They say in New England if you don’t like the weather wait a minute which was definitely true in reverse today. Although yesterday morning had been a little overcast we had ended the day sitting on the deck updating the website in t-shirts, overnight the temperature had dropped to almost freezing! When we left this morning the car said it was 42 degrees F or about 5 degrees C! I think it is scheduled to warm up again but this temperature shift is what is causing some of the problems with the colours! Anyway after packing up the car we set off for Stockbridge which is our final stop before returning to Boston to fly home. On the way out of Woodstock we stopped at a wooden bridge only because we could and it seemed a shame not to! This was the Lincoln bridge and is just to the west of town on the outskirts. The route we took was via the scenic byways of route 100 and 7 and we had some fantastic views of the colours then came across other parts where there was hardly anything at all, they are definitely more spectacular when the sun is out as it reflects off the leaves and shows the colour more but all the same it was really nice. We seemed to drive through a combination of Mountain passes and valley floors which created a nice mix to the journey we also passed another couple of ski resorts who seem to be getting ready for winter. About half way we stoped at Hildene which was the home of Robert Lincoln the oldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and the only one of their four sons to survive into adulthood. He brought the land and had the house built for his wife and family to use as a summer home although they did sometimes stay for Christmas as well. It was lived in by descendants of the Robert Lincoln until 1975 when his granddaughter died there. In 1978 the non-profit organisation, the Friends of the Hildene purchased the property and began restoration of the house, outbuildings and gardens. They seem to only let people in every 15 minutes but it doesn’t seem to matter how many people enter at that time having said that it is quite nice as you are allowed to wander round on your own and they seem to have a lot of the rooms open although some are roped off. Almost uniquely for the country houses we have visited this one has an organ in the hallway with the pipes on the first floor landing! They have converted some of the old paper scrolls that are used to automatically play the organ so we could hear it, apparently you could also play it but none of the house guides seem to volunteer for that! They also have a fully restored Pullman rail car in the grounds as Robert was Chairman of the Pullman corporation for a number of years, this was very opulent and you hired the entire carriage so it must have been a very comfortable way to travel. We had considered walking round the grounds but it was still quite cold and we still had a few hours to go so decided to jump back in the car and carry on. We stopped at a roadside ‘diner’ for a Pizza on the way and it was probably one of the nicest ones we have had this holiday and definitely one of the cheapest! Then we arrived at the Red Lion Inn which is where we are staying, this is an old coaching inn that has been updated. It seems to pretty much to be the whole of Stockbridge but I am sure when we go walkabout we will find other things in town.
