There is nothing better than embarking on a day trip to an area that you’ve never spent much time in – especially this time of year.
With the sun shining, temperatures closing in on 80 and very few clouds in the sky, we hopped in our old Nissan Sentra a little before 8 a.m., filled up the gas tank and took our talents to a little region of the state we’ve come to know as the Lake Sunapee area, which includes the towns of Newport, Newbury, New London, Sutton and Sunapee.
Living in a different area of the state (shhh, don’t tell anyone), the ride from Keene took us through a bunch of little towns as we made the less-than-an-hour journey to Newport to begin the day.
First stop on our whirlwind tour was the Country Kitchen for breakfast, and you’ll read about that later on in this issue. But just so you know, it was pretty tasty.
That’s where we met a few locals in the form of Emalie, Kim and Nikki, who work on the wait staff at the Country Kitchen. So, of course, we asked for some tips on fun to be had.
We were told of Parlin Field, also known as the Newport Airport, the weekly farmer’s market, the famed covered bridge and Sanctuary Dairy Farm in Sunapee, which sounded like a cool spot for the family.
But before we finished our breakfast for a quick jaunt to downtown Newport, a nice older gentleman had a joke for us, and we’ll try not to butcher it too much. So there’s this farmer standing in a field and a friend of his comes up and asks why he’s standing in the field. Well, he was waiting for the Nobel Prize given to the person who’s outstanding in their field. Haha, LOL.
Downtown Newport is what you’d expect from small-town New Hampshire. There’s a huge town green with a bandstand, a veterans’ memorial and lots of space to set up shop for a family picnic.
The crosswalks are green and there is a lot of pride when it comes to the Newport High School Tigers, as orange and black can be seen all over the main drag – including some swag at the Petal Patch, if you feel like joining the fandom.
While it was early in the morning, we noticed a few potential spots to grab food in the Old Courthouse, KJ’s Cafe and Salt Hill Pub. And, of course, the town had its very own Dunkin’ Donuts, but doesn’t just about every town?
Newport has its very own golden eagle enclosed in a glass case, and the police station is located right on Main Street, which we can only assume is what it was like way back in the day for most towns.
There are some cute shops, and we can’t forget about the Newport Opera House, which was closed but from what we could gather is more of an overall performance space than just an opera hall.
Before heading out of town to see what else we could find in the area, we learned that Newport is known as “The Sunshine Town,” and from our brief trip, we can see why. Everyone we passed said hello and it just had that inviting hometown feel to it. It also has the Corbin Bridge just on the outskirts of town after the airport. If you’re a fan of covered bridges, you’ll want to check it out.
But like all the great travelers before us, we had to move on.
Next on our list was Newbury, but before we got there we came across Sanctuary Dairy Farm in Sunapee, and even though it wasn’t quite open for the day, we stopped in to see what this place was all about.
They make their own ice cream, and have one challenge in particular that sounded quite daunting. It’s called the Wrist Breaker, and it includes 20 scoops, brownies, a banana, hot fudge, strawberry sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream, nuts and a cherry. It says eat alone or share with friends, but we’d like to see someone finish that by themself.
There are goats, sheep and donkeys you can feed grass to, a play area for the kids and hiking trails on the property’s 750 acres – definitely a good spot for the family to take a break from all the activities.
In addition to Mount Sunapee (and its adventure park we played around in), Newbury is home to this really cool spot known as The Fells. It’s the historic estate of John Milton Hay, and is known as one of New England’s finest early 20th century summer estates.
The Fells is home to a 22-room Colonial Revival home, which you can tour on your own or take the guided tour Wednesday through Sunday at noon. It’s got tons of great history and a couple rotating art exhibitions.
Step outside and explore the forests and walking trails through the woods or wander around the grounds close to the house. There’s a rock garden with some great statues, lots of flowers and plants to enjoy and plenty of room for the kiddos to run around and explore.
You could spend a good portion of your day right there exploring all that The Fells has to offer, but unfortunately ours was a conon densed visit – although it leaves the door open for a return trip, off the clock, of course.
The nice thing about the area is that just about everywhere you look you can see Lake Sunapee, and with stuff spread out between the towns, we got to see quite a bit of the beautiful landscape that region of the state has to offer.
We drove up the right side of the lake (if you’re looking at a map) and found our way to Muster Field Farm in North Sutton.
Farming is an old tradition, but Muster Field Farm takes that to an entirely different level.
The farm dates back to the 18th century, when Matthew Harvey (not the pitcher for the Mets) arrived in Sutton in 1772. He shortly thereafter built Harvey Homestead – and a big family that would carry on his legacy for generations.
