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Contact: Glenn M. Faria
Blueberry Hill Inn-clusives [Goshen, Vermont Winter 2001] Blueberry Hill Inn-clusives are seasonal offerings of great escapes including diverse recreation and sublime cuisine you wouldn’t expect to find in the midst of the Green Mountains. Read on. Find yourself awake at 6am, anxious to
begin a pre-dawn snow shoe trek. Sumptuous
Under Clark’s unswerving watchful eye, the inn continues to operate on a deliberately simple and consistent philosophy which dictates that the inn will serve foods which focus on the fresh, seasonal and, whenever possible, the regional; utilize the best ingredients available and rely on quality, not exotica; serve cuisine which is unusual, but not unrecognizable and which is prepared to delight the eye and palate. The cuisine is decidedly elegant, gourmet, yet, country simple. But perhaps wiser guests already know enough to savor the day’s recreational delights, for all too soon the peaceful wrinkle in time which is Blueberry Hill passes away, as the day to day world of cares comes rushing in, until next visit. Blueberry Hill Inn-clusives comprise packages featuring three or four nights’ lodging, four-course country breakfasts, a different luncheon soup daily, sumptuous four-course dinners daily plus use of the Inn’s wood-fired sauna, ski trails, ski equipment and snow-shoe treks, moonlight strolls, cooking demonstrations and all the renowned chocolate chip cookies you can eat (or rustle into your luggage). The emphasis is, decidedly, on the Inn’s renowned, incomparable haute cuisine. Packages are priced at $115 pppndo including tax and service.* Blueberry Hill Inn in Goshen, Vermont, graces a cleft between Hogback
and Romance Vermont’s winter unfurls its stark,
timeless beauty early here and the North Wind blows Partnering With Vermont Fresh Network From the dozen comfortably appointed guest
rooms and cottage—each with a handmade quilt and ensemble
of amenities including inn-made herbal bath salts and
body lotion—to the Inn’s pristine acreage, Blueberry
Hill envelops guests in Vermont hospitality in a grand, urbane
yet subtle, style. The inn’s strongest suit is its Blueberry Hill Inn is located five miles down Forest Service Road
#32 in Goshen, |
Cuisine,
creates symphonies of culinary legerdemain preparing the midday’s
nourishing and warming soup and savory evening comestibles. Hungry?
Some of the inn’s signature dishes include Truite Antoine,
Lobster & Crab Ravioli with Roasted Garlic Cream
Sauce, Beef Tenderloin with Irish Whiskey Sauce
or Soufflé Roll with Chicken Béchamel
Filling and Roasted Red Pepper Coulis. While guests savor
each Blueberry Hill moment, they are sometimes wont to
anticipate with gusto the evening’s exotic cheese boards
with their brought-along spirits (N.B., as the inn boasts no
liquor license, BYOB), and thus mentally hurry through the day’s
full itinerary of outdoor activities.
The
gustatory experience at Blueberry Hill is, without question,
exceptional. When Tony Clark and his new wife first reopened
the inn in 1968, they began a new era of nouvelle cuisine
before it was chic. It was Vermont “fusion,”
an amalgam of Clark’s English and French flair for elegance
and detail—and a particularly uncompromising intransigence
towards using less than highest quality ingredients, preparation
and presentation—and
his spouse’s “down home, homegrown, country-fresh”
cooking. Clark, whose father was a wine merchant, was reared
in Bordeaux, France on haute cuisine and fine wines in
the company of bon vivants. He acquired, at an early age,
the highly sophisticated palate and savoire faire which prevail
in his kitchen to this day.
fabulous
food and a variety of recreation both on and off the beaten path.
Take an inaugural snow-shoe expedition into Vermont’s “outback,”
there to find yourself anew. Or awaken in the wee hours, perchance
to espy bull moose raking tree branches with their antlers—a
sure sign they seek amour. Take hauntingly exhilarating strolls
across moon-lit snowbound fields and groomed ski trails, watch
homemade pasta being made or simply watch the clock’s hands
move. The Blueberry Hill experience is singular, and the peace
and serenity one finds here is unimpeded by the sights, sounds
and cares of the world “out there.” The Welsh-born
innkeeper—now in his 30th year plying the innkeeping trade
at Blueberry Hill, will allow no television or radio to
interrupt this placid experience.
mighty behemoth’s cab, music strains against the night while
the ‘Cat striates the snow. Tonight’s labors ready
ski trails for tomorrow’s recreation—merely one of
Blueberry Hill’s myriad recreational options. Desultory
hikes or snowshoe treks across snowbound fields or mountain passes
may suffice for outdoor wannabes, but true stoics rejoice in
crunching snow underfoot as the moon sets, racing to the horizon
to beat the sunrise.
incomparable cuisine. Evening
hors d’oeuvres ready guest palates for sumptuous and sophisticated
four-course dinners artfully prepared and presented in the convivial
dining room. The entire building is redolent of the fare du jour.
The Welsh innkeeper’s penchant for “playing with food”
has been recognized for its sophistication, imagination and execution.
Desserts, as you’d expect, are sinful. The Inn’s
purveyors are members of the Vermont Fresh Network,
Vermont, about 12
miles from Middlebury. Some say the Inn is ‘in the
middle of nowhere,’ but most savor the prospect of such
delicious and tantalizing seclusion. Blueberry Hill can
also be reached via air from Boston’s Logan Airport
on US Airways Express (operated by 
