I have been thinking that one way to highlight things to do in this area would be to tell you what we get up to on our days off. And then I thought, hmm, I’m not sure that provides enough material for an ongoing series, unless you are interested in going to the bank, the grocery store and picking up cheese. Well, you might be interested in the cheese part, so we’ll leave that for another post.

But, this week we had a doozy of a day out and I thought I’d share the details. First of all, please note that it was 94 degrees yesterday. May 25. Vermont. Yes, I said 94 degrees. Currently I am awaiting the promised thunderstorm, but see nothing on the horizon. And it’s still 94 degrees today. Back to yesterday. First we ran errands, because people who are innkeepers AND live in a rural setting rarely go anywhere without cramming in a few things from their to-do list. Then we found ourselves in Rutland, VT and on the advice of a friend, went to Gill’s Deli. There we ordered  a ‘Hot Italian with the works’ as instructed. They do four sizes of sandwich: mini, small, large and giant. I will advise you that everyone who was ordering just for themselves was ordering a mini. The minis were more than I could eat. We got a large to share. This came in handy after our next activity.

We left the deli and drove to Killington to do the Pico Peak Trail hike. This is about a 6 mile round trip, up to the top of Pico Peak. It was gorgeous and cooler that you’d imagine, being shaded and in the mountains. (Though, remember, it was still 94 degrees outside) We saw no one except one pretty little snake and a frog. It was hard work – it’s a moderate hike, with some pretty steep areas to it. But the views were so worth it. It’s funny to be hiking across a ski area and picturing all the snow and swooshing skiers only a couple of months ago. At the top we sat on the deck of the ski hut and had our well deserved large sandwich, and had no trouble finishing it.

And then to cap the day, we stopped in Brandon, VT on the way home and got an ice cream cone (I had been angling for a creemee since about halfway down the hike, that large sandwich quickly forgotten) at The Inside Scoop, which may be the best ice cream/old-fashioned candy store/soda fountain on the planet. I resisted all the penny candy and had a sugar cone (when was the last time you had a sugar cone?) of Wilcox’s mint chocolate chip, which was completely satisfying.

We may not get many of these kind of days, but we love them when we do. And I’ve got lots more ideas so if you come to visit, I just might share them.

I thought I’d write a little post about some things to do in our neck of the woods. We are now entering the time of year when people naturally think of visiting our piece of Vermont. Which also means that we are entering the time of year when we innkeepers don’t get out and do any of the things the visitors come and see, we’re too busy tending the home fires, making beds and preparing food for their return. But, in stolen moments and certainly vicariously through their stories and experiences, we do see all the wonder that is Vermont in the summer.

One of our favorite things to do when we have a few hours off and want to get away from home is to get in the car and explore side roads, usually in search of lakes or ponds to dip into. Some of the lakes we’ve found, I’m not sure I could find again, or maybe I don’t really want to share all my secrets… But it is no secret that one of the most spectacular lakes near Shoreham isn’t actually in Vermont, it is Lake George in New York. Well, the secret may be how easy and close Lake George actually is to Shoreham. Using the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry, located 5 miles from the Inn here in Shoreham, it’s a seven minute cable ferry ride over to the town of Ticonderoga. And the very northern tip of Lake George is in Ticonderoga. It’s a long, gorgeous lake and the drive alongside it is wonderful. Last time we did it, I realized it’s the tall, tall green trees that make it feel like a different world from Vermont with it’s rolling, low green. You feel enclosed by green and it smells earthy and piney and wonderful. Yes, I realize that the town of Lake George itself (way down on the other end of the lake, 30 miles from the Ticonderoga end) has a reputation for lots of honky tonky arcades and masses of people, but you don’t have to go there unless you want to. Bolton Landing has some smaller shops and restaurants right on the lake, and there are public access points and camping locations at various points along the shore. I haven’t even mentioned Fort Ticonderoga itself, but maybe I’ll save that for another post about historic sites to explore.

One of the best parts of being a restaurant owner is all the food; the delicious, exciting, local food. We make it a priority to get as much as we can as local as we can. Maybe we are extra special lucky here in Vermont since there is so much food growing, making and creating going on around us. Even in our long winters there are storage vegetables and a greenhouse down the road that operates year round. People up here obsess about their seed catalogs. I had a long discussion last night over the bar about the virtues and mysteries of hanging tomato plants.

As the year begins to warm up it’s difficult not to get excited about the foods that become available, even if only very briefly. Fiddleheads and rhubarb are this week’s excitement. We’ve even had some early local asparagus. We went to pick up cheese from Twig Farm yesterday and were given two gorgeous, enormous duck eggs. (And the cheese, oh my, this was the first time we’d had their Mixed Drum – so delicious) If you really pay attention to what’s fresh and local it hard not to become some sort of ‘foodie’, because things you might never dream of trying taste so good when they are fresh out of the ground. Let me tell you, I had an epic battle over brussels sprouts for many, many years and in the blink of an eye a fresh brussels sprout from Golden Russet Farm changed everything. I was never a big goat cheese fan and Twig Farm and Blue Ledge Farm completely changed that prejudice. Come to Vermont and try something new, we’re just entering the growing season and we’ll make no promises about what you’ll be able to get, but that’s the fun, you have to wait and see and try what’s in front of you.