Today, it’s a historic property that still functions as a working farm, with a roadside farmstand that’s open until 6 p.m. daily. If you look the place up online, you won’t see a specific address but rather a whole street – Harvey Road – because the operation takes up the whole dirt road, plus 250 acres and several historic buildings surrounding it.
There are six farmers/gardeners who tend to the crops – most of whom opt to work without shoes, and those classic, big farmer’s hats are popular.
When former owner Robert Stannard Bristol died in 1993, he left the farm in a trust with the stipulation that it be a working farm forever more. Stephen Paquin, who had worked for Bristol for about five years, said he would keep the tradition alive and became the next farm manger – and he still is today.
If you need some fresh veggies, hay or firewood, this is a place you should definitely check out.
We continued on our way to downtown New London. But that wasn’t the next stop this day of fun. Since we would be taking in a show at the Barn Playhouse in the evening, we saved our exploring for the northern town on our route for a little later on.
Instead, we went back down the other side of the lake toward Sunapee Harbor. With the sun still shining and it feeling like a typical summer day, we found spending some time near the water a perfect way to continue our trip.
Sunapee Harbor is home to a few restaurants, an ice cream shop and stores, where you can find all kinds of great apparel to commemorate your Sunapee excursion. It’s also where you leave for the cruise around the lake, but if you just feel like taking a seat and enjoying the cool breeze off the lake, there’s plenty of action at the boat launch to keep you entertained.
There’s also the bandstand and a great lineup of summer concerts.
Next up was play time at the Mount Sunapee Adventure Park, and boy did we ever live it up. But you can read about all of our good times later on, if you haven’t already.
On our way back up to Sunapee Harbor to cool down and grab a late lunch, we were traveling up Route 103B and sure enough, a pretty good-sized deer decided to run out in front of the car. Luckily, we were obeying the speed limit (like we always do) and had enough time to hit the breaks and let Bambi’s mom make it safely across the road – and keep the Sentra chugging along.
Once we parked across from Wildwood Smokehouse, the smell of smoked meats made the ol’ tummy rumble a little bit louder. But with some time to kill before they opened, we started to wander around and take some pictures.
First we saw a cool little waterfall, but then something else caught our eye: a group of teenage boys skateboarding to what looked like a fairly new bridge over a river. We had seen a group jumping off it earlier in the day and thought it would make for some good pics, but by the time we found it, they were gone.
Turns out it was the same group, and they were looking to cool off with some flips and jumps into about 8 feet of water. They were a little more brave than us, as we were more than happy to be behind the lens and not doing death-defying leaps.
Once our bellies were full, it was time to take part in our final area of the day: New London.
We had heard a lot about this little town and were excited to see what it was all about. It’s home to Colby-Sawyer College, but since school is out for the year we didn’t get that feeling of being in a college town.
By this point, it was early evening and we came across a family having a picnic on the common, a few couples out for leisurely walks around town and really a picteresque place.
If you like Main Street New Hampshire, you’ve got to visit New London.
There are tons of little shops to keep you busy, like Artisan’s, which sells fine jewelry and gifts created by artists. They will be hosting a trunk show July 15-16 and all things fairy July 29.
Village Sports has all your water sport rental needs, if you wanted another reason to get out on the lake. Check out the selection at Switchback Consignments if you’re looking to add to the wardrobe.
And don’t forget to check out some of the restaurants that will surely help you make it through the rest of the day.
Head back as though you’re making the trip to Sunapee, but before you make the sharp left, check out Spring Ledge Farm. It has all kinds of great plants to choose from. They also do pick-your-own strawberries, which can top off just about anyone’s day.
After that short detour, head toward the rotary going straight through and you’ll find lots more shops of the strip mall variety to pop your head into. The one thing that we enjoyed the most was the large array of places at which to spend your money.
By that point it was time to head to the Barn for our initiation to the summer theater hot spot.
You may have heard there was a big party in the Sunapee area involving some underage arrests, but don’t worry, that was one thing we did not try.
Our biggest regret is that we didn’t have weeks to do more exploring, because this area sure is bustling, especially when the summer months roll around.
If you’re big into golf, this is the region for you.
There’s the Country Club of New Hampshire in North Sutton, which we’ve been told is pretty nice. And the same can be said for the Newport Golf Club.
There are a few other private clubs in the area, too, so if you know someone who’s a member, you should try to get a tee time.
One of the best parts about a day trip is wandering around – either on foot or in your car – and checking out the sights and sounds.
So it’s about time you pick a day to go and see the Lake Sunapee area for yourself. Happy adventuring.
