Manchester Area
 

Hi, I will be traveling to Manchester with 6 other girls. Have been there before. Would like to drive up to Woodstock & Quechee. Any places along the way worth the stop?. Also is going to Weston or Grafton worth the drive? thanks

Driving back roads around VT is always fun. Woodstock is very upscale and so is Quechee. Make sure to visit Simon Pierce even if you don't stay to eat. The building is very interesting and you can watch potters and glass blowers. My husband enjoyed the Billings Farm Museum. If you like to cook, a stop at King Arthur Flour is interesting, lots of unusual ingredients. (Norwich?) The Vermont Country Store in Weston is a great place to buy gadgets and sample foodstuff. You might or might not want to head north to tour the Vt Teddy Bear Factory, Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory, Cabot Cheese, etc. I'm not sure if you mean you are staying in Manchester VT or flying into Manchester NH. Get a Vermont guide at an information center for things to do. I keep meaning to visit Brandon when they have their harvest people decorating the town.

Good suggestions from dfostnh.

When are you planning to visit? What are your interests?

Must see in the Manchester Area.http://www.budweisertours.com/docs/nh.htm

Manchester NH or Vt? - big difference!

If you are driving from Manchester, VT to Grafton, that's one of my favorite drives in the entire state. Part of it is hard packed dirt road, but easy to travel as fast as you care to go. Sugar maples form a canopy over the road...it's so picturesque, as is Grafton. Not a ton of things to do in Grafton (nice inn for lunch) but the drive alone is worth it.

Manchester, VT

Another vote for visiting Grafton. True, there's not much to do there but the architecture (federalist?) is beautiful. I thought the drive to Grafton was a bit treacherous (the road kept switching from paved to dirt) but very scenic.

The Weston Country Store was fun, but not a must-do in my opinion.

If you click on my name, I posted a trip report on VT in August. I wish we had spent more time in Quechee.

When will you be coming?

The Vermont Country Store -- either the main one in Weston or their other one near I-91 in Chester (other side of the state) -- is worth the visit. (Samples are plentiful.)

If in Weston, try the Bryant House next to the store for a delicious lunch. (You never know who you'll see there! We were surprised to see Tyler Florence, of "Food 911" fame on the Food Network, there once! In fact, we mentioned his name aloud and he heard us, so he came over, smiled, and sat down at our table to chat for a while!)

Enjoy the trip. We're retired here and just plain LOVE our adopted state!

Vermonter

Went to Weston Country Store on 9/30/07. Have been going there since I was a child, but unfortunately it will be the last time I do. I never realized how much they do not like children there until this trip. The person behind the counter yelled at my 7 year old daughter for clapping in response to their sign to do so (to make audio chickens cluck in a display). She was not there for more than a few minutes and it really scared her to have a stranger confront her like that. I was a another store when it happened, but afterwards. I went back and spent a few minutes clapping at the chickens and was accosted by the same miserable jerk (granted, I was intentionaly trying to tweak him a bit - but he yelled at my daughter for no good reason!) There are plenty of other places to visit besides this store - right across the street is the much better Vermont Country Store. Don't waste any part of your day at the Weston Country Store this fall (or any other time) - unless they get rid of that miserable jerk behind the counter, maybe.

Sorry - the actual name of the store mentione in the previous post is the Weston Village Store (not Country as indicated above)

For Weston see this page:

http://www.westonvt.com/shops.html

It is a really tiny tiny town & the
adorable playhouse on the falls is
closed for season. The Vermont Country
Store(worth a walk thru for samples alone) has ridiculous prices BUT their
separate restaurant does not.

Manchester has every outlet store
one can think of w/an absolutely
amazing huge bookstore w/dining
facilities. Definitely a Ladies
Who Shop town.

So nice to see the positive comments about The Bryant House (The Vermont Country Store Restaurant). My Husnad to be is a chef there.

not husnad, but husband

As the owner of the Weston Village Store I would like to set the record straight regarding the e-mail by RickSur on 10/2/07. While I do regret that this customer had an unpleasant experience in my store, I stand by the behavior of my employee. He felt this child was creating an unnecessary disturbance in the store and attempted to rectify the situation. As a parent of 4 children I clearly do not hate children, but I must make every effort to make everyone's visit to The Weston Village Store a pleasant one. I hope one customer's unfortunate experience will not deter others from coming in and seeing all we have to offer.

We've eaten at Bryant House several times and have always enjoyed it there. In fact, last year, we encountered Tyler Florence (of Food Network) at lunch time in there! He was pleasant and came over to our table to chat.

I cannot comment on the apparent incident across the street because I was not there. However, I HAVE witnessed some pretty bratty behavior by some people in various stores and restaurants, and I find it hard to believe that the store owner would have done anything other than try to preserve some degree of reasonable behavior in his store.

Regarding the Weston Village Store, a blanket categorization that a store "doesnt like children" is a oddly extreme. Try a civilized discussion with the shop owner if it was such an afront.

Shops have the right to expect patrons and their minors to behave, without the fear of a retributive tweak.

We are planning our yearly fall trip to Vermont. Just checked back in to see any responses to the note I wrote on about my poor experience last year at the Weston Village Store. I had no doubt that I would get the response I did from the store owner (after all his job is to provide damage control for his business). What I did find interesting were the other responses from people who were not there (possible shills for the owner?). They immediately assumed based on some past observation of others that my child in this instance was not behaving and somehow the clerk's actions were justified - this was simply not the case. As I noted, she was just clapping and having fun. It is safe to assume that I will not be going back there this year.

Oh - JohnandBob - FYI - "Try a civilized discussion with the store owner...."? So you mean after my child is confronted in such a manner it is somehow my responsibility to discretely search out the manager and provide him feedback to make his business run better? The reason for my post was to help other future patrons who may be subjected to this behavior - not to assist the store owner. Also, I agree that "Shops have the right to expect patrons and their minors to behave, without the fear of a retributive tweak." The patrons also have the right to publicly call them out when they go overboard for no good reason.