So, spring is definitely springing here in Shoreham, despite a brief episode of snow on April 28. We got a few inches, which is nothing compared to the 22 inches they got in other parts of the state…. Anyway, now back to regularly scheduled spring, which, in this particular Inn’s business, means chores. And more chores. Our busy season for rooms begins in about mid-May, so April and May are a whirlwind of every imaginable planned and unplanned chore. We’re getting the garden organized (for the first time using some outside help, and it makes me so happy I could weep), windows are being cleaned, last coats of paint are being put on the trim in the Bird Room, we have to figure out what to do about the woodpecker hole in the new Barn, the photographer has been to take photos of the new Barn Suites, the swan-neck lights can go back up to light up The Shoreham Inn sign now that we ‘really’ should be out of danger of snow sliding off the roof and breaking them. I’ll stop, this list doesn’t make very interesting reading.

Before I go, I feel I must pause and offer some sympathy to my husband, who, despite loving just about everything about making the move from the UK to America, did make one great sacrifice. His birthday is in early May, and back home the first weekend in May is a ‘Bank Holiday’ weekend – the direct equivalent of Memorial Day weekend here; a Monday off and the kick-off to summer. And so, for most of his life, he’s had a long weekend to celebrate his birthday. Instead, he’s in the midst of installing air conditioners, hosing down garden furniture and gathering metal for Green Up day recycling. One of the things we have found in making this move between countries, is that you kind of gain all the holidays, or always feel you are missing out on the one being celebrated on a different day in the other place. Rather than rejoice in Memorial Day weekend, which we do, we also feel we are missing out on the May Bank Holiday weekend. Mother’s Day – very confusing – which one do you choose for sending your mother a card? The Mother’s Day in the country you live in, or the country she lives in? (Mothering Sunday in the UK is tied to Easter. It is always a certain number of weeks before Easter and is related to the tradition of giving domestic servants a Sunday off to go and see their own families, before the craziness of preparing for Easter celebrations in their place of work. How’s that for some education here on this blog?)

I suppose, as an Inn and Restaurant, we’re here to help you celebrate it all. And ultimately it really doesn’t matter what or where your occasion occurs, if you choose to spend it with us, we are honored and will do our best to make it as special as possible.

Huh, that’s not where I thought this blog post was headed. Oh well, I’ve got chores to get back to.

Well, I have been promising myself that I will not get maudlin, at least in public. But I have also promised myself to post on this blog regularly. Unfortunately for you (for me?) I only have one thing on my mind this week.

Thursday evening we lost our much beloved dog, Jackie.

We were a little family unit and Dominic and I are feeling a little lost without her. She had a great life, she fought a good fight against more illnesses and conditions than one dog should have, all with style and flair and a personality that absolutely everyone who ever met her adored. And maybe this is why I feel I should write about her here – while we loved her most, and best, she was integral to this Inn and will be missed by people far and wide. From her first home outside Dublin where her nearest neighbor was a donkey, via London and on to Shoreham where her day to day life at the Inn could most accurately be described as a succession of calling hours. Receiving her public. Doling out her kisses and wiggles. Accepting treats. Monitoring deliveries. Supervising the chopping of vegetables. Stopping by for lunch with the neighbors. Allowing visitors away from dogs at home to get their daily fix of doggy love. Teaching small children how to correctly love a dog.

We haven’t quite figured out how to begin the busy season without her. We expect questions about her all summer long from returning guests. The Shoreham Inn is certainly slightly less than it was before. She is irreplaceable and was, quite simply, the best dog that ever lived.

We had a thunderstorm to end all thunderstorms last week. And I’m a girl who grew up in the Midwest, so I know a thing or two about thunderstorms. It was loud, it was bright, it was pretty frightening and, very sadly, the beloved Newton Academy was struck by lightening and completely gutted. Our local volunteer firefighters, aided by firefighters and equipment from about 6 surrounding towns,  battled all night long so that nothing else in town was damaged, but the result was an unsafe shell of a building, right next to our elementary school, and so the final pieces had to be torn down the next day.

Here at The Shoreham Inn we just feel we need to pause and give honor to a fellow piece of the landscape of our small village, now irretrievably lost. The Academy was looking forward to celebrating it’s 200th year this year. The Inn is just a smidgen older and I find myself imagining them new and sparkling 200 years ago. I also keep picturing all the thousands of people who have passed through the doors, made memories, had experiences – and even for those of us with no historical or personal connection to the building, it just seems impossible that it’s not there as you look across the town green.

