Vermont Craft
  and Cuisine

  5 to 9 July, 2010
  $895 per person, double occupancy,
  $230 single supplement

Create, eat and explore Vermont! Our five day journey begins in Boston, where our coach picks up the group bound for Burlington. Along the way, share your favorite ways to create with the group. During Vermont Craft and Cuisine, all types of pursuits are celebrated: quilting, knitting, spinning, crochet, weaving, etc. Our creative home during the trip will be The Essex, which is a AAA four diamond culinary resort and spa.

Set up your working studio in the secured space reserved for our group. The Essex also encourages Tactile Travelers to create in the lobby and display finished work. Need a break? Take a dip in the outdoor heated pool, reserve a spa treatment and enjoy the steam and sauna rooms (at additional cost), or just go for a walk on the grounds. Dinner together that evening will feature locally grown ingredients, followed by a bon fire with s’mores (weather permitting).

Tuesday morning, we visit the 1,400 historic acres of Shelburne Farms. This historic landmark is a working farm and environmental education center that has inspired programs in Italy and Japan. Robert Robertson and Frederick Law Olmsted designed the agricultural buildings and landscaping to promote innovative agricultural techniques. We taste the cheddar that has won many American Cheese Society Awards.

Our next stop is downtown Burlington, where the Church Street marketplace has locally made chocolate, ice cream and oodles of lunch opportunities. Choose your favorites before heading back to the Essex for creation time.

Interested in something other than studio time? Attend a Culinary Classroom with the Essex Chefs (at additional cost). Dinner and sunset on a Lake Champlain cruise cap off the day.

Bring a traveling project, camera and journal along with you on Wednesday. We visit the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory, taste estate wines from Lake Champlain, learn how apples are pressed into cider, check out Stowe’s vibrant arts and crafts community, and experience sustainable agriculture with a special dinner at Applecheek Farm.

Thursday begins with studio time. In the afternoon, experience American architecture, craft and art at the Shelburne Museum. With dinner at the Essex, there
 is time for one last workshop session after dinner.