[Inigo Javaloyes]

My wife and I are considering moving to Vermont after a decade in Spain. We are looking for a place with good schools (our kids are 4, 6 and 8) and rural, bot not isolated. It should have a sense of community and a place where the children can socialize. Any ideas?

[seanpecor]

I'm going to suggest Middlebury and the surrounding towns around Middlebury. I'm in Virginia now but we're moving back to Vermont (hopefully) this summer and are targeting Cornwall, the town just south of Middlebury.

Cornwall to the south and Weybridge to the north are rural but minutes from Middlebury. Both have quite good elementary schools. Both elementary schools feed into Middlebury Middle and High Schools, both of which are very very good.

To get back "into" the community before actually arriving there I've subscribed to the Addison Independent Online:

Addison Independent Online | Addison County Independent's Online Edition

You can read most news stories through their primary web site but it's not a good replacement for the actual newspaper you get above for a small fee. It's in PDF format and looks/reads much like the actual paper. Reading the paper you can get a very good sense of the community in the Middlebury area. It's a wonderful place. The sense of community is quite strong and thanks to Middlebury College there are alot of cultural resources, events and such. Plenty of cafes and restaurants where folks regularly congregate. Here is a nice heritage guide to the Middlebury area:

http://www.midvermont.com/guides/heritage_guide/2006_heritage_guide.pdf (broken link)

Doh! I'm remembering an acquaintance I met a couple of times for lunch who lives in Shoreham, about 20 minutes from Middlebury. His wife taught Spanish at Middlebury College. Let me dig that up. Yes, David Herren-Lage:

el peregringo » Contact Info

David is a great guy. You might ask him for his perspective on Shoreham/Middlebury and the general area.

Cheers,

Sean

[sugarmaple]

Hi, another possibility to consider is the Woodstock area; Woodstock, I understand has good schools. The Town itself is pretty expensive however there are surrounding towns, such as Reading which have lovely homes, some rural, some Village and living in Reading gives you school choices, and Woodstock is one of those choices.