The Summer Menu at the Chesterfield Inn is now being served in the dining room and on the back terrace. The menu features fresh local foods, with the new twist of many of entrees available in smaller plate portions. The smaller plates will please those who like to graze through a menu, allowing guests to try an assortment of different menu items in smaller portions and still have room for dessert.

The Crab Cakes are a very popular appetizer, served with a Tomatillo and Roasted Corn Salsa with an Ancho Chile Remoulade – this is also available as an entree. A few of my favorites are the Roasted Petite Veal Rack on Balsamic Braised Swiss Chard with Porcini Mushroom Jus, and the Mussels with Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, and Fennel on Fresh Rosemary Pappardelle. Another summery item on the menu is the Grilled Chicken and Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Arugula Pesto, Roasted Sweet Corn, and Feta Cheese.

The Bruschetta is made with Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade, with Vermont Goat Cheese and Roasted Yellow Peppers. We make the Rosemary Baguettes – that are the base for the bruschetta – here at the inn and the flavors are perfect for summer! We invite you to come sample the new menu and enjoy sunset from the terrace – by far the best seats in Chesterfield!

We love gardens at Chesterfield Inn and we’d like to share about one of our favorites! One of the hidden jewels of Windham County in Southern Vermont is Olallie Daylily Gardens. Olallie’s is in South Newfane, which is a lovely little town off of well traveled Route 30. When you turn off of Route 30 and meander off into the web of country roads that lead to South Newfane, you can feel the hustle and bustle fall away. Olallie’s is off of Williamsville Road, on Augur Hill Road, on the left after the South Newfane Country Store.

The lilies are grown on a third generation organic farm and fill 40 display beds in a 6 acre field. The Darrow family owns the farm and it is managed by Christopher Darrow, his children and his mother, Ellen.  They continue the work of Christopher’s grandfather, George Darrow, who began collecting and hybridizing day lilies in 1957. Lilies are very hardy plants and come in many sizes and colors. Olallie has over 2,500 varieties of day lilies, in all colors, that bloom during the months of June, July, and August.

Olallie also has irises, field grown perennials, unusual hostas, shrubs and trees, and pick your own blueberries. During June they are having a Siberian iris and field grown perennial sale that will go until June 26. The farm is a great place to just wander, enjoying the gorgeous blooms and quiet surroundings. They even have picnic tables and benches with market umbrellas if you’d like to bring a picnic to enjoy after you have seen the flowers.

We hope that you have an opportunity to visit this beautiful farm during your stay at our New Hampshire B&B!

Looking for a fun getaway to surprise the special man in your life? Pack him up and surprise him with a night or two away at Chesterfield Inn. The area surrounding our New Hampshire Inn & Restaurant has lots to offer in the way of “guy” activities: from golf to mountain biking to kayaking to a night at the local pub!

You can start the day with a hearty breakfast in our sunny dining room. Our B&B offers everything from yogurt and granola to pancakes, omelettes, home fries, and sausage to make sure he won’t be able to leave hungry! And don’t forget the homemade muffins and scones!

Then off for a round of golf at one of our local golf courses. You can book our Special Discount at Brattleboro Country Club in nearby Brattleboro, VT or head to Crumpin Fox in Bernardston, MA, Hooper Golf Course in Walpole, NH, or Bretwood in Keene, NH. All of these courses offer unique challenges and extensive natural beauty.

In the afternoon, grab your hiking boots or mountain bikes and head into Pisgah State Park right here in Chesterfield.  The terrain is vast (13,000 acres) and the trails well maintained with lots of ups and downs. This park is never crowded and remains one of the best kept secrets about this corner of New Hampshire.

After all this activity, you’ll need a shower and a nap back in your comfy room at the inn. In the early evening head over to McNeill’s Brewery in Brattleboro to sample some locally made beers.  Brattleboro also boasts the Flat Street Brew Pub featuring Berkshire Brewing Company beers made in nearby Deerfield, MA.

After a relaxing evening drink, head back to the inn for a romantic dinner out on our terrace.  He will definitely love the delicious rack of lamb or savory beef tenderloin, and a bottle of Catena Malbec from our wine list is sure to please. Retire to your room to enjoy the fireplace or a soak in your 2 person Jacuzzi. You’ll both sleep well after such an action packed day!

Now that the snow has finally melted, golf season has begun in Northern New England.  There are several beautiful public golf courses within a 20 minute drive from the Chesterfield Inn and the closest is the Brattleboro Country Club in Brattleboro, VT.  In partnership with the Brattleboro Country Club, the Chesterfield Inn is offering $20 off of an 18 hole round of golf at the club.

