As if Woodstock Vermont wasn't already so charming, so beautiful and so perfectly New England,…read morethere is Wassail Weekend to make one fall even more in love with the village and with this part of the country. This event has taken place every December for the past 26 years. The town gets crowded as people show up from near and far to take part in any number of festive events transpiring over the weekend. One of the highlights is the parade of horses and riders decked out in early 19th century garb making their way along the streets of downtown Woodstock. There are riders on saddled horses and others in surreys and sleighs. Everyone waits for the end where Santa makes an appearance. And to keep things tidy there is a costumed man on roller-blades making fast and short work with his shovel of picking up the "droppings" the horses leave behind so the streets are kept pristine. There are various open-houses throughout town including one at the historical society, there's a reading of a Child's Christmas in Wales at the picturesque library, and later a big bonfire on the town green. You'll see throngs of people, dogs and kids on the town green and everyone it seems is in great holiday spirits. We always appreciate how welcoming and friendly the locals are whenever we've visited Vermont and Woodstock is no exception. Stores are open and beautifully decorated, some offering treats and beverages. Christmas cheer abounds. We love Vermont any time of year but for me, I truly find it a winter wonderland and love to go during the Christmas season. Although Wassail Weekend is over for another year, if you have a chance to visit Woodstock (and neighboring Quechee) before Christmas, I say take your horses and sleigh and hurry on over.

Wassail Weekend is the quintessential New England holiday experience in the most picturesque quaint…read moretown of Woodstock, Vermont. Hubs and I first fell for this adorable town in autumn of 2014 and just HAD to return for the holidays that same year (and every year after) when we found out just what the town does for their famous weekend. People were talking about it even in October! Besides all the charm the town has to offer all year round...covered bridges, adorable shops filled with homemade goods, family owned businesses, friendly inhabitants, historic farms, general stores, home made candles, made in the USA flannels and more, there's an entire weekend filled with holiday festivities.... Story telling, open house at historic homes, caroling around a Yule long bonfire, a life sized gingerbread house the kids will flip over, dog sledding, horse-drawn carriage rides, a horse parade and of course, Santa. The green is where 500 paper lanterns are lit and Christmas carols are sung is in the center of town. The Woodstock Inn sits just behind and is where most people prefer to stay. These rooms are the most popular in town and definitely fill up way in advance so book early! Don't fret if you don't have a room booked here, you can still enjoy a glass of wine by their lovely fireplace, charcuterie boards in the cozy game room and dinner at one of their fine restaurants such as Richardson's Tavern. Do not miss stopping by the Inn! The festivities run Friday through Sunday all day. There's a schedule of events listed in the event website so you can plan accordingly. The parade and singing are definitely highlights for us. Other things not to miss while in town are: -a trip to the Gorge...because it's gorg-ous (I can't help myself). If you're feeling up to it, it's a pretty nice hike to the base although the overlook is stunning alone! -dining or at least shopping and watching live glass blowing demonstrations at Simon Pearce. If you dine, ask for table #5! It's located over their waterfall and it's voted the most scenic in all of Vermont! We sat their for our anniversary one year and it was dreamy! The glass blowing is in the basement and There's a door that leads out to the waterfall! -We have enjoyed staying at Parker House Inn, a delightful Bed & Breakfast directly next to Simon Pearce with delicious farm to table meals. (This one is adults only however!) -A trip to Cabot Creamery for all the Vermont cheese tasting you can handle! If you're vegan, don't worry, there's plenty of other locally made things to taste such as maple syrups and mustards. -Made in The USA flannel at Woodstock Flannel Company. Ladies, you must own at least one pair of "vongs" aka Vermont things. -Mountain Creamy for peppermint stick ice cream. A perfect seasonal treat. -Bentley's for cocktails and live music. The place is always decorated so sweet for the holidays with tons of hanging ornaments above. -Woodstock Farmers Market for locally made wine, chocolates even candles. -Farmhouse Pottery for live throwing and the most gorgeous made in house, simplistically stunning wares. -FH Gillingham & Sons which has been family owned and operated since 1886!! Reason enough!! You'll find an awesome selection of craft beer!! Tons of local gems and the option to create your own 6 packs. Childrens' toys, locally made jams and such. I always pick up some paper white bulbs here too. Wassail Weekend is truly the "All American" Christmas experience, one you'll enjoy even if you don't celebrate. There's just such a love in the air, a sense of community and a warmth to the town. It's absolutely lovely!

