Hi,
We are visiting Conn. and hoping to follow the wine trail. I need help determining where to stay along the way. We are starting in Mystic and staying a night there, from there we are going to Stonington, Lisbon and Colchester. I'd like to find a place to stay that night between Colchester and Litchfield which is where we are heading the next day. I was looking at Middletown, Cromwell, and that area, but I'd like for us to stay in a town that has a mainstreet w/shops, restaurants,etc. to walk to, or something like like that with the Connecticut charm. Could you recommend a town that is between Colchester and Litchfield? I don't want to go too far South like Essex to keep the driving down.
Thanks so much!! Any other recommendations are appreciated too.

Middletown is a college town, with lots of decent restaurants, etc. and a true Main St., but a little rough around the edges. Another option of a town with lots of CT charm would be Simsbury, which is about 45 minutes from Colchester and slightly off-track from your route to Litchfield. The only lodging on Main St. within walking distance is the Simsbury 1820 house, which is a small inn. Other lodging options in/near Simsbury are the Simsbury Inn (a larger inn, quite lovely), and in Avon there is a Marriott Residence Inn and Avon Old Farms Inn (nice, but some rooms are motel-style with external entrances). But Litchfield is probably just shy of 90 minutes from Colchester, so you could just press on....

Thank you! We decided to go to Wallingford, although it's more out of the way than I wanted. Is that a nice area?
Thank you!

I actually grew up in Wallingford and my folks still live there. It has a real downtown, which is coming back after years of work to revive the downtown area and make it more competitive with big strip malls, etc. There are a couple of decent restaurants downtown - Michael's Trattoria and the Half Moon Cafe are good picks, although not fancy (Half Moon is counter service but good food). There are several antique shops downtown, as well as an independent bookstore and a great ice cream place. Not a lot of shopping downtown other than antiques. There is also a great cemetary that is quite popular with people that do rubbings because of the old graves - worth a walk-through if you are not freaked out by that. Good gardeners market on sat morning. And Choate (prep school) has an arts center that might have a good concert or exhibit to see.

MRB07,
While Wallingford might work, to me it does not seem to meet your criteria, as I don't think it has the "charm" you are looking for. You mention it is a little bit out of the way also, so I'm not sure why you selected it. As a previous poster suggested, you could stay in Avon/Simsbury area. There is a hotel in Avon which is only a few minutes drive on Rt. 44 to West Hartford, which has a great town center with lots of shops and restaurants. You can also easily get to Litchfield from there. There is a hotel in West Hartford called the West Hartford Inn but I have never been inside it. It is a short walk to the town center (1/4 mile).

A previous poster also suggested you 'press on' to Litchfield and stay there and I'm curious why that is not an option. Litchfield is definitely a town with Connecticut charm!