I have never been to Putney, Vermont and that is where our journey began from CT. Started out early, 8:00 a.m., and headed to this quaint, beautiful town. I wanted to go to the Putney General Store since its reopening and I’m so happy we stopped there! I had French toast and bacon with delicious maple syrup and my friend had the poached eggs and salmon on English muffins. A divine way to start the day! The store is just amazing with two floors and very modern and clean. Everything in there you could ever want and some nice tables for dining. The lunch menu was very enticing so if you are in the area you should stop here for sure.
http://putneygeneralstore.com/
We then went to a great “maple paradise” store called “Hidden Springs Maple” just up the road from the general store on Westminster Street. Everything maple in every form you can imagine! I was in maple heaven once again!
A fairly new store that provides a shopping mecca for gifts and every food item made only in Vermont! 'https://www.hiddenspringsmaple.com/
From here we drove to Basketville just adjacent to the general store for more gifts. I’ve never been here and the store was great. A nice selection of cheeses, home to the Putney wines and gifts galore. There is quite a lot to do here in town if you are coming up this summer or fall! I got a nice Putney wine here for our next visit!
http://www.basketville.com/retail.php
http://putneywine.com/
On to Chester! Here we went to visit one of our very own forum members bvahjen from CT who has a beautiful cabin up on a hill with views galore! We had a nice visit there indeed and then we headed out for our maple sugaring tour of Mitch’s Maples in Chester. A state of the art operation where I got some great syrup to take home. It is located just outside of town. One of the most modern facilities I have seen yet!
http://www.crownpointbuilders.com/page7.html
It was time to say goodbye to my forum friend until fall and then we were off to another sugaring operation in Chester off of Poppledungeon Road on a dirt road called Stage Coach Road. Lockerby’s Sugarhouse is up on a hill and a small family operation. We were barely able to get up to the facility due to MUD SEASON GALORE! Fortunately the owner called the town early to dump some gravel on the mud to make it passable for visitors but it was still a bit daunting to get there! Mud season has definitely arrived in Vermont!
I was hoping to hit another operation in Cambridgeport but we were running out of time and very hungry so we stopped at the Vermont Country Store in Rockingham for a bit of last minute shopping and got some great crackers for our VT sausage and cheese for the trip back to CT. Needless to say, I had certainly overdosed in everything maple for the day!
What a fine day in Vermont to celebrate Maple Sugaring Open House Weekend and the persistent flurries all day made for a very wintry escapade on the back roads of the state! Can’t wait to go next year to another part of the state for more sugaring houses! Hope you can take advantage of the state’s great event next year as well!