that Woodstock Vermont is where I am convinced the word charming was coined
the village of Woodstock was given by New Hampshire in 1761 as a gift and it
will be a gift to you when you visit there
Woodstock is a village if you visit the red covered bridge the taftsville covered
bridge that is the village of Taftsville it's still part of Woodstock viewing and
photographing the old wooden red bridge the Taftsville covered bridge will give
you about five or seven parking spots if you can't find a little parking spot
like a spot I mean like to pull off the road spot because that's all there is
you can just go down a while and then turn around somewhere and come back and
take a quick picture and then get back in your car I recommend going from the
taftsville covered bridge east on highway 4 until you get to the Quechee Gorge gift
store it has a huge parking lot out front and you can enter the gorge from
the behind the gifts store but you can also just walk on the little sidewalk a
hundred feet from the parking lot and be on the bridge on top of the Quechee Gorge
Quechee is how it looks like it's spelled but I'm 99% sure it's pronounced Quechee
and then you can look from both sides of this bridge if you're in a wheelchair or
have a person in your family in a wheelchair in his wheelchair friendly
it's like a six or seven minute drive the six miles from the tap snow covered
bridge so we highly recommend it going to do that there is a Kiki Ski Club
right near there that gorge so you're not in the middle of nowhere you're oh I
just used two negatives you're not in the middle of nowhere you're right there
on a major road highway but it's very people and pedestrian friendly
there in the parking lot also on that side of town is a sugar bush cheese and
maple farm and you can go in you park in the gravel dirt parking lot you can go
into this little bitty shop that has three sections to it it's not very
wheelchair friendly I mean it can be done but it is not very well chair
friendly because it is so cramped in there but you're assured right in by a
really strict lady who says okay gather in and you you obey her you gather in
and you get to sample like eight different cheeses that they have there
for you to box or you can order it online or have it shipped I don't
recommend having it shipped from the shop there because it really seems like
you're an inconvenience and they sometimes they have a big busload of
tourists coming and they really don't have time and it's all done on paper so
it's very time-consuming for them and you and all the people waiting to be
helped so order online I chose for cheese's that I wanted Oh delicious and
they would not ship them until mid-november and this was the end of
September when we were there because they would not ship fresh cheese even
though it was all waxed in they would not ship it to a warm location until
mid-november then you also get to sample right then and there the four different
grades the new grades of maple syrup and they show you what color each grade is
and it goes from light to depth the deep taste and fabulous you get a little
plastic spoon and you get a little piece of paper like you would get playing
putt-putt and you get a check off which cheeses you like she'll say
number one is the Jack cheese the Mountain Jack cheese number two is the
blue cheese and then if you like that when you would circle it and put the
number one night and that way know which cheese you want to buy when
you go into the shop same thing with the syrup which syrup flavor you liked the
best but downtown Woodstock in the Shire of Woodstock is where I wanted to stay
and live for months we stayed at the Shire at Woodstock which is right
downtown and it's a five minute walk to the downtown little oval of Woodstock
and think Town Square tightly cozied up together it's not like a town square
really it's more of a stretched almost oval but everything is within walking
distance it's our in is an in on the Ottauquechee
River so you have a table with wicker chairs from the back deck of your room
to view it and then the Shire also has a grassy area near the river if it's warm
enough for you to hang out there and then in front of each ring you have
these precious little white rocking chairs - just relax or have your coffee
or just to watch people watch down the little main road that leads into the
square it's so sweet every room has these in front of their room almost
every day you have the Shire Woodstock gardener who comes and waters all of
those beautiful flowers the natural flowers and he loves his job he he also
has these great tomatoes which we spied when we were looking at how
pretty the flowers were and he said take some they're free so another plus of
saying at the Shire Woodstock my mom and I shared a king-size bed that had six
pillows on it and they were wonderful such a cozy bed you feel like you're
going into a room where you could stay for a week you've got chairs you've got
a huge dresser you have a little closet area the only thing I would say is that
the bathroom is really damp because there's not a vent fan for you to turn
on after a shower so there is a tiny little window but that's my only
complaint and the bathroom was very clean and cue
and charming we loved our stay at the Shire Woodstock I would definitely stay
there again you can also stay at the Charleston house you can stay at the
Woodstocker my mother-in-law and father-in-law stayed there about 15
years ago and loved it it's also right down there at the oval
you can even splurge and stay at the Woodstock Inn for a very high price but
the grounds are amazing the flowers are beautiful but you do not have a river
view like you did at the Shire of Woodstock in my opinion and I think that
is just a beautiful spot to look at the river and all the leaves that are gonna
change right behind that little river we walked to the mont vert cafe and in here
we in turn on National Coffee Day didn't even know it and they gave us 50 cents
off of our delicious cup of coffee they also have sandwiches that you can get
