Burlington, Vermont

Left Boston with instructions on how to get out of the city but, as usual, they weren't clear and we took a wrong lane and ended up in Cambridge and had to double back. Once we got on the freeway it was great - four lanes for miles and smooth driving all the way. The fall leaves are on the turn and all
along most of the trip we saw lots of yellow, gold and red. We are now officially known as "Leaf Peepers" - the name they give people who come here to see the fall (autumn) leaves. Some sections were a blaze of colour and you can just see the hills starting to change colour in the distance in places. It's easy to see what a beautiful sight it must be when they all change. Made great time to Burlington - only took about 3 1/2 hours. Fantastic hotel with large suite and lots of room to spread out. As we had made such good time decided to go to Shelburne Farms today. We did the guided tour for almost two hours. The farm is now a National Historic site and is absolutely stunning. It's a working farm and is now operated by a not-for-profit organisation working at being environmentally sustainable. It also has an Education Centre that operates within the farm. An organic bakery operates within the grounds and the farm makes its own cheese, which is delicious. The views from various places on the farm, across Lake Champlain to the Adirondacks, were beautiful. It's easy to see why the family who lived here over a century ago didn't want to leave and chose to extend their house to accommodate their growing family instead. The wife of the owner was a Vanderbilt but they wanted a house that was more "rustic" than the sort of house her family was used to, however it is still rather grand for a country "cottage"!! The grounds were designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead who also designed Central Park. Returned to the hotel for the Manager's Social and spent most of the time chatting to two couples from Alabama. A great day in a beautiful part of the country. Looking forward to seeing more of Vermont.Read more