After Touring New England... (Concord, Londonderry: refrigerator, college, to live)

[Sunbrite]

Question- What may be a good "home base" as far as a location in
New England for us to say where they have more economically-priced B&B's? Possibly that allow pets, but not required? Maybe northern Massachusetts? Or another NE state?

We'd like to see Rhode Island, will be travelling through Connecticut. Would visit New Hampshire, and then possibly Vermont and Maine.

This way we can still travel and see the rest of New England, but could still control our costs by staying in one location. We'll probably end up staying maybe one night outside of our home base.

Thank you!

[LACarole]

Hey Sunbrite! If you are interested, here is a website that you can see pet friendly hotels and inns in NH: New Hampshire Pet Friendly Lodging NH pet friendly inns hotels resorts New Hampshire Pet Friendly NH Lodging Cat Friendly Dog Friendly
This one for any state you may overnight in: Pet Friendly Hotels, Motels and Lodging. Dog, Cat, Animal allowed Hotels, Accomodations and Lodging.
as well as this one: Pet Friendly Lodging Pet Friendly Hotels PetFriendly Inns Dog Friendly Lodging BBs Resorts Vacations There were actually quite a few more than I thought there would be when we started looking for our drive up from Louisiana to NH.. good luck! Would love to know how it goes!

[Sunbrite]

Thanks LA Carole, these links will be very helpful.

Does anyone have any ideas for which state we can stay, with more reasonably-priced B&Bs, that will be central to all the New England states?

We'd like to be able to visit Rhode Island, will be driving through Connecticut, will be visiting Massachusetts, and would like to see Vermont, of course New Hampshire
as well as Maine.

Someone suggested places west of Boston with easy access to the I-95 or I-495 such as Lexington, Concord, Marlborough, looks like all these are in Massachusetts.

Would appreciate any feedback, we're trying to cut down on our costs.

Thank you!

[GregW]

almost any town just outside the I-495 beltway.

[LACarole]

Sunbrite - I just got an email from Buck Hollow Inn in VT about a 50% off weekday nights special they are having, unfortunately not until January, but you might want to check on some of the B&B's specials pages, because they may be having something similar...?

[Verseau]

Originally Posted by Sunbrite

Thanks LA Carole, these links will be very helpful.

Does anyone have any ideas for which state we can stay, with more reasonably-priced B&Bs, that will be central to all the New England states?

We'd like to be able to visit Rhode Island, will be driving through Connecticut, will be visiting Massachusetts, and would like to see Vermont, of course New Hampshire
as well as Maine.

Someone suggested places west of Boston with easy access to the I-95 or I-495 such as Lexington, Concord, Marlborough, looks like all these are in Massachusetts.

Would appreciate any feedback, we're trying to cut down on our costs.

Thank you!

I think it depends on how much time you want to spend in each area. If you're primarily focused on MA, RI, southern NH, etc., then the suggestion of towns near 95/128 or 495 is a good one (particularly the attractive towns northwest of Boston, e.g. Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Acton, Boxborough, Harvard, Stow, etc.)

However, if you want to spend more time northern New England (NH, ME, VT) than you do in RI or other parts of MA, then the Manchester or Concord areas in NH would also make good home bases. Pretty much any of the towns along I-93 in southern NH, really.

How much of VT and ME are you planning to explore? Northern New England is a bit more difficult to get around because of the lack of an east-west interstate, so you have to keep this in mind when planning to explore these states. I think it might be a good idea to use a town west of Boston as your home base, but then to book another B&B somewhere in central or northern NH so you can more easily explore the region.

Concord NH might be a convenient base for exploring northern NE; another possibility is the Meredith area in the heart of the Lakes Region. From Meredith, you can get to Vermont via Route 104 / 4, to Maine via Route 25, and to the White Mountains via I-93. It is a bit more isolated, though.

Another thing to keep in mind - since the days in December are so short, you won't have a lot of daylight for driving and sightseeing. I think this is definitely a good reason to book more than one B&B if you can; you don't want to be driving all over New England at nighttime. That said, it might be a bit difficult to really explore ME and VT if your home base is in MA or NH. If you're *really* keen on seeing the Vermont countryside or the Maine coast, you might have to consider a third B&B.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by Sunbrite

Does anyone have any ideas for which state we can stay, with more reasonably-priced B&Bs, that will be central to all the New England states?

We'd like to be able to visit Rhode Island, will be driving through Connecticut, will be visiting Massachusetts, and would like to see Vermont, of course New Hampshire
as well as Maine.

Someone suggested places west of Boston with easy access to the I-95 or I-495 such as Lexington, Concord, Marlborough, looks like all these are in Massachusetts.

Deerfield MA or even North Hampton MA would work well too as you'll be on I91 near RT2 and the MA Pike etc and can branch off North and South from there.

While you are "Driving through" CT, be sure to stop off and visit. We don't bite, and there are a lot of New England gems here as well.

[Sunbrite]

Thanks again everyone, for your enormous amount of assistance. My husband and I will be going through all the information and will make a point to really see NH. Yes, JViello, don't worry, we'll definitely be visiting Connecticut as well, not just driving through it.

Looking forward to the trip in a couple of weeks. We'll let you know how it goes.

[grimstuff]

Originally Posted by Sunbrite

Thanks again everyone, for your enormous amount of assistance. My husband and I will be going through all the information and will make a point to really see NH. Yes, JViello, don't worry, we'll definitely be visiting Connecticut as well, not just driving through it.

Looking forward to the trip in a couple of weeks. We'll let you know how it goes.

Sunbrite,

We stayed at five different places in VT, NH, and ME. Of the B&Bs we stayed at, they include the following:

Sugar Hill Inn, just south of Littleton in northern NH, which was a great experience--great location, just loved that area. While the Inn was expensive, it was very nice. The place is old, and it felt like you stepped back in time walking up the stairs into your room.

Way over in Bar Harbor (I don't know if you planned on getting all the way over there) we stayed at the Castlemaine Inn, which was surprisingly cheap, around 80 dollars, but very nice. The owners were very friendly and accommodating.

In Portland, ME (you better go there), we stayed at the Morrill Mansion, which was by far the nicest place we stayed at on our whole trip, although not as expensive as Sugar Hill. It had a good location, reasonably close to downtown, and the owner/manager was also very friendly and accommodating.

Of the places above, I'd return gladly, absolutely nothing negative to speak of. however, I don't think any of them accept pets.

[NJ2NH]

Sunbrite, from Bergen County, NJ to Southern Seacoast NH or South of Portland, ME is 6 hours. If you want to go historical, why not go as far as the Concord/Salem area of MA (less expensive housing), take the T into the city to do the Trail, go to Old Ironsides, etc. You could even take the T down to New Bedford and visit the Whaling Museum and Seaman's Bethel. Spend two or three days. See what's playing in the Boston area in the evening if you're hungering for culture and good food. Then enjoy the really fun parts of NE by driving on up the coast into Maine and across NH. As others have said, Portsmouth is a great town with lots to see, but there are so many wonderful little spots throughout NH. I'd hate for you to miss the flavor of New England by spending all your time in touristy/ crowded places. Just my opinion.