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My husband and I are planning to explore Woodbury and Litchfield county as we aren't as familiar with that area. Any recommendations on shopping, touristy stuff and restaurants? Looking to do some Christmas shopping and good eating while checking out the sights. We are planning to start in Woodbury and stop in Litchfield, Cornwall, Kent and Washington. Any other towns we should check out? How about New Preston? We will be driving up early from Norwalk.
A lot of stuff out there is best experienced when it's warm, as there's a lot of hiking and natural attractions. It's not a huge dining/shopping area.
Kent Falls if you don't mind hiking in the cold. Definitely drive the loop around Lake Waramaug, again - not the best time of year for it visually. Hopkins Vineyard is very cool there. Downtown Kent is really not worth the time IMO. Litchfield's center is really charming though.
There's some cool old wooden bridges. Bull's Bridge and Cornwall Bridge are great. The drive up Route 7 to Cornwall Bridge is very pretty along the Housatonic River.
Shopping is very limited, but try: Litchfield Center, Woodbury for antiques, New Preston by Lake Waramaug has some small shops and is charming.
Food: Community Table and Arethusa al Tavolo are 2 of the best restaurants in the state. A little more casual, the White Horse Pub is solid. Mockingbird and River Street Grille in Litchfield are also very good. Mamie's in Roxbury is also excellent. I hear Oliva in New Preston is good, never been there - but again, a very charming little pocket by Waramaug.
If you pass through New Milford on the way, the downtown there is decent for shops and such.
Woodbury's Christmas festival is going on through tomorrow - most of the events were today, but there is an artisan market place at Flanders Nature Center tomorrow.
Shopping for antiques is very good and you can take your pick of styles and find what you are looking for - for other items somewhat limited, but here are the highlights - Woodbury Pewter is worth a visit, along with the attached housewares shop. The Garden is a great place to buy holiday plants and greenery and also has a gift shop. Geppetto's is a fantastic upscale toy store. Canfield Corner Pharmacy has some quirky goods.
The Market Place restaurant recently opened in town and is getting a lot of traffic. John's Cafe is very good too, although with a somewhat limited menu, and also open for lunch. Dottie's Diner makes fabulous donuts, but they are closed this weekend while they move to o a new location. Ovens of France makes really good bread and French pastries and the Flour Garden is a good traditional bakery that sells cookies by the pound along with cakes, pies etc.
Oliva is in the process of moving to a new location on route 61 in Bethlehem. I think they are closing up in New Preston this week or next. Bethlehem really doesn't have a downtown or shopping area though.
Litchfield has a more walkable downtown area than either of those towns, which includes a couple of high end clothing boutiques and a nice kitchenware store. @ the Corner is a good spot for an upscale comfort-food lunch, although I prefer Mockingbird personally. Arethusa al tavolo is supposed to be fantastic but I haven't been able to go yet - the dairy store next door has phenomenal products though.
Oh, Washington has a fabulous independent bookshop (Hickory Stick) and a handful of small boutiques within walking distance of each other in the center of town. I love the ambience at GW Tavern in Washington - one of my favorite winter lunch spots.
Thank you for all of the helpful info. We had a great day exploring that area and doing some Christmas shopping. We enjoyed a great breakfast at Patty's in Litchfield (apple, cheddar and sausage omelet - yum!). Had great coffees and takeout food at JP Giffords in Kent and loved the local bookshop. The entire area is just incredible between the various lakes, mountains and farms. Mohawk Mountain looked packed although it didn't look like that many trails were open.We can't wait to go back in the summer and fall so we can do some hiking. Oh and Market place in Woodbury looks awesome - definitely a must for our next trip to Woodbury. Thanks again for the tips.
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