A Winter Weekend in Woodstock, VT
Kedron Brook in downtown Woodstock, VT
Last winter, I asked my husband to plan a winter weekend getaway for us somewhere in New England. As a planner, it is hard for me to give up control of planning a trip, but that’s exactly what I wanted at the time, a trip without having to think about all of the details that I normally take on. My only request was that we try to go somewhere we could use our new snowshoes that I bought us for Christmas last year that were already beginning to gather dust due to Massachusetts’s bust of a winter. Spoiler alert – we haven’t been able to use them once this winter either!
I didn’t think about the trip at all after the request, but a few weeks later he informed me that something was booked and then just before our trip he surprised me with a note divulging the secret location so that I could get excited for the trip and give any last minute input into our itinerary. The card had the cute little yellow bird from Snoopy which, at that moment, I had no recollection of the bird’s name (sorry, Sandro!). But now I will never forget after our lovely weekend away in Woodstock, VT.
Woodstock is a picturesque, small town located in the Green Mountains of Vermont (not to be confused with this Woodstock). It was the perfect spot for our wintery weekend getaway. I imagine it’s quite spectacular in any season, but it truly shined for our late winter trip. Just two hours north of Boston, we were shocked, and thrilled, by the amount of snow still on the ground and piled high around the adorable homes of Woodstock.
We stayed at a lovely B&B, The Vesper, downtown and walked pretty much everywhere throughout the weekend. Our B&B was super cozy with a fireplace in our room, beautifully decorated common spaces and a continental breakfast with fantastic coffee from Abracadabra Coffee Co. The host, Dana, was also lovely and got to know each of the guests at breakfast both days. Its website says, “it's a basecamp for getting outside, going inward and enjoying it all.” It was just that, and was exactly what I needed for our weekend getaway!
The view from South Peak on Mount Tom
Here were some of our favorite parts of the trip:
Surrounded by mountains, Woodstock is an incredible spot for hikers and snowshoe newbies like us. Mount Tom and Mount Peg were both exactly what we were looking for. On Saturday morning we set out from our B&B with snowshoes on our backs and headed to the Mountain Road access point of Mt. Tom and wound our way to the top. The highest elevation point on Mt. Tom is the North Peak, which is a wooded area with not a great view, but satisfying to conquer nonetheless. Not far below that at South Peak there is a great view of Woodstock. All in all our snowshoe adventure took just under 3 hours. Make sure you bring plenty of water and snacks.
Sunday morning we opted for a hike rather than snowshoes and tackled Mt. Peg, which was just up the road from our B&B. This was a shorter, but no less beautiful trek that took us less than an hour to reach the summit.
If cross-country/Nordic skiing is more your thing, there are great groomed trails for that as well!
Maple Creemees
Have you ever heard of a Maple Creemee? I hadn’t! Apparently “Creemee” is a term used exclusively in Vermont for what the rest of us call Soft Serve Ice Cream. The Maple Creemee combines dairy and maple syrup, two of Vermont’s biggest industries, and the result is delicious! Sandro opted for another treat, and definitely regretted not getting one for himself. We stopped at Woodstock Scoops, but it looked like there were lots of spots to get your Maple Creemee fix!
Food
We had great food while in Woodstock. Since it is a small town, reservations are a necessity. We lucked out with a last minute reservation opening at Santé and we’re so glad we did because we watched many parties come in and get turned down because all of the seats were full. We also thoroughly enjoyed our enormous sandwiches from The Village Butcher, which we devoured after our long snowshoe outing!
Night life is lacking in Woodstock, which was fine by us as we were more than happy to cozy up with a book next to the fireplace in our room at the B&B, but if that’s something you’re looking for Woodstock might not be the spot for you with only a few places open past 9 or 10 pm. If you are looking for a nightcap, I would highly recommend Au Comptoir. It’s a very small space, but worth the wait for a seat with its friendly staff and delicious drinks.
Don’t Miss These Other Spots:
If you are in the market for a new, super high quality flannel shirt, you have to stop into The Vermont Flannel Co. They offer hand cut and sewn in the USA flannel items - everything from shirts to fanny packs. We both bought a classic flannel button-up and love them!
This is Vermont’s deepest gorge and it is absolutely gorge(ous)! We only made a short stop here on our way out of town, but it looks like a wonderful spot to take a hike during any season.
Ok, these are hard to miss as you’ll pass by at least a few on your drive into and around Woodstock.
The Simon Pearce Factory Store
Stop by to see live glass blowing alongside the Ottauquechee River waterfall and covered bridge. There is also a restaurant onsite with beautiful views of the river - we did not go, but the menu looks great!