THE HISTORIC EDWARD S. ISHAM CARRIAGE HOUSE

A Day at the Isham House -- Autumn: Wake up and make yourself a cup of coffee while you fire up the wood-burning stove. Put on an old LP and make a hearty Vermont breakfast. Then put on your boots and walk left out of the house to the back entrance to Hildene -- Robert Todd Lincoln's estate. Walk down the long dirt road and enjoy the leaves turning. Walk through the Farm Loop and pet the goats, pigs, cows. Take a hiking path back to the house and drive to town to shop at the Orvis, Armani, Coach, Brooks Brothers, GAP, Banana Republic, Hickey Freeman etc. outlets. Eat lunch at the Spiral Press Cafe in the best bookstore around -- the Northshire. Next walk up the road to Manchester Village and experience the prettiest stretch of homes in America. Walk into the Equinox Hotel to get a hiking map of the Equinox Preserve. After an unbelievable hike around Equinox Pond, relax with a massage at their world-class spa, or return home for a warm cider, board games and a peaceful night's sleep.

A Day at the Isham House -- Winter: There's no better place to be than Vermont in winter. Wake up early and hit the slopes at Bromley or Stratton. Come back to Manchester Center and walk through the town to plot your outlet shopping strategy. Get some mac 'n cheese and plum pie at The Lawyer & The Baker Cafe. Go back home and take a jacuzzi bath to soothe your tired muscles. Start some dinner while you relax in front of the wood-burning stove and listen to your iPod through the stereo system. Have a big dinner in the dining area and flip on the outside lights so you can watch the snow fall in the backyard and blanket the mountains. If you have the energy, go see a movie in town, or maybe just watch a DVD at home under the covers.

A Day at the Isham House -- Spring & Summer: The sun is up early in Vermont, and that's good because there's too much to do. Eat breakfast out on the deck with a view of the Green Mountains just across the valley floor. If you fly-fish, you're in heaven. The Battenkill River in all its beauty is no more than a few minutes drive away. Even if you don't fish, drive south down Route 7A and rent a canoe or kayak to treat yourself to a lovely float down the river through quiet cow pastures and pristine forest passes. Hike along the Appalachian Trail that transects the town, or drive ten minutes down the road to The Quarry in Dorset -- an abandoned marble quarry with unimaginably deep, spring-fed waters surrounded by a hundred years of impromptu sculptures and carvings like 'Jack+Helen 1929.' Of course, you're just down the road from the Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset -- the site of the annual horse show. Come back home, BBQ on the deck, and have a drink as the stars come out.