The Farm Barn
Before I left Vermont two weekends ago, I spent part of a day at Shelburne Farms. After a weekend of wedding activity and gaggles of people, I was looking forward to some time in a peaceful setting.
Approaching the Farm Barn
Even though I grew up in Vermont I’d never been to Shelburne Farms before. It wasn’t organized as a nonprofit organization until 1972 and I was away at college then. Here’s an abbreviated description from their brochure:
Shelburne Farms is a nonprofit environmental education center, 1,400-acre working farm and National Historic Landmark. It was established in 1886 as the model agricultural estate of William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb. …Shelburne Farms maintains a Brown Swiss dairy herd, a cheesemaking facility, and a seasonal inn to help support its education work.
It also has some wonderful walking trails which is where I spent nearly 3 hours. From the Welcome Center I took an easy walk to the Farm Barn and enjoyed the Children’s Farmyard complete with (free-range) chickens, pigs, alpacas, cows, sheep and goats –and kids of the human variety. I watched the cheese making for a while and then sniffed my way over to the bakery but left before I could succumb to the cookies and bread.
Have coop, will travel. At the Farm Barn
I headed around the back and up the trail to the Lone Tree Hill and Farm Trail, ready to stretch my legs over 5 miles of trails.
The weather remained misty and foggy all day, limiting the opportunity for scenic views and much photography. That helped to ease my frustration when my memory card filled up when I was two miles away from the spare. I know I missed spectacular scenery from the top of Lone Tree Hill where, instead of Vermont’s rolling mountains, all I could see was fog filling the valleys. And coming down out of the woods into the meadow with the fields gently falling to Lake Champlain, I could only imagine what it would look like on a clear day with the hills burning red, the fields still holding their summer green and Lake Champlain sparkling blue at the foot of the meadow.
In 3 hours of walking I encountered only 6 people but the weather probably had something to do with that. I walked through woods, across fields, down by the lake, up the farm road and finally back through the sugar woods where the sap lines are in place for next spring’s maple sugaring season.
Sugaring woods
There are a number of buildings I’d like to explore next time I go, including the Dairy and The Inn which serves afternoon teas two days a week (reservations required). There are other roads and trails that I still need to explore as well.
My final stop was at the store in the Welcome Center where I bought a pound of their one-year-old Farmhouse Cheese and a cider doughnut (yum) before heading for the Burlington Airport and the trip home.
General admission gives you the freedom to wander without a set agenda (like me) or you can sign up for the guided property tour which costs a little more and include wagon rides through the grounds. There are separate admissions for the Breeding Barn Tour and the Tea and Garden Tour at the Inn.
If you’re looking for thrills and chills, go to an amusement park. But if you like beautiful scenery with some history thrown in and great walking trails besides, give Shelburne Farms a visit.
Aunt Diane – I rediscovered this place many years ago when I was living in Burlington. My girlfriend and I used to go here a lot on winter Sundays to walk for hours with the dogs in the snow. We’d get bagels and have breakfast on the shore of the lake or in the shelter of one of the barns. Afterwards, we’d come back and cook up a good meal and watch a movie. Sometimes we’d be joined by our guy friends, but we always relished the time alone to talk and walk and watch the dogs frolic. When Jack was little, Ian and I took him here. He walked almost a mile and we didn’t know that this was far for a one year old – his legs were sore the next day and Karen’s doctor chided us for letting him walk so long on young legs. I believe it is one of the prettiest places in Vermont. Smithsonian featured it on the cover one year; I still have the article somewhere if Dad didn’t toss it while cleaning out the barn!
P.S. Karen and Matt eat dinner in the fancy restaurant here quite a bit, something that I’ve never done but they love it. Next trip to VT, I’ll take you there, my treat.