Without getting too sentimental, it is a reminder to appreciate everything in our lives, especially perhaps the more elderly elements, because while 200 years is a good, long run; it’s easy to get complacent and believe that those things will be with us forever.

Spring fever is rampant in Vermont today. 80 degrees is the forecast. We all know it’s too soon for summer to actually have arrived, but it sure gets us all excited for the next season coming around the corner. We have a guest this weekend who heard the forecast, threw her bicycle in the car and drove up for a couple of days.

Now, here’s the thing, it’s a funny season in Vermont. Not a big tourist time of the year. Traditionally we call it ‘mud season’. But here’s what she noticed yesterday; there’s nobody else around. Plenty of time to chat in the bike shop. She’ll have the park on Lake Champlain practically to herself this afternoon. She feels like she’s never been here and just seen people living their lives, it’s always been times when there are tourists everywhere and a general feeling of vacation. Spring is a working time of the year, and there is some pretty hard work to be done up here. But, if you’re not the one doing it, it might not be a bad thing to come and see. Gardens aren’t perfect yet, though buds have arrive (and I just found my very first purple crocus in front of the Inn), fields are being tilled, lambs are being born. But she’s right, Vermont is full of people who live here, outside soaking in the sun, doing chores and preparing for the next season.

Spring is that hopeful, anticipatory season everywhere and it always seems to burst upon us in one sudden weekend. But, in reality, if you look closely, little signs are everywhere, and spending some time slowing down and looking for those signs might not be a bad way to spend a couple of days.

OK, I’ve been an innkeeper for more than six years now. There are things I know about this business, and many things I don’t. One of the things I know is that people like specials. People like packages. So, in celebration of six years, we are FINALLY going to offer some. No, I’m not slow off the mark and no, I don’t have so much business I don’t need to think about such things. I can really only blame the absolutely constant to-do lost that is longer than both of my arms. Owning an Inn and restaurant is a very busy life. Fun, exciting and ever-changing. Throw in the fact that the Inn is over 200 years old…and you can see where my to-do lost begins to grow and grow. I’m not complaining, I’m just trying to justify this six year lag to myself, via this blog.

But, here we are, and I’m working on some packages. Which is harder than you’d think. There seem to be 100 ways to structure them, and there are so many things to do here in our neck of the woods. I’ve started having some great conversations with other businesses locally, farmers, cheesemakers…one of the huge perks of this job is such a wealth of good will and good friends made through these connections. And so, The Shoreham Inn will be bringing you together with some of our great friends in the very near future. Stay tuned, a whole new page will appear someday soon with some suggestions of things to do while you’re staying with us and some special enticements to get you here to do them.

Well, here we are again, and let me tell you, it’s nearly impossible to believe. Six years ago, on St. Patrick’s Day, we opened the doors of The Shoreham Inn for the first time. We wanted to say hello to our new neighbors, welcome people to our new business and generally see what we could see. Wow. And wow, again. That’s all we could say on March 18th 2004. We used to joke that moving from London, England to Shoreham, Vermont was like moving to another planet. Absolutely everything changed when we made that move, so much so that it was hard to even begin to point out differences, hence, Planet Shoreham. As we discovered then, and continue to discover almost every day, Planet Shoreham is a pretty special place, full of funny, loyal, critical, helpful and generous people. We really don’t know how we got so lucky. Maybe there is something to the ‘luck of the Irish’.

And so, with that, St. Patrick’s Day rolls around again, and we take the opportunity to say thank you to all our customers and friends who make the Pub a pub. Dominic and I had an idea of a country village pub, and we did all we could to put the elements in place to make it happen. The final, and most crucial ingredient, is the customers. The customers that embrace a place and make it their own. Only then does a pub become a pub. And boy, has Planet Shoreham done us proud.

Thank you for 6 wonderful years.

Sometimes publicity comes to you unexpectedly. Sometimes it’s wonderful, sometimes it’s unwanted – we thankfully (cross all fingers and toes – it can be a tough world out there!) have had very little of the unwanted variety, but the unexpected? This morning I woke to an email from a friend saying she was so pleased to see The Shoreham Inn mentioned in the Seven Days Sex Issue. Not an email you get every day. And, honestly, not one I ever imagined I’d get in connection with my cozy country Inn. I did a little investigating (had to prepare myself, I was already imagining the calls I might be fielding….) and found a very sweet mention of the Shoreham Inn in an article about sexy food. You can read it here yourself, but the gist of it is that we provide good food and a comfortable atmosphere, and it you’re happy and comfortable, what’s sexier than that?

With that thought, I am looking out the window as I type, and perfect movie snow is falling. Small flakes, straight down. Beautiful. And isn’t that sexy?