To Corwin, thanks a lot! You gave me a good outlook on the situation! I'll check that website out....

I love living in New England.
I love my town. I believe in small town living - because thats how I grew up and how we live now. We know our neighbors, we have town hall meetings, and the town "mayor" rides around town in a pickup truck with his dog at his side.

I often say how wonderful it is to live in such a "cute" rural town - which is so close to SO many things. From where I live -in a day trip, I can go to the biggest city in the world (NYC), boston, the beach, the mountains, and more. For a long weekend I can go to so many places, the country - the city, etc.

The BAD part...is the weather. When you add up the days of really good weather, there arent many. I live in Litchfield County Connecticut and work in Fairfield County. We definetly have the seasons. However, the weather is warm only from (honestly) May-September. The spring is rainy, summer is nice-but generally humid, the fall is gorgeous (but too short), and the winter is long, bleak & depressing. Snow is fun, but we dont get all that much. And, when youre trying to get to work, its not fun at all.

oh yeah, the other bad thing is the house prices. Now that the New yorkers have "discovered" the area, house prices have shot up. A lot of young people who grew up in the area - are forced to move because they are being priced out of the market.
Connecticut is wonderful, but be prepared to spend a lot (Litchfield County at least 400,000 for not much of a house, and Fairfield County 600,000 for not much of a house. - and more if you want to be nearer to the city )

Steviegenie- really, your weather sounds like Moscow, ID, weather

New England is infamous for its weather!
Sunny one minute - rainy the next.
Sometimes the winters are so long - I think they wont end. The good side, is that when Spring finally comes, its almost as if you've forgotten what nice weather is like. Spring feels new & magical every year, with the trees and birds waking up...and the world thawing out.

schnookies - Corwin has described Newbuyport to a tee. I live nearby and love it. Also consider Portsmouth NH or even Portland Maine (though the winter there will be tougher). You should bring your husband here for a vacation and have him fall in love with the area too.

Not all beaches cost $25 to park. On Plum Island (Newburyport) you won't pay more than $10 and often only $5.

Come to New England and become a Red Sox fan, eat lobster and steamers, drink Dunkin Donuts coffee, learn to drive aggressively, attend town meetings, go candlepin bowling...its all good.

Just so you know, the four seasons are :

1. Miserably Cold
2. Colder than miserably cold
3. Miserably hot, with bugs
4. leaf raking time

I think we've probably scared schnookies off with all our talk about horrible weather.

Oh no, I'm still here....I actually miss weather but I don't know about my hubby though. I won't show him the posts about the hard weather....
It sounds beautiful though!! I can't wait to visit and I'll save all your nice and helpful posts! Thanks!

i did a work engagement in the hartford, connecticut area...the city of hartford is dismal. however, the nice towns around the city are very cheap. e.g. in west hartford, 400,000 will get you a very large old house within walking distance to the town centre. the same house in a similar town near boston (also worked there) would be 900,000. here in old england it would be £1.2m (over 2 million US dollars) in a similar town.