The Shires in the Winter

The cutting boards, rolling pins, and other kitchen essentials made by this heritage brand are found in upscale national stores such as Sur La Table and praised by the experts at Food & Wine. But it all began in Dorset, a town of just 2,000 residents, in Josiah K. Adams’s garage workshop in 1944. And it’s here that you can still go to the source of JK Adams’s artisan-made wares, all crafted in Vermont and backed with a lifetime guarantee. Shop the flagship store for boards, bowls, serving pieces, and more, plus foods and gifts from other Vermont brands, like Dorset Daughters soaps and lotions. Winter brings more local flavor in the form of the Dorset Farmers Market, which makes its home at JK Adams on Sundays from October to May.

The state’s first environmentally focused nonprofit educational center invites visitors to step off the grid and into a fairytale winter landscape. Here, some 3,100 preserved acres of woods and farmland in the Taconic Mountains are open to the public year-round, free. But to really immerse yourself in nature, plan a winter stay at one of the property’s nine remote camping cabins. After hiking, skiing, or snowshoeing ½ to 2½ miles to your destination, you’ll feel you have the snowy forest all to yourself, and can snuggle in at night with the warmth of a rustic wood stove. Want something even more rugged? There are shelters and dispersed campsites, too. Dogs are welcome, and by late winter/early spring you may have the chance to see maple syrup being made at Merck’s working farm during your stay.

Breaking from its tradition of closing for the winter, Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) began operating year-round in 2020. And for art lovers, that means the chance to experience the SVAC campus and galleries in a new way. With the summer and fall crowds gone, these spaces feel more intimate. And when the winter dresses the 100-acre property in white, it provides a backdrop like no other for the state’s largest sculpture park. Visitors can hike, snowshoe, and ski amid the outdoor artwork; little ones will find “story walk” trails winding through the landscape. Indoors, the SVAC galleries are filled with works by artists from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as those working today. Lunch, dinner, or brunch at SVAC’s sophisticated on-site restaurant is a reason itself to come visit (reservations required).