Love it here. Free…read morecompletely free - no admission fee, no parking fee. Very friendly people. Small business vibes. Follow your maps and once you cross the bridge they have tons of signs to direct you, hard to get lost. Trust they're hours, we showed up in the pouring rain and they're still open 9am-5pm weekdays. As soon as you walk in you'll get free samples. We sampled 5 cheeses and 2 grades of maple syrup - it sells itself. One cheese is made with unpasteurized milk - others include sharp cheddar, sage, smoked. Convinced me to try traveling home with cheese for the first time. Tons of products available for sell including from other farms as well. I recommend picking up some of the Red Kite Candy caramels they have there. If you liked it as much as me their factory is about a 30 min drive away. Other activities include petting animals (not in winter), walking trail, and self guided tour of their maple house. Wasn't able to do the trail in the rain but I would estimate you can do all of this in 2 hours. Not at all like Billings Farm if you're concerned about going to both or only have time for one. Billings has an admission fee, no samples of milk or cheese though the make both. More of a museum but they do have up close interactions with their cows (even in winter) for the kids, butter churning, candle dipping. Recommend Billing for taking kids on homesteading field trip, Sugarbush a quick stop for foodie/charcuterie person IMPORTANT: They do NOT sell sugarbush products at any of the stores in Woodstock so don't plan to buy more later and have regrets like us - we looked in every store and couldn't find it. Not sure about Quechee though. Products can also be ordered online and shipped

I'm a cheese head…read more So when my friend was making our itinerary for a trip to VT, I was really excited to try this place! Weather got a little hariy getting there with the slushy roads, but we made it! It's pretty remote location with no street lights, so if driving in the dark look for the signs to get there and trust your GPS. There's a large parking lot across from the entrance to the little store/shop. The shop is actually the owners old family home I belive. We arrived pretty much at closing time, but we were still welcomed warmly. We got a cheese & maple syrup tasting which was yum and informative, and the staff member that did it was really nice, I forgot her name, but see photo below. One of the cheeses has won a cheese competition, very cool. We also got to meet the owner, but she was busy getting Christmas orders together. I perused all of the cheeses I wanted and settled on 4. We got to try 2 out of the 4 from the cheese sampling. The nice lady that checked me out even gave me some nice to-go samples as well. The smoked cheese was my fav, and the sage. But I enjoyed them all. I was able to easily fly home to TX with them due to the cold weather of the season. After the tasting, we got to peruse the store. They have so much other stuff to buy in additon to cheese and maple, tons of knick-knacks and gifts and merch. We didn't get to explore the farm after since it was pitch black when we left, too bad. Enjoy!

As soon as I heard about the festival which holds the Guinness World Book Records for the most jack…read moreo lanterns lit at one time (30,581 to be exact), it immediately made its way to my bucket list. It took a few years, but I finally got there and it was just as wonderful as I had hoped, even in the cold rain! The weather added a bit of fog and mystery to this amazing annual festival in a quaint New England town. And really what's more perfect than a sweet little town with incredible foliage and perfect crisp, cool mountain air? The streets of town were absolutely filled with pumpkins! Everywhere we turned there was a new display to discover! Some kept We loved seeing them during the day, and then again at night. Make sure you plan to stay for both! Well worth it! Some shopping around town at both new and vintage stores, costume parade watching, fair and street food truck noshing, games and races for kiddos too. The entire town is one big festival! We enjoyed a seasonal, candle-lit dinner and sat outside where the wait staff were dressed for Halloween, and then it was time to head back to see the pumpkins lit at night! Seeing them all lit up was magical!! The Pumpkin towers was awesome! Don't miss that! I actually thought the bit of rain we experienced was perfect as the light from the Jack o lanterns reflected off the puddles! So even if the weather isn't perfect, don't let that stop you! I've been to a few pumpkin festivals and what I love about this one is they are all real! There's nothing more going on than the simple art of pumpkin carving. Street parking was easy to find. Everyone was super nice and helpful. The entire weekend was amazing! If you have the chance to go, make a weekend out of it!! *older photos did not sync with this review. Check 'em out!

Very clean for a fair, we have done a lot of shows there for the Vintage Market Days and have had a…read morelot of good luck. The area that they set up is outside the track area and covers two buildings. The track is nice, other than that there is fair amount of parking but overall driving around the location (that wasn't included as part of the show) there is a lot of areas of open barns and fencing in disrepair. Its hard to judge a location like this because of the many different things they host but i would say for the vintage shows we do, they do a great job.

Was hoping to find this fair to be on par with some of the other State or County Fairs that I have…read moreattended over the years. Unfortunately, I left the fair yesterday feeling sorry for the vendors. Perhaps it's busier in the evenings, but it was strangely quiet during this particular hot summer Saturday afternoon. There are your typical rides, food vendors (fried dough, burgers, hoagies, ice cream, cotton candy....etc.) along with the various carnie rides and games. Only a few rides were actually running. There are several barns with animals and a nice showing of 4H kids. Still...the layout was somewhat disjointed and again...it was surprising how sparsely attended it was. My favorite spots were: -Maple House (syrup, maple candies freshly made onsite, ice cream...etc..and the smell is out of this world) -Horse barn (way in the back behind the other, smaller barns) -Historical barns (some cool stuff in there) -4H display/barn Not sure what the organizers need to do to increase attendance, but they should definitely look at the flow/layout....along with how many days the fair is open. The vendors let us know that it went from Tuesday through Saturday. Even though it's summer, it doesn't give a full weekend of the fair for the vendors to get the kind of traffic that they need.

poorly organized, favorite events cancelled or greatly minimized. paid for a $140 for a dinner that…read moreran out of food before we got served any. After going for many years I doubt we will ever return.

