Finding Basic Vegetarian Food
Whether you’re looking for items to prepare or simply grains, nuts and local produce, the Brattleboro Food Co-op is open 7 days a week serving as the downtown grocery store on Main and Canal Streets. Here, you’ll find fresh produce, artisan breads, juice as well as prepared food to eat in the cafe or take on the road. Similar products can also be found at the Brattleboro Farmers\’ Market on Saturdays and Wednesdays, as well as Dutton Farmstand located on Route 9 in West Brattleboro.

Vegetarian Restaurants
If you’re looking for the best vegetarian restaurants in downtown Brattleboro, Three Stones Restaurant regularly serves vegetarian and vegan Mayan cuisine. In North Brattleboro just off Putney Road, Top of the Hill Grill’s menu boasts tempeh, veggies, salads, wraps, and sides with tables overlooking the Retreat Meadow.  Elliot Street Cafe serves from 6am until the afternoon using local, fresh ingredients in an informal cafe style setting…. And there’s a ping pong table!

Brattleboro’s culture is heavily founded on the arts, part of which involves the appreciation for food. Take a trip to sample our culture, our vegetarian restaurants and our diverse selection of food. If you’re looking for lodging in southern Vermont with a vegetarian breakfast, visit us at Forty Putney Road B&B. See you soon!! Cheers.

The Brattleboro Farmers’ Market is a year-round Saturday event (also Wednesdays on a smaller scale) featuring some of Brattleboro’s best and most interesting food, products and people.  The food ranges from organic produce and artisan breads to Anon’s Thai dishes (one of our favorites), homemade gelato and wood-fired pizza.   Vegetarian?  Gluten allergy?  Vegan?  There’s no shortage of goods to fill the stomach for lunch or take-out.   Music and art set the laid-back and wholesome vibe for everyone, including the kids.  During the warmer months, occasional dancing, animals and a small play area are great way to entertain while you pick up this week’s produce.  Looking for a place to get the perfect gift?  Try the homemade soap or a piece of jewelry straight from the hands of the artist.   

Today, the Brattleboro Farmers’ Market continues to embed itself in our community as you can see in our farmers market videofrom a few years back.  Brattleboro’s unique ability to attract diversity is evident in the food, products, art and people, especially at the farmers’ market.  From May to October, the farmers’ market occurs in West Brattleboro off Route 9, a half mile west from exit 2.  In winter, it’s located in the heart of downtown Brattleboro in the River Garden.  Come enjoy our farmers’ market and stay with us at Forty Putney Road B&B.  Cheers!

McNeill’s pub in downtown Brattleboro occasionally houses live music and features many award winning, hard to find beer styles. Dark Angel, a 2010 International Beer Festival Winner, is a dark beer brewed with cascade hops. If you’re looking for a light summertime craft beer, McNeill’s Blonde Bombshell is great for a day of golf, a BBQ or after a long day of white water rafting You will usually find one or both on tap at McNeill’s pub. Other beers may include McNeill’s MaiBock, Warlord, and one of our favorites, Sunshine IPA. Sunshine IPA is a new favorite that pairs well with cheese.  But drink slowly. It is rumored this super-hopped beverage is 7.5%!

With over 20 breweries in Vermont, our state is home to some of the best and oldest craft breweries and cratf brew pubs in the country. McNeill’s has a long standing tradition of hoppy craft beer and a hippy vibe. McNeill’s was doing hoppy before it was cool and continues to produce crazy beer styles here in Brattleboro, Vermont. McNeill’s can be found on tap and in the bottle around the northern east coast and at our pub!  To us, what better place to have a bed and breakfast for beer geeks than in Vermont, especially Brattleboro, Vermont!!

Cheers!!!

The Vermonter stops at the Brattleboro Train Station placing you steps away from food, drinks, arts and culture. Whether it’s brick oven pizza, local flair or delectable Mayan cuisine, there’s something for your tastes within walking distance of the train and our inn. (Want to drop off the bags or freshen up before dinner? Call us, we’ll pick you up from the train at no charge.) There’s always action in downtown Brattleboro, but for you city folks who want to reconnect with nature (or the slopes), taking the Vermonter in the winter is still a great option.

From when the snow begins to fall until spring, Burrows Sports in downtown Brattleboro rents snow shoes and cross country skis. The Retreat Grounds and Solar Hill are minutes away from downtown with entry to intermediate level trails. Ever been ice fishing before? The retreat meadows are prime fishing grounds once the ice is thick enough, or your brave enough. Even better, you can see it from our backyard! Want to take the Vermonter and still hit the big slopes? The Moover (a bus painted like a cow) takes free daily trips to Mount Snow from Brattleboro.