The course is beautifully maintained and offers challenges for beginners and experienced players alike, with short and long holes, elevated tee shots, and lots of hills to walk or ride up and down in your golf cart.  The course is surrounded by the rolling hills of Southern Vermont, and has many places to sit and enjoy the beauty of the woods bordering the course.  The club also has two practice greens and a large driving range if you’d like to warm up before your round.

So pack up your golf clubs and enjoy a relaxing weekend, golfing in the daytime, and returning to our luxurious New Hampshire Inn after a great round, to relax and enjoy dinner on our terrace.

If you’re interested in eating healthy local foods, and supporting the farmers who produce that food, or if you just like a parade with lots of cute animals, come to Brattleboro the first weekend of June from the 3rd through the 5th for the annual Strolling of the Heifers. This annual event, now celebrating its 10th anniversary, has been delighting guests of our New Hampshire B&B for years and is not to be missed!

There are many events planned for the weekend, but the centerpiece is “the Stroll”, a parade held on Saturday morning, which features about 100 cows and heifers, as well as other farm animals, farm machinery, bands, and local organizations. The parade ends at the Brattleboro Common, where you can enjoy samples of local foods and products, maybe pet a heifer or two, or watch a politician try to milk a cow.

This year, the “Stroll” is preceded by the Slow Living Summit, which will feature distinguished speakers who are all interested in, and striving for, a sustainable future. The Slow Living Summit will take place from June 1st – 3rd in conjunction with Marlboro College and the School for International Training.

So mark your calendars, book a stay at our romantic New Hampshire Bed and Breakfast in nearby Chesterfield, and come to Brattleboro for the weekend to enjoy all of the various activities involved with the Strolling of the Heifers!

*All Photos courtesy of The Strolling of the Heifers Parade & Festival

Spring is starting to come into full bloom at our romantic New Hampshire Bed and Breakfast and we have a couple of exciting new packages for this lively season that I wanted to share with you.

Breakfast in Bed

The first is the Date Your Mate package. This a romantic New Hampshire B&B Package that gives you an opportunity to put some time aside for you and your favorite date to spend together. The package includes overnight accommodations, a bottle of champagne on arrival, gourmet dinner for two, and breakfast in bed the next morning. Prices range from $240 to $419 depending on the room that you choose. With the crazy lives that we lead, sometimes 24 hours away in a quiet place with that special someone can seem like a true vacation. Come relax and reconnect at the Chesterfield Inn!

As we watch gas prices slide up to $4 per gallon and higher, the concept of carpooling becomes more and more appealing! So, call your friends or family and carpool up to The Chesterfield Inn to take advantage of our Thrifty Nifty Carpool Package! The package includes 10% off two rooms for two couples for two nights, a full country breakfast each morning, plus a $25 gas card for the ride home!

Whether you only have a day to get away with that special someone from the hectic pace of everyday life, or you are able to escape with some friends for a long weekend, our Southern New Hampshire Inn has the perfect romantic setting and the ideal package for you!

Local Maple Syrup

After a long winter with snowstorm after snowstorm, spring has finally started to arrive at our Inn in New Hampshire. The daytime temperatures are now above freezing, most days, with temperatures dipping below freezing at night. It’s perfect “sugaring” weather! Maple sugaring is what our local farmers call the process of collecting the sap from our sugar maple trees and boiling it into maple syrup. As you drive along the back roads near our romantic northern New England B&B, you can see the local “sugar houses” with steam billowing out into the cold air as the sap is boiled down into maple syrup. One of my favorite things to do is top stop at a sugar house when they’re boiling and ask for a taste of the fresh maple syrup. It’s delicious!

All of this “sugaring” inspires us to use maple syrup in our cooking and the following Maple Cheesecake is one of our favorites!

