The Perfect Vermont Inn

Because parents need grown-up getaways, too!

Jan 03, 2012 Suzanne Rowan Kelleher
Family Travel Tipster

As wonderful as it is to get away with the whole family, sometimes you need to escape for some grown-up time, too. My husband and I recently attended a wine dinner at the wonderful Red Clover Inn in Mendon, Vermont, and since then I can't stop telling everyone I know what a marvelous time we had. (See my story in the Boston Globe.)

The Red Clover Inn is a perfect destination for a romantic weekend or girlfriend getaway, because it delivers everything you hope to find in a Vermont innn: incredible food, gracious guestrooms, fantastic innkeepers, and plenty to do on-site and in the area. Here's what I said in the Boston Globe:

We have been here less than two hours and I am already inking The Red Clover Inn into my little black book of wonderful places to stay. The rambling 1840s-era farmhouse has an idyllic setting (cue barn, little pond, and apple tree out back), with 14 lovely guest rooms, no two decorated the same. Public areas are inviting and gracious, done up in buttery creams and sage greens, and furnished with simple pine antiques and built-in bookcases aplenty. There’s a sitting room for reading and playing board games and a lounge where comfy couches and a window seat flank a large fieldstone fireplace. Everything here says slow down, relax, enjoy.

If at all possible, plan your visit for the first Friday of the month, when the Red Clover Inn hosts a five-course wine dinner. Chef Dennis Vieira chooses a region (Napa Valley, Italy, or Portugal, for example) and builds a menu pairing wines from that region with dishes that complement those wines. Vieira is immensely talented and inventive, borrowing from around the globe and making good use of high-end ingredients such as truffles and sweetbreads. The experience delivers the very best of the haute-casual trend. It is fine dining, without a doubt, but without the trappings of a dress code or overly formal service. Enjoy!