Vermont craftspeople display their arts and crafts in Open Studio Weekend 2009

Vermont Crafts Council hosts the Open Studio Weekend 2009

May 23 & 24, 2009

Back in September, the Vermont Crafts Council organizes directions and maps to all the sites of the Vermont craftspeople whom work in studios located in or close to their residences. Throughout the Winter, they continue accepting applications of sites and develop directions. Around the first week of April, it all comes together to make The Open Studio Weekend, named one of the Top Ten Summer Events in a Vermont Chamber of Commerce competition in 1997. On this event, you will be able to see for yourself the production of many finished works of art, the atmosphere of their workplace, and even talk with the artist them self all in the place of the artists’ workplace. You’ll see the swatches that have not been chosen for the quilt or the work that is experimental or not serious enough for the gallery. As you can see on the map below, it will be almost impossible to run out of places to visit on this exciting weekend. Thinking about attending both days of the Open Studio Weekend? The Distinctive Inns of New England can help you find the right place to stay in Vermont to make your weekend just a bit better with luxurious accommodations.

Going from idea to reality: Placing studios on the map.

Windham Hill’s Innkeepers find fulfillment by pleasing guests in Vermont

Joe and Marina Coneeny, innkeepers at the Windham Hill Inn in southern Vermont, recently celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary. They met in Vermont while students at Middlebury College and married exactly seven years to the day from their first date. That’s 30 years together!

Innkeeping is their dream job. Explains Joe, “We became innkeepers to make people happy by providing an experience that slows life’s pace, rekindles spirit, and recognizes nature as the primary force in life. In the process, our family benefits from living in this environment and working together for our goals.”

Joe, from Massachusetts, and Marina, from Paris, France, have traveled extensively in Europe and know what traveling couples appreciate. “We create hospitality,” Joe says, “by providing luxury and peaceful time combined with sensory indulgence.”

Marina has years of practice as a provider of comfort and well being, knowing instinctively what makes a great room and an elegant bath and which cheeses are ripe to the point of “being in a state of grace.”

Joe provides the exclamation point based on his customer service and sales background in investment banking. He pushes the envelope of service to make each guest’s experience at the Windham Hill Inn unique and unforgettable.

“As a member of DINE,” Joe says, “we are in a group of kindred spirits whose main aim is to provide a memorable experience based on quality, service, and warmth that renews people and thereby energizes us all.”

Windham Hill Wine Series Announced

Windham Hill Wine Series-2006

Spring is just around the corner at the end of our country road-a time for renewal after a winter of contemplation on the quiet snowy days-plenty of time to cook up the best Windham Hill Wine Series yet!!

Following the continued success of the wine dinner series in 2005, an expansion is in the works for 2006, with an added twist. One of the consistent questions I get at each wine dinner is “where can we get these marvelous wines??” More often than not, the answer has been that the wines are not readily available on a retail basis, which I know is not the answer you want. So…enter the Collectors Edition Dinners, two dinners over the course of the Windham Hill Wine Series designed to showcase wines that are available through Amory Consultants. These dinners will be held in the early summer and late fall and are designed to let you stock your cellar for summer and winter!!! Daphne Amory has a growing clientele in the area and is able to source most any wines that I get here at the Inn.

As always, Jenn Cayer and her wonderful kitchen staff create each wine dinner menu to complement and showcase the wines on offer and the wonderful organic ingredients we purchase and grow here for your pleasure and healthy enjoyment! The menus are created in the few weeks before each dinner in order to pair wines and locally available produce, meats, game and seasonal seafood-the result is always a feast for the senses in a convivial and relaxed setting.

This year Jenn will have a broad canvas at her disposal given the range of wines and the areas of the world where they are grown. Spring freshness and light will eventually meet the brooding warmth of winter’s slow food, in each case complemented by and enhanced by the expression of the grape and the terroir of its origin…..but I digress!

Menus will be posted at www.windhamhill.com a few weeks before the dinners. Join our mailing list and get email notice. These emails sometimes contain lodging discounts in conjunction with off peak season dinners, so sign up to receive these offers at windham@sover.net.

Our first dinner of the year will be held on Thursday March 30th at 6:30pm and will feature the astounding wines from Domaine Weinbach in Alsace. This is the second time we have focused on these fantastic white wines with Sheilah McGovern Reynolds of Vineyard Brands. Jenn Cayer and her team have fashioned a superb combination of flavors to complement and highlight the qualities of each varietal and stylistic impressions of the daughters Faller, the winemakers at this ancient family run estate. A full menu follows, and remember to check out our Midweek Reality Break Special for lodging.
Sante’!!