Snow and cheese and meat

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Sadly our time in Vermont is ending tomorrow as we head to Boston. We have absolutely loved it here - the people are friendly and accommodating, the food is great and it’s a beautiful place.

The last few days have been filled with relaxing, eating and playing in the snow. For many people, when your seven year old is lying flat on her back in the snow, after careening down an icy hill on a sled, having head-butted the slope, crying and claiming that she “can’t move my legs”, it would be cause for some concern. Luckily Genevieve has given us much experience of her self injury assessment process, and in reality, it was nothing a bit of lunch and a lie on the couch didn’t fix (oh, and surgery to reconnect her spinal cord). Despite “not being able to walk”, she managed to leave the house for a wander around the village of Brownsville (what some people may have christened their pants after retrieving said child from snowy slope). Recovery process was helped by a visit from Lily, next door’s dog and a brush of Chucky, their beautiful old horse. And we even made a proper snowman! To complete the winter picture, we found some deep fluffy snow to play in, and some frozen streams to throw snowballs at. Oh, and some children too, had to take them out!

Yesterday was warmer and rainier so we headed to Sugarbush farm for some cheese and maple syrup sampling! Yum! These people know how to do food sampling!! Also visited Quechee (that our GPS lady is convinced is pronounced ketchy) for some gin and vodka tasting, and oh, ok, if there’s more cheese I must test! Had a quick walk around beautiful Woodstock in the drizzle too.

Today was sunny and warmer and alas, most of the snow has now disappeared, and our snow man has lost his entire face down his front. Lunch stop at Brownsville Butcher and Pantry (more meat) before heading to Billings’ Farm. Lots of cows to see and chat with, and get licked by, some horses and a wagon ride. A beautiful house which was occupied by the original manager of the farm in the 1890s and was quite modern for its time, with indoor plumbing and gas lines.

And now, with most of the snow gone, so are we, almost ?. What a lovely time we’ve had - we could not have wished for a more perfect White Christmas!

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