Our weekend getaways sometimes take us well away from civilization, to where the air is clear and the sounds of the cities are left far behind. When our romantic weekend getaway took us to Central Vermont, we discovered the village of Bernard and the warm welcome of the Fan House bed and breakfast.
Bernard is countryside — the population of the entire township is under 1000. The town sits at the outlet Silver Lake, originally called Stebbings’ Pond and later Barnard Pond. On the north shore of the Pond is Silver Lake State Park.
Along the south side are the town’s general store, post office, and most of the town’s residences. Woods-tock is the next town over, twenty minutes away, and is no teeming metropolis itself.
Like most of Barnard, the Fan House dates from the mid 1800’s. Its Federal architecture is exhibited in the fireplace and polished plank floors. The fan-shaped motif above the windows, probably added in a later age, gave inspiration for the B&B’s name. The renovations in preparation of turning the Fan House into a B&B in 2003 included exposing the rich wood grains in the doors and floors. The Fan House’s kitchen features a turn-of-century wood cook stove as its kitchen’s centerpiece, accenting a decor throughout that strives for simplicity, with heirloom tapestries, original art and tole that nudge The Fan House from vintage New England to couturier
Each of the Fan House’s three guest rooms each has its own private bath. The rooms feature high thread-count linens, oversize bath sheets, Bulgari bath amenities, and plush bath robes.
Hand-crafted breakfasts warm the mornings, while the fireplace warms the evenings. The gardens and the Vermont countryside may bring guests outdoors, vying with the comfort of reading in the cozy library for the choice of ways to relax through the weekend.
This bed and breakfast is in good company in Barnard, home of Twin Farms, the 1930’s & 40’s vacation home of Nobel Prize winning novelist Sinclair Lewis. Twin Farms is now reputed by many as one of the country’s finest destination resorts. Barnard was also a haven in the 1940s to the late Carl Zuckmayer, a noted German author and playwright.
On our visit, we dined at Max’s Tavern which shares a kitchen with the Barnard Inn Restaurant. The restaurant features a gourmet fix pris menu, while the tavern has more familiar foods with a gourmet flair. We had half-pound hamburgers with Vermont cheddar on a house-made bun, but could have had crispy seared salmon or ginger chicken spring rolls with Asian vegetable salad, or any of a dozen other tempting entrees.
The Fan House enjoys a central Vermont location just minutes from premier ski resorts, lakes, the Appalachian Trail, art galleries and boutiques, and The Chateauguay, miles of unspoiled wilderness just across a creek bordering the property.
For more information
- thefanhouse.com
Paul not only writes many of the articles in the pages of this magazine, he is also the publisher and editor of all of the magazines in the Amygis Publishing’s family of travel magazines. He loves exploring, traveling the back roads, experiencing the world, and finding what is unique and memorable about the places he visits.
And he loves writing – poetry, short stories, essays, non-fiction, news, and. of course, travel writing.
For over 20 years, he has shared his explorations with readers in a wide variety of outlets, from groundbreaking forays into the first stirrings of the dot-com boom to travel guides, local newspapers, and television, including Runner’s World, Travel Lady, Providence Journal, and Northstar Travel Media. He currently publishes and writes for Amygis Publishing’s magazines Jaunting, Northeast Traveler, and Rhode Island Roads.