Maple Cheesecake

10-12 servings

2 cups ground graham crackers

3 T. sugar

1/2 t. cinnamon

6 T. melted butter

3 8-ounce pkgs. cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

3 T. flour

1/4 t. salt

1 c. reduced maple syrup (1 cup maple syrup, simmered 4 minutes to reduce and concentrate flavor)

2/3 cup sour cream

2 T. vanilla extract

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add melted butter and stir until crumbs are evenly moistened. Wrap outside of 9 inch spring form pan in aluminum foil so that the base and sides are covered and sealed. Press crumb mixture into bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of the pan. Bake about 10 minutes. Cool on rack. For filling, beat cream cheese with electric mixer with paddle until very smooth. Add brown sugar, flour and salt. Beat until blended and smooth. Add reduced syrup, sour cream and vanilla. Beat until blended. Add eggs, 2 at a time, and beat just until well blended after each addition. Tap bowl on counter several times to release any air bubbles. Pour filling into cooled crust. Bake cake in a water bath ( pan of warm water about 1 inch up the sides of the pan) for 1 and a half hours. Turn oven off, open door a few inches and let the cake sit in the oven for an hour. Remove from oven and water bath and allow to cool on a rack. Serve with fresh berries.

One of the ways that New Englanders survive our long, snowy winters is to embrace the cold weather and go outside and play in it!  The Brattleboro Winter Carnival has  a 55 year tradition of playing in the snow, and the tradition continues this year starting on Friday, January 19th. Winter Carnival activities go on all week, and include outdoor activities for all ages.

Harris Hill Ski Jump

Don’t miss the  Harris Hill Ski Jump competition!  The ski jumping happens on February 19th and 20th this year, and watching the breathtaking ski jumping off of the 90 meter Harris Hill is an experience not to be missed. Join the crowd at the bottom of the hill, and cheer on the international participants as they fly (yes, they really do!) off of Harris Hill. So put on your snow pants and Sorels and enjoy the show!

After an afternoon of outdoor activities, come back and sit by the fire and enjoy some hot chocolate or even an Irish coffee at The Chesterfield Inn, our Bed & Breakfast near Brattleboro. Then maybe a quick nap, and dinner at our romantic New Hampshire restaurant while watching the snow fall, for the perfect end to a wintry New England day.

Chesterfield Inn Winter Morning

After last week’s snow storm, we have nice snow cover and it’s the perfect time to head out into the woods! If you’d like to go snow shoeing, you can bring your own snow shoes or rent them at Burrow’s Specialized Sports in Brattleboro, Vermont. There is no need to leave Chesterfield if you want to go snow shoeing: we have Pisgah Park, Friedsam Forest and the Madame Sherri  Forest, all with great trails and all right in Chesterfield. We can supply trail maps at the front desk.

If you’d like to go cross country skiing, take your skis (you can rent those at Burrows Specialized Sports as well! ) over to the Brattleboro Outing Club trails at the Brattleboro Country Club on Upper Dummerston Road in Brattleboro. For more extensive trails and snow making, try Grafton Ponds in Grafton , VT, which is just a 40 minute drive from the inn.

For down hill skiing, we are an hour or less from Mount Snow, Stratton, Okemo, and Bromley Mountains. You can rent skis, boots, and poles at all of the ski resorts. Granite Gorge, just outside Keene, NH, is a great place to take kids for tubing,as well as skiing and snow boarding.

So dig out your ski jacket, find your skis and snow shoes and pile into the car for a weekend of outdoor activities.  At the end of the day, you can relax in front of the fire at our romantic New Hampshire Inn with a glass of wine, enjoy a delicious dinner in our candlelit dining room, and sleep like a baby in one of our king sized beds!

Fall Foliage

Ready for a New Hampshire getaway? One of the best things about staying at our romantic New Hampshire inn is that we are just across the river from Brattleboro, Vermont! Get away from it all this weekend, and enjoy what Brattleboro has to offer!

I was curious to see what was planned for the weekend of November 5, 6, and 7 and checked the Brattleboro Reformer to see what our very vibrant arts community was up to. This is a sampling of what I found:

November 5:  a concert at the New England Youth Theater featuring Scott Ainslee and Sparky and Rhonda Rucker playing traditional music, with history and stories interwoven.

November 5, 6, 7: Vermont Theater Company presents a production of “The Heiress” based on the Henry James novel “Washington Square”.

November 6: From 10:00 to 1:00, Karen Becker offers water color painting class at a studio in Westminster , Vermont.

November 7: Rock River Studio offers a Visual Memoir workshop, on how to create  a personal art book using photos, artwork and mementos.

November 7: An all Bach concert will be presented on Sunday afternoon at the Congregational Church, featuring Susan Dedell, Clark Anderson on organ and Jennifer Hansen singing. Sure to be gorgeous and to end your getaway on a high note!

Early November is a great time to visit with the New Hampshire fall colors still vibrant, and the air crisp, and the fire glowing in the fireplace at night.

You can check on line at the Brattleboro Reformer to see what’s going on anytime. Who knows, maybe there will be something that you can’t miss!