disappears into space.

You can find the tower off of the “Tower Climb” trail on the Retreat Trail system.  It’s a fairly easy 10 – 15 minute walk from our Inn.  The tower is visible from the Retreat Meadows and a lot of the north side of Brattleboro as well – particularly in the winter and fall as the trees clear.

The tower opens to the public typically just one or two times per year.  The dates are not consistent, but you can certainly keep an eye on our twitter feed to know when it opens – as we will definitely be there.

Fall foliage and a good corn maze go hand in hand. One of the best corn mazes I have ever navigated is in nearby Guilford, Vermont at Gaines Farm.

The 5.5 acre maze is shaped like a giant cow, every bit what I would expect a Corn Maze in Southern Vermont to be shaped like. This Maze also offered a “Cornundrum” game, where using a map you search out 10 riddles in the maize, write down your answers and are entered to win a grand prize.

Tim had a blast playing with the Corn Cannon (pun intended).  Hit the tire or ring the bell by shooting corn from a compressed air cannon and you win a hat.  We walked away hat-less, but with big smiles instead.  finally, we wrapped up this beautiful fall day with a cup of warm apple cider from the refreshment cart and a quick look at the animals in the barn.

You can enjoy these great events at Gaines Farm on weekends only from Columbus Day weekend through Halloween weekend.   Hope you enjoy this short video.  We look forward to showing you more of Southern Vermont and our great town of Brattleboro when you come stay with us at Forty Putney Road B&B.

With Halloween approaching, I put together this quick video to showcase some of the spooky side of Brattleboro.  This video takes you on a quick tour of the  Retreat Cemetery and Retreat Tower as well as Madam Cherie’s “Castle”.  Each of these sites has a “haunted” history and several sources mention ghost sightings.   Best of all, each of these places are a short walk from our Brattleboro Vermont Inn.   Check out each of our individual posts for details (some are still coming, so be sure to keep an eye on our site or follow us on Twitter to get the updates) about the locations, and enjoy this quick look at the haunted side of Brattleboro – if you dare…

Last year the Brattleboro Retreat completed updates on a series of trails that climb throughout their expansive property.  The trails date back to the 1800’s when many of them were created for the use of the patients and staff of the “Vermont Asylum”, which continues to operate today as the Brattleboro Retreat.  As a matter of fact, the Brattleboro Retreat is celebrating it’s 175th anniversary this year.  Many of the trails today still use the names they were given 175 years ago – including the pictured “last step”.   Lucky for us, our home was once part of the Brattleboro Retreat and these trails connect to those that are located right in our backyard.

The trail system is open year round and is more than 9 miles long.  The Retreat Trails cover over 400 acres of forest and agricultural land and include some interesting sites, like the Harris Hill Ski Jump, Grafton Cheese Country Store, the old Cemetery and the Retreat Tower.

There is a nice map of the trail system available at several information kiosks along the system, the map is also online here and we have printed copies of the map at the Inn for you as well.

The trails range from flat and easy, to somewhat steep and rocky.  None are really more than “moderate” in difficulty and most can be trekked year round.  We have taken some great winter hikes in the snow up these trails, sliding down the steeper parts in our snow pants.

For those staying with us at our Brattleboro B&B, you can access the trails from our back yard (these trails connect to the shorter Hogle Wildlife Sanctuary Trail).  For others, there are 5 public access points to the trail system – outlined here.

Yankee Candle is headquartered in western Massachusetts.  Now, while you cannot tour the actual factory (which is something I would have loved to do) they have built what is best described as a “Hallmark Theme Park” for your candle and nick-nack loving enjoyment.

I visited the Yankee Candle Village with some hesitancy, especially after finding out that I didn’t get to see any massive machinery pumping out candles by the thousands.  However, the village does seem to have something for everyone.  From the obvious enormous selection of every scent of Yankee Candle – to small rooms full of sports memorabilia – to a winter themed space that actually has falling snow.

The space itself is enormous and even has several dining options, including Chandlers, a fine dining restaurant which is illuminated with hundreds of candles.   If you are just in need of a snack, or a place to chill while your partner peruses the candles, there is a central cafe with sandwiches, soups and the like and even an animated bear jamboree – singing tunes about candles…

For the bargain hunters, there is a small room near the center of the building that is filled with discounted candles and odds and ends.

If you are looking for some gifts, there is a huge toy section, complete with Santa’s workshop and full time Santa (off season he chills in the workshop checking his list – probably more than twice).

The whole trip wraps up with a full fledged home store, including designer bags and fashions and a host of small impulse items at the sea of cash registers.

I would say that this is certainly a place worth visiting and will get you brownie points from the lady in your life – particularly if she is a candle fan.   Best part, the Yankee Candle Village is just about a 30 minute ride from our Vermont Inn and part of our larger “heading south” tour of fun and interesting places near Southern Vermont.

Yankee Candle Village is open everyday from 10am to 6pm, with some extended hours during the holidays.