Men in kilts tossing cabers, women in kilts throwing hammers, what's not to love?…read more Without a doubt the best highland games I've been to with marching bands, Celtic bands, venders coming from all over New England, Canada, and beyond. The food was awesome, where else can you find fast food haggis by the gallon? Something as simple as bread pudding made into something to die for by adding whisky sauce - OMG! Meat pies, bridies, sausage rolls, bangers, rumbledethumps, cock - leekie - soup, scotch broth, lamb stew, shepherd's pie, scotch eggs, shaved lamb on a roll, pasties. In yet another tent they had tons of seafood including scotch salmon, highland crab soup......but no finnan haddie or cullen skink - what's up with that???? Did I mention the whisky tasting? Didn't make it that far - too busy sampling the scotch ales! The games are spread out all over the place and you could easily spend a day (or two) here checking out all the clan booths, games, bands, singers, border collie contests, etc. You can even buy yourself a 100% legal title - a lordship or ladyship as you will by donating money to save the Scottish Highlands, well you actually purchase a few square feet of land and the titles come with it............Lord Fin of Glencoe, etc. Did I mention lasses in mini kilts?

I love the White Mountain Boogie and Blues Fest!! I've hit it for many years. I was there last…read moreyear in Aug 1016. My friends are there now and I wish I was too. I hope to make it back to next years Fest. The Blues are always great! (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). The food booths have delicious dishes. (Breakfast Burritos, Crab Cakes, Cheese Steaks, Burgers, Dogs and lots more.) The setting is awesome - camp ground The area is beautiful. The people are always friendly and fun. This is a great festival!! I've added a few photos from the 2016 fest

What a great annual event! The camp ground gets full, so book early! A wonderful vibe, everybody is…read morenice. The ticket prices are good for all the national and international talent they book to play each year. You can attend one day, or all three. There are vendors on site with food, drink, and crafts. You can bring your own cooler, and camp right there. If not, plenty of lodging in the area. For the musicians, they are truly treated like VIP's! The people that cook for the musicians KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!!! The food was plenty and they cook things to order. There clearly was a lot of preparation for this weekend. The people at the Backstage BBQ did a phenomenal job, I really can't say enough about them. For the attendees, there are many really good food options. Plenty of clean port-o-potties. And the fellow attendees are super nice, willing to share. This family runs a great festival and they just celebrated their twentieth year. I hope it never ends. This is what summer is all about.

I'm a local photographer who has used Patch Orchards multiple times without issue, until this week,…read morewhen I had a shocking experience with them. As usual, I arrived with my clients, politely said hello and stated I was there to take photos by the Christmas trees. Christine (whom I had never met) said nothing about rules or purchase requirements and explicitly told me I could take photos. Afterward, my clients warmed up with their baby in the car and planned to cut a tree, but Christine assumed we weren't buying anything and escalated the situation for no reason. I left with my clients down the hill to take a few last shots and as I was getting into my car, Christine brought her husband Mike down in his truck to "scare me off". They flew past me, tried to block me from leaving the road, yelled at me to "never be seen on the property again," and accused me of "taking photos without buying anything" as if that were a crime. It was aggressive, threatening and completely unprofessional. This is a farm open to the public - visitors are NOT required to make a purchase just for stepping onto the property. If they have rules for photos, they can communicate them like adults instead of resorting to intimidation and theatrics. I won't be returning (for my own safety), and others should think twice before giving them business. If you do visit, apparently you'd better buy something immediately, since that seems to be their unspoken rule.

I love coming here for the delicious apples and other produce, apple cider donuts, maple products…read more(maple creamees, syrup, butter, candy, to name a few). The apple cider donuts are tasty when you get them hot and fresh. Their apple cider, both fresh and hard, is tasty too. The family that owns the orchard is kind and personable. If you like corn mazes, theirs is worth checking out. The views are also top notch.

This is a great event if you like real BBQ…read more A wonderful event with food, wine, beer, cider, and fun! Samples were available from competitors in a number of categories including: Tri-tip, Brisket, Pulled Pork, Pork Ribs, Chicken, even some Lamb! Also there was a sauce, baked bean, bacon dessert, and a competition for Tailgaters. Two live bands also provided entertainment during the afternoon. The only downside is that it's way too much meat! Other than BBQ there were Beans and Coleslaw, but we could have used a bit more salad. Also the grounds could have benefit from more tables with shade (most of the provided tables were monopolized during the event) and more trash cans are needed.

What a blast! I got to spend time with a good friend, try good food and drink…read more.. I recommend wearing sunscreen (if you're into that sort of thing...), bringing camp chairs and buying extra food tickets...I wanted to try it all! Fun group of people...looking forward to next year!