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A delightful Vermont town, inside and out

The cold weather has officially arrived, and for me, it often triggers seasonal mood disorder. So I'm glad I recently gave myself one last hurrah, one more glorious weekend enjoying the great outdoors before hibernation.

Like a good little leaf peeper, I headed up to Woodstock, Vt., once voted "The Prettiest Small Town in America" by magazine.

I love Woodstock because it's beautiful, outdoorsy and environmentally conscious, but it's also an elegant small town with great food, charming bed and breakfasts and plenty of spots to shop for art and antiques. I hadn't been there in years and was excited to see what was new in town.

I stayed at the Applebutter Inn, run by transplanted New Yorkers Barbara Barry and Michael Pacht. The B & B is only 3 miles from the center of Woodstock, but that's not the best reason for booking. Built in 1854, the inn is tasteful and peaceful, which has a lot to do with the lovely hosts, who are a delight to hang out and chat with.

The couple are gourmet cooks, so breakfast is a major event - fluffy lemon or gingerbread pancakes, giant sausages and, of course, homemade apple butter to spread on fresh-baked muffins and scones. If you happen to be back in the afternoon, you're treated to teatime, with mouthwatering cookies and cakes and perhaps a little ditty by Michael on the piano. The décor is the perfect combination of sophistication and comfort - the bed is so cozy it was excruciating to get up in the morning.

I did eventually manage to tear myself away from the serenity of the Applebutter. My first stop was the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, the oldest planned and scientifically managed woodlands in the U.S. You can explore 550 acres of trails, tour the Billings Farm and Museum or take a guided foliage walk on the carriage roads of Mount Tom. But the best part of the park is the guided tour of the Marsh-Billings Rockefeller Estate. The 19th-century mansion has 28 immaculately preserved rooms, a 3,000-volume library and original works of art by Thomas Cole, Albert Biersadt and J.F. Kensett.

Over the weekend, I also went to VINS, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science Nature Center, which opened in nearby Quechee in June. Kids will love this place, with one of North America's most extensive collection of nonreleasable birds of prey (aka raptors). I saw snowy owls, peregrine falcons, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and creepy vultures.

The center also treats and releases injured wild birds - my heart ached for the cute, one-eyed owl and the one-winged raptor who'd had his feathers blown off by a hunter (you can "adopt" your own raptor for as little as $15). Knowledgeable guides walk around with "Smart-Carts" filled with hands-on materials, like raptor feathers, feet and bones, and they play tapes of the raptors' hooting and screeching. You also can see a variety of birds demonstrate their flying and hunting skills during the Predators of the Sky program, offered daily at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Nature trails lead to the adjacent Vermont State Park and Quechee Gorge.

Children also will feel at home at Star Hill Dairy, the only producer of 100% pure water buffalo products in the U.S. While adults help themselves to free yogurt and cheese samples, young ones will have a blast getting up close and personal with the giant, friendly water buffalo, whose twisted horns are like snowflakes - no two are alike. They have strong personalities, and their eyes are you and lick you with their giant tongues.

The Woodstock area has many casual restaurants, such as the new Eastender and local favorite Barnard Inn, but the Jackson House Inn and Restaurant is notable for the many world-renowned chefs who have graced its kitchen. The list is long, including Todd English, Alain Ducasse and Hubert Keller. In September, the Inn stole Jason Merrill away from Lon's at the Hermosa in Scottsdale, Ariz., and he's focusing on regional flavors using locally foraged and grown foods. Yum.

Other weekend activities included culture crawls and shopping. I stopped by the Red Wagon children's store in downtown Woodstock and the Simon Pearce mill in Quechee to see glassblowing. I also found a sweet antique shop on the side of the road and bought pristine copies of Pic magazine from 1940, with Betty Grable shimmying on the cover in a sparkly red dress and the headline "No Girls Under Eighteen: Story of New York's 7,000 Cellar Clubs."

You gotta love Woodstock.