If you’re like me, you might just stay where it’s warm and watch the ice fishing from our sun porch with a good book or enjoy a great local beer at our pub. Either way, taking the Vermonter to Brattleboro is an easy and dependable way to take a winter trip. Call us for reservations and more info about taking the train to Brattleboro.  And remember, as always, we are happy to pick you up and drop you off at the station for no charge.  Hope to see you in Brattleboro this winter!

Many studios will have live demonstrations with their art and crafts for sale.

Hand made tiles, ceramics, fabrics and even cheese makers will be represented this year at the Putney Craft Tour as well.  Plus you can experience all this while driving casually through the beautiful country side of southern Vermont, along side rolling rivers and stream, through the green mountains.  It’s a great way to pick up some locally crafted gifts for the holidays while taking some time for yourself.

So if you are “turkeyed out” after Thanksgiving and have dropped after your Black Friday shopping, come rest with us here at our Vermont B&B and take a few days and reconnect before you head back to work on Monday.  And be sure to pick up the Putney Craft Tour Map, which we will of course have available for our guests.

The Putney Craft Tour is held Thanksgiving weekend each year, but the participating studios change annually. Be sure to check www.PutneyCrafts.com for the most recent listings.

The picturesque farm is surrounded by majestic mountains, the perfect backdrop for a special sleigh ride. Guests are taken on the farm’s private trails, groomed especially for the sleigh, through forest and snow covered fields. The scenery and peace of the woods, animal life, and trails takes one back to nostalgic times.

Friesians of Majesty can accommodate up to four or five adults on the sleigh. The sleigh rides are typically forty-five minutes long unless guests opt to stop for vistas or wildlife. Your traditional sleigh is an ornate vis-a-vis hitched to an elegant friesian pair. The farm also offers the option of a farm tour after a sleigh ride. The farm tour includes cookies, hot drinks, a guided tour of the facilities, meeting the horses and a chance to play with the foals born last spring.

Friesians of Majesty is the only farm of its kind in Vermont to offer the public unique equine experiences in the winter. They are located in the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains on a 650-acre full-service breeding and training facility. They are also the largest friesian breeding farm in the US dedicated to the promotion and development of the friesian horse and friesian crosses as modern sporthorses.

Friesians of Majesty, 185 Maggie Ladd Road, P.O. Box 527, Townshend, VT 05353
www.friesiansofmajesty.com
Email: robertlabrie@friesiansofmajesty.com
Telephone: (802)365-7526

The Cotton Mill is an old mill in Brattleboro, Vermont that has been converted into studio space for artist and performers. The first weekend in December the Cotton Mill opens to the public with demonstrations and art for sale, just in time to pick up some great holiday gifts. In this quick video we take a look at some of the artist studios and offerings in the Cotton Mill during the 2009 open studio sale.

From their release:

Where can you go to see potters, glass blowers, circus performers, musicians, painters, candlemakers, jam makers, jewelers, booksellers, dancers and more all under one roof, all while you get your holiday shopping done?

Announcing the 13th Annual Cotton Mill Open Studio and Holiday Sale at the historic Cotton Mill building in Brattleboro,VT.

Admission and parking are free.

2011 Time & Dates:
Friday, December 2 – 10 am to 7 pm
Saturday, December 3 – 10 am to 6 pm
Sunday, December 4 – 10 am to 5 pm

Location:
76 Cotton Mill Hill – Brattleboro, VT

This once-a-year celebration features the work of many artists and artisans and promises something of interest for all ages. Walk away with handmade crafts, candles, candy, handmade jewelry, freshly made Jam, garden sculpture, cool books and so much more. Meet the artisans in their studios as you find beautifully handcrafted gifts for the holiday season.
Explore a diverse array of entertainment and artist demonstrations. There will be trapeze and dance, glassblowing, ceramics, woodworking, painting, film, a free raffle and more.

This once-a-year celebration features the work of many artists and artisans and promises something of interest for all ages. Explore a diverse array of entertainment and craft work, from live music, demos, trapeze and dance to blown glass, ceramics, woodworking, painting, film, bodyworks, toys, a free raffle and more. Meet the artisans in their studios as you find beautifully handcrafted gifts for the holiday season and enjoy live music, entertainment and demonstrations.

