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Snow Bound

Beach weather is long gone, alas, and there are flakes in the air; still, that’s no reason to hibernate for the next three months. There are plenty of ways to spend a fun weekend close to home, and you don’t even have to hit the slopes. From dog sledding beneath a canopy of pine trees to snowshoeing by dusk to dining in a candlelit cabin, we’ve found a great New England winter destination for every personality.

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Ideal for The Outdoor Lover

Round Barn Farm
Waitsfield, Vermont

You know it’s Vermont when the postman used to deliver by bicycle. That neighborly feel is epitomized by the Round Barn Inn, where guests are welcome to a basket of slippers by the front door. Unlike those who like the anonymity of a big resort, Round Barn visitors want low-key luxury and personal touches. From the note on the door and cookie jar for those who arrive late at night, the innkeepers manage to be the paradigm of hospitality without being cloying.

The property was a former dairy barn until the late 1960s. When the farmer’s wife hit seventy, she told her husband, “Either the cows go or I go.” Rumor has it that the farmer considered her ultimatum for three weeks before deciding to sell. Jack and Doreen Simko bought the place and spent years restoring the barn and converting the house to an inn where some of the twelve bedrooms have the original cathedral roof rafters and barn board ceilings, along with canopied beds with Tempurpedic mattresses, steam showers, Jacuzzi tubs and gas fireplaces.

Of the original twenty-five round barns built in Vermont, only four remain. Twelve-sided barns were built so a farmer could drive a wagon and turn it around without having to back it out. The barns originated with the Shakers who liked to say they built round barns “so the devil can’t corner the farmer.”

The Simkos’ daughter, AnnMarie DeFreest, now runs the 
operation with her partner, Tim Piper. (Their black lab, Cooper, can be booked for guests’ snowshoeing romps.) With the inn’s catering business and onsite event coordinator, the barn has been the setting for hundreds of weddings in the past two decades. It’s cedar-shingled, insulated and heated with maple floors, oak beams and birch trees strung with white lights. Iron candelabras are suspended from a forty-foot high ceiling.

In the summer, a farmer leases the property and the inn’s food is grown 120 yards from the barn. The complimentary breakfasts are legendary (maple pork sausage and homemade cranberry 
oatmeal scones, for example). In the fall, guests press cider from Empire and Cortland apples on the property and the fresh cider 
is served at breakfast the next morning.

A number of inn weddings began with someone uncorking the question there. “Guys will call and say ‘I need a really nice place because I’m planning to propose,’ ” says Piper. His response? “Relax, we’ve been making romantic heroes for decades.” One gallant option, guaranteed to prime a yes reply, is a cabin dinner.

Each winter, the inn hosts moonlit snowshoe tours to a remote cabin for a fireside meal. It’s a group tour, so it’s not the most private spot to pop the question, but the mood will be cast. The founders of Vermont Canoe, Rob and Amy Scharges, run the trips. Around dusk, everyone straps on snowshoes as Rob leads a low-key hike through the woods, past one of the oldest sugar shacks in the valley. The sun has sunk into night by the time guests reach the 1970s hunting cabin owned by the 
Simkos. The rustic structure is a beacon. Votives flicker in the windows and outside, candles stand in a snow sculpture that chills guests’ beer and wine. Inside, flames blaze in a fieldstone fireplace and the table is laden with Vermont cheeses, melted brie with fig sauce, grapes and strawberries before a meal of salmon or beef bourguignon is served.

After dinner, guests don headlamps and Rob leads a more direct route to the inn, knowing that a cocktail of moonlight, wine, great food and company can be intoxicating.

Also suitable for: You may want to leave the kids with a sitter; the inn is sublimely romantic (as the proposal count evidences).
Unique time to visit: A December Christmas package includes a sleigh ride and a gingerbread cookie making class.
The details: 802-496-2276, roundbarn
farm.com. Rooms start at $165.
 

Ideal for The Spa Lover

Stowe Mountain Lodge
Stowe, Vermont

If you’ve skied hard, Stowe Mountain Lodge is the apres-ski antidote. Glamorous guests step into what feels like an Architectural 
Digest layout, to live the high life at peak altitude. Enter the lobby and you’ve landed in Aspen or Jackson Hole: distressed leather chairs, lamps lighting the base of birch trees that stretch to the ceiling, three-tiered candelabras and a baby grand piano.

Surrounded by 2,000 acres of conservation land and part of the $400 million renovation of Spruce Peak village, the tagline of this woven timber Alpine-style lodge is “in the midst of nature and the height of luxury.” The decor weaves the outside into an elegant inside. A local designer carved a host stand for the restaurant 
using a maple tree that had succumbed to time on the roadside; restaurant tables are constructed from trees on the premises.

Rooms have goose-down feather beds, stone-framed fireplaces, private balconies and sunken relaxation tubs set in marble bathrooms. In eco-spirit, there are low-flow toilets and showerheads, bamboo sheets and eco-friendly cleaning products. Guests can select from a pillow menu that includes maternity, goose down, hypoallergenic foam, memory foam or buckwheat pillows. A bar customized with their favorite snacks and drinks can be arranged. Private jet transport is also on tap.

A ski valet can have boots warmed and skis tuned, and brought to the chairlift when guests are ready to hit the slopes. A personal shopper will run errands, stock the room with groceries or fetch the proper gear or clothing that a guest forgot to pack. Pet owners can enroll their dog in camp K9 so their dog gets mountain hikes while owners ski. There is also an adventure center for adults (with clinics on ice climbing and backcountry skiing), an adventure camp for children and naturalist tours that include moose and bear tracking, snowshoeing,  hiking, dog sledding and mountain picnics.

The 21,000-square-foot spa has a herbal steam chamber, mosaic tile Jacuzzi and sauna. Treatments incorporate the elements, such as a scalp massage with white pine, balsam fir and silver fir extracts. Hairstylist Mario Russo, whose salon is at Louis, Boston’s chic department store, opened his second salon at the lodge. Lodge bathrooms are stocked with olive oil-based products made near Russo’s 
Vermont home.

Those who want an off-powder day can opt for a “Farm to Table” cooking class offered by Sean Buchanan, chef at the Lodge’s Solstice restaurant. Buchanan created and hosted “Feast in the Making,” a public television series that introduced viewers to the state’s meat, dairy and vegetable farmers, artisan cheesemakers and the chefs who support them.

In the morning, participants meet with farmers and purchase Vermont-grown vegetables, meat and wine. They eat a picnic lunch at the farm or a scenic location before returning to the lodge for a two-hour cooking class in the lodge’s kitchen. The experience culminates in a four-course wine pairing dinner at Solstice, prepared by Buchanan using ingredients found at the farm earlier in the day, and incorporating a few items that participants helped him cook in the class. During winter, the meal might be truffled beef tartare with 
local mushroom aioli and shoestring mushroom fries or maple-braised pork rib with bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin and tagliatelle with flowering kale.

Also suitable for: Families and couples; caters to those who prefer customized service.
Unique time to visit: The Stowe winter carnival is January 18 to 24. Play snow golf or snow volleyball, watch a professional ice carving competition; the festivities end with a nighttime block party with music and dancing.
The details: 802-253-3560, stowemoun
tainlodge.com. Rates start at $359.