New Hampshire with day trips to Vermont
 

Our party of 4 adults will be based in Plainfield, NH first week of October, with plans to take day trips. Any suggestions or helpful hints would be appreciated. First timers.

I live very close by - some ideas-
St Gaudens - national historic site
Mt Ascutney auto road - great views at the top
Cornish Windsor - covered bridge - longest in the USA
Hanover Nh - fun college town, lots of good restaurants, picturesque campus
Sunapee State Park - gondola rides, hiking trails, beautiful lake and beach
Maxfield Parish Stage set - right in Plainfield
Riverview Farm (Plainfield) - apple picking, wagon rides
Walpole - beautiful winery, cheese making dairy farm, very picturesque village
The spectacular White Mountains are about an hour or so northeast of Plainfield.
In Vt:
Woodstock - picture perfect, touristy village - lots of good dining
Quechee Gorge - Vermont's 'grand canyon'
Billings Farm Museum outside woodstock
King Arthur Bakery store and restaurant - Norwich
Brattleboro - Vermont's funkiest little city, lots of good dining.
Burlington is about 2 hours from Plainfield, it's one of the most beautiful small cities in the USA.

Just driving around the back roads of both states is very scenic. some nice towns in NH - Lyme, Orford, Haverhill, New London. In Vt - Pomfret, south Woostock, Reading, Grafton.

Great ideas, thanks so much!!

I've got nothing much to add... but i LOVE Brattleboro, used to live there many years ago, always loved that place, love that state. I lived in Keene NH as well but Brattleboro won my heart.
Have a GREAT trip beautiful part of the country.

Also - just outside Windsor Vt is a little complex made up of the Harpoon brewery & Pub (great burgers), Silo gin distillery, a cheese shop, and a meditation garden.

Great ideas from zootsi! Love King Arthur Flour shop and have also taken classes there. On the same road, there's a nice little farm stand. On Saturdays, Norwich farmers market might still be running. It's very festive (music) and has some vendors with prepared food.
For a day trip you can drive down I89 which is actually scenic or take a state highway. Head to Warner NH (they have a foliage festival Columbus Day weekend). It's a beautiful small town with a telephone museum, Mt Kearsarge Indian Museum, independent bookstore with small gallery (saw David Carroll, Year of the Turtle, illustrations there last week. He lives in Warner.) You can drive up little Mt. Kearsarge for a little hiking but it you go up the Wilmot NH side, there's Winslow State Park near the top with splendid views looking out to Sunapee. If you take the back road from Warner to Bradford to Sutton you can visit Musterfield Farm. You can see a few historic small buildings collected by the former owner (ice house, school house, etc.) plus there's a small farm stand with lots of flowers around the vegetable garden. Then head to New London, a pretty college town. Before you drive into town, you can turn east to go to the Wilmot side of Mt. Kearsarge. From New London you can get back on I89.

Heading closer to Concord NH if you continue Rt 103 from Warner thru Davisville, Contoocook and Hopkinton, before you get into Hopkinton follow sign to Gould Hill Orchard. They grow over 80 kinds of apples and have hard cider tastings on weekends. Recently spent a lovely end of day with two flights of hard cider (8 varieties) a visiting friend sitting at a picnic table enjoying the view (looks toward mountains and overlooks the orchard). Rt 103 roughly parallels I89 so it's an easy quick route back to Plainfield. I have not been to Poverty Lane Orchard in Lebanon NH but that would be a lot closer. They make both sweet and hard cider. My husband still swoons at the fragrance in the air when apples are being pressed. He grew up on an apple farm. I'd say Plainfield to Warner via I89 would be about an hour, more or less. If you get to Warner or Hopkinton and have a hankering for some great ice cream, you might find a detour to Richardson's in Boscawen to be worth the trip. Rural area but they even make their own ice cream base. Also make the best pies in NH.

There are some small covered bridges in the Warner area but you would need a map to find them. If you buy a Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer for NH, it contains very detailed road maps with locations of covered bridges (waterfalls, etc.). Although I89 is scenic, I would stay off during peak travel hours. You might be fine going south on a sat or sunday morning but not in the late afternoon when leaf peepers are heading home. Ditto for I93 which also has heavy traffic northbound late afternoon every day of the week near Concord.

sorry, I gave NH ideas. For VT, in addition to zootsi's list, I would make a round trip from Brandon north to Bristol, across Lincoln Pass to Rt 100 and go to whatever VT country store is closest. Last week had a great lunch in Westminster VT at Café Loco. In VT also head to Warren Country Store for lunch and walk out back to see mini gorge.

In addition to the Billings Farm in Woodstock, you can visit the Marsh--Billings-Rockefeller National Park
https://www.nps.gov/mabi/index.htm

The Coolidge state historic site in Plymouth Vt is another beautiful and interesting spot, and it has a cheese factory. There are special events on October 6th
President Calvin Coolidge, Plymouth | Historic Sites

Vermont's Northeast Kingdom foliage festival is the first week in October:
Attachment 1357

If you want to see good foliage, consult the state foliage websites for updates on the best places for the dates you are there.

If you are going to Burlington and returning in daylight hours, take a detour through Smuggler's Notch. If you go north on 89 and then east on 104 you will go through some small towns. There is a small winery and a Green Mountain Coffee store that roasts the beans on site. Then go south on 108 through the Notch. It is a fun experience and the scenery is beautiful. 108 hits 100 in Stowe. 100 will get you back on 89 to New Hampshire. The detour will take you about an hour out of your way but it really is worth it.

One other foliage season tip: lots of churches in VT and NH have fundraiser dinners or lunches for leaf peepers. These are fun to go to and the food is usually good. The classic meal in VT is a chicken pie supper, ideally with pie for dessert.