Even if you miss the open studio, since the space is not usually open to the public, many of the pieces of art you see in this video can be purchased at the shops downtown including Gallery in the Woods and The Artisan Design.

If you would like to contact the artists in this video directly please find their information below:

Natalie Blake Studios
802-254-9761

T. Breeze Verdant
Marquetry & Inlay
802-258-9820

Solinglass
802-251-0389

If you would like to contact any of the performers in this video please find their information below:

Luminz Dance Studio
802-254-9200

John Hughes Music

And for information on Brattleboro and the surrounding area, please keep an eye on our website InnBrattleboro.com or spend a night with us at our Brattleboro Vermont B&B. Thanks for watching!

We always describe the uniquely odd (in a good way) Brattleboro culture, but Twice Upon a Time makes the case more so than any other store. It’s not just merchandise, but keepsakes, antique furniture, jewelry, dishware, decor, clothes and “stuff” with a story, many of which came from the characters living here in southern Vermont. Vendors stalls line the isles with pieces from 1 to 100 years old. I can’t think of a better place to get a Halloween costume or a store that has such an incredible selection, anywhere, much less in downtown Brattleboro. Twice Upon A Time has giant hats for Sunday brunch (feel free to bring yours) and Fiesta Ware to match. The shelves are stocked with books, cowboy boots, kimonos, vintage ashtrays – a tough find even at the flea market.

We moved to Brattleboro to buy our inn, 40 Putney Road, after months of looking for a fun and interesting place to live. Twice Upon a Time says it all. Brattleboro’s eclectic culture can be seen all over downtown in the people, the home goods, the clothes, the shopping, the food, the books and the art and architecture. Twice Upon A Time is one of our favorite consignment shops…. in the lower 48!  Stop by downtown Brattleboro and see for yourself.

The main courses are served with a salad which is – or was in my case – almost too pretty to eat. It was a work of art with carved vegetable and a vinaigrette dressing I still remember fondly. We had a choice of beef, fish (I think it was halibut), scallops or rabbit. The food was incredible. I had the scallops which were perfectly done. Not too well done which is what I usually find is the problem with scallops. The reason there is no printed menu is that the menu is new every day.

Something that is different but very appealing is the open kitchen where you can see the meals being created by the chef and sous-chef. The single server is always a few feet away (because of the size of the place but that doesn’t mean that you’re under any pressure or scrutiny. The tiny restaurant is oak paneled and slate-floored and the tables sport silver cutlery, vintage dishes and flower vases.

The meal is not cheap, but it is such an experience that $11 appetizers, $40 entrees, and $5 desserts are definitely not out of line for the overall experience that this turned out to be. And somehow the handwritten bill (with calligraphy none the less) seemed to make the experience complete. Oh – by the way, they only take cash and checks.

There was beer which we didn’t have (I know, shocker!) and the wine list was reasonable with prices in the $30 to $100 range. The open kitchen and the fresh flowers and the intimacy of the small tables, bathed in golden lights gave the sense of being in a dinner theater setting – where you were part of the theater in a cozy, “I-belong-here” kind of manner.

TJ Buckleys is located at 132 Elliot Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301-3275, You can call them at (802) 257-4922 and be sure to tell them that Tim and Amy from Forty Putney Road B&B sent you!

Downtown Brattleboro book stores all have their own niche and are still surviving after years of growing competition from larger, bigger budget stores. Thanks to a thriving interest in keeping it local and a large population of book enthusiast and authors, downtown Brattleboro book stores hold their ground. Some hold events, books signings and reading for all ages year round. Although each book store has its own personality, they all have a well read staff. Each store presents an enthusiastic staff, who in many cases (like Mystery on Main), have read almost every book in the store. This is what they do and they love it! These aren’t the people you want to play Trivia with, trust us. But they are the people to recommend the best books for recipes on a dime, DIY home insulating, Joe Gunther’s greatest adventure, social justice or natural birthing in your home. You name it, one of the downtown book stores carry it.

What’s your flavor? Not sure? Check out our book stores just a few blocks from our inn in downtown Brattleboro to find out for yourself.

The Book Cellar
120 Main Street, Brattleboro (802) 254-6810

Everyone’s Books
25 Elliot Street, Brattleboro (802) 254-8160

Brattleboro Books
34-36 Elliot Street, Brattleboro (802) 257-7777

Mystery On Main
119 Main Street, Brattleboro (802) 258-2211

Baskets Bookstore/Paperback Palace
48 Harmony Place, Brattleboro (802) 258-4980

If there are other book stores you think we should include, comment! We’d love the feedback.