for breakfast for lunch that you can have a drink near dinner table they have
a cozy downstairs as well as an upstairs they are very supportive of their local
fit friends and family because Woodstock is so walkable and such the center of
town there are a lot of locals who go there to the Mont Vert cafe I saw a local
lady bringing her sliced bright red tomatoes and from her bag she was
putting them on top of her little breakfast sandwich so locals go there
that means it's good coffee and good food Woodstock Vermont is very
pedestrian friendly tourism is their number one source of income so they are
very patient for us crossing their streets at wrong times crossing the
streets in the wrong areas they're very patient and graceful Vermont tears and
parking on the street downtown is free until 10:00 a.m. so we recommend going
to get breakfast at the Mountain Creamery there are lots of places you
can eat downtown though down in the little square but we ate at the mountain
Creamery I had a maple sausage cheddar and Apple omelet all mixed in you can
see how like naturally melted the cheese is it looks homemade like they got it
from the sugarbush farm it was delicious
and the toast that came with it and I think the bread was homemade there it
was the most dense bread I've ever tasted but it was definitely thin toast
but it was so dense and they give you one of those silver little shot glass
kind of things but that silver a tin little cup they give you their
strawberry jelly which I'm I'm convinced they got from sugarbush Farm strawberry
jam jelly goodness and it just spreads as easily as butter that has sat out all
day it is so smooth it's not too sweet it is such good it almost tastes like
strawberry syrup like really thick syrup so good and they have a little Creamery
right underneath them well not a Creamery really but it is an ice cream
shop we recommend driving to the mountain
creamery parking for free and then hit sugar bush farm and then going over to
the Quechee Gorge Bridge for viewing I think that would take you up until lunch
time and I forgot to say about sugar bush farm when you are done shopping you
can also walk around their grounds they have a little bitty short trail through
their maple trees and you can see where some of the sap is being drawn and all
the little tubing and piping all through the forest that's on their grounds and
they also have a little chapel that has a cute little like rocking horse little
bear toy in the chapel so it's kid-friendly it's not like super quiet
and everything it's I think it's actually carpeted inside with
indoor/outdoor grass or whatever lovely little place and then you would probably
spend our maybe more if it's warm outside
you're going to just go out and sit on a bench and take in the views because the
valley is right behind the sugar bush farm area the little shop area beautiful
and through the little trail of the maple trees you have little signs that
give a little facts and stuff like that don't miss that it you think it's just a
farm but it is it's so cute and you can get a lot of different size and tsa
approved sized liquid syrups to get on and as well as what you want to buy
online in the afternoon or evening the early evening you may want to go and
park around the square the oval and visit the Red Rooster which is the
restaurant inside the Woodstock inn and then walk around all around the little
oval it's probably about seven big houses long that's how long the Oval
would be and go to the Woodstock Inn and eat or grab it and some appetizers at
the Red Rooster and then walk around the little oval and then you'll hit the
middle bridge the middle covered bridge right there it is right there on the off
of the sidewalk on the oval and it even has like a footpath that's totally
smooth on the other on the side of the bridge attached to it you can walk
through and take pictures of the beautiful on akiti river and that's the
one that goes behind our hotel the shower would stop beautiful views you
can see people's backyards along that river and you can take pictures of the
Adirondack chairs that are down by the river so beautiful such beautiful
scenery charming I tell you we also found a wonderful cozy quaint charming
and fun restaurant for you to try make reservations we were there on a Thursday
night and she said we didn't need reservations that night so we and we
were early enough but this is a place where you would to take someone that you
just want to talk for hours it's got this wooden like Yankee workshop when
you walk in it feels like the floor the wooden floors were just done the
walls were just done the tables were just cut and sanded the menu holder was
a piece of wood it's just beautiful very rustic but modern and farm-to-table ish
kind of restaurant very romantic but also you could take your friend or your
mom there and I had the chicken schnitzel which was about that thick
it tasted like fried chicken that you could just chew very easily it was so
soft and wonderful I highly recommend it and it was cooked like my one chef
everything is made to order by this one chef back there and she made that with a
little crust and then she also used the capers over this caper sauce which had a
lemony twang to it but not too much and over these garlic mashed potatoes with
the side of sauteed zucchini so good my mom had salmon don't talk about this
risotto creamy yumminess highly recommend this restaurant they are very
personable gracious more it's very warm when you walk in you just get this
personality of warmth and love and come as you are loved it highly recommend it
we also wanted to eat at soulfully good cafe but they were closed at dinner time
and they have the run little bitty table and chairs out front
with a white picket fence around it and it's called soulfully good cafe love
their menu options they are only open for breakfast and lunch so check that
they will be one place you would want to try I believe because everything's right
there in downtown Woodstock I hope these tips
have helped you figure out what charming things you want to do in this town of
Woodstock Vermont pop over again soon