Help for our kid-less vacation in New Hampshire

[Y2K]

Hello New Hampshire people. The wife and I are doing a kid-less NH vacation June 24 thru the 27th. We are staying around Tilton the 25th -27th and haven't decided where on the 24th.

Two questions, since we are from Connecticut:

1. The 24th is our 19th anniversary. Looking for ideas of a place to stay the night and a romantic place for dinner (could be the same place).
   
2. What are some good wineries and breweries we should try to hit (must be open on weekdays) while we are in NH? Hopefully Twin Barns will be open, and I am eyeing Moonlight Meadery and Sap House Meadery in Ossipee.
   
3. Any other ideas for a couple that hasn't had a kid-less vacation in 9 years, and is spending it in New Hampshire?

I know the Laconia/Tilton area well (we vacation in Laconia every 2 years) but not much outside of there. Thank you!

[camp guy]

In Wolfeboro you might try the Pickering House Inn on South Main Street. I should warn you, it is pricey, but it is very nice, downtown Wolfeboro is a very short walk, and the local merchants are readily accessible, and the dockside area.

Good luck.

[Biggd]

Opechee Inn, great rooms and one of the best dining experiences in the lakes region. And it's not far from Tilton.

[8gv]

Originally Posted by Biggd

Opechee Inn, great rooms and one of the best dining experiences in the lakes region. And it's not far from Tilton.

"O" is a great restaurant there!

[WinnisquamZ]

Originally Posted by 8gv

"O" is a great restaurant there!

Agree


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[patman]

Not quite in the lakes region, but check out Stonehurst Manor in N. Conway...

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by patman

Not quite in the lakes region, but check out Stonehurst Manor in N. Conway...

My wife and I stayed there last year for a childless weekend--very nice (though I do think a winter visit is better than somewhere on the lake).

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[The Real BigGuy]

Breweries in Wolfeboro: Burnt Timber Brewing and; Lone Wolfe Brewing. Hobbs in Ossipee brews a good pint.


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[ApS]

Originally Posted by camp guy

In Wolfeboro you might try the Pickering House Inn on South Main Street. I should warn you, it is pricey, but it is very nice, downtown Wolfeboro is a very short walk, and the local merchants are readily accessible, and the dockside area. Good luck.

Is the Pickering House more expensive than B.O.A.T.?

[The Real BigGuy]

I just checked on “Room 1”. If you wanted it for tonight - $365/night! Yikes🤭


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[tis]

When it opened they were advertising it at 400 a night with a two night minimum.

[winniplayhouse]

The Winnipesaukee Playhouse will be showing the fabulous farce Moon Over Buffalo by Ken Ludwig starting June 26th. Hope to see you there! www.winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org

[BroadHopper]

Check this out!

http://1810house.net/

Nice little B&B on a vineyard! The owner is a wonderful German woman!

[Overlake97]

For something very different, and definitely on the romantic side, look into the Crystal Quail in Center Barnstead for dinner. It's expensive ($75 fixed price per person), and you bring your own wine (no corking fee), but I'd say it's worth every penny. You absolutely have to have reservations, but I think you're reserving for the entire evening. We brought a friend there once from Seattle (a city with a LOT of good restaurants). The Quail's "hosts" treated us like royalty for the full 3 hours (!) that we lingered, and our friend can't stop talking about it.

http://crystalquail.com/home.html

https://www.yelp.com/biz/crystal-qua...sq=Restaurants

See Yelp reviews (link above), for a sense of what this place is all about. [Note: Not a single review less than 5 stars].

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by BroadHopper

Check this out!

http://1810house.net/

Nice little B&B on a vineyard! The owner is a wonderful German woman!

That looks like a GREAT place, and the prices are very reasonable. May have to check it out with my wife next winter!

[bkmakec]

Wolfeboro is definitely one of the all-time quaint towns in the Lakes Region. Highly recommend at least a 1/2 day there, if not a stay there. Be sure to check out Yum Yum Shop for pastries/coffee/ice cream, Lydia's Cafe for a killer blueberry french toast, Full Belly Delli or Huck's Hoagies, and if you want to get out on the lake you can rent a boat from Goodhue & Hawkins.

[hd333]

What about staying at Church Landing and spending the day in Meredith? Plenty of walkable shops and dining options.



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[tis]

The 1810 House used to be part of the Allen A if you are old enough to remember it or have heard about it. Allen Albee, the owner lived there when he was alive.

[Major]

If you have time to travel a bit off the beaten path, you can't go wrong with the Ledge Water Steakhouse in Bristol. We went there on Friday night with friends who live in the area and have never been to LWS. They were blown away. The steaks were awesome that particular evening. I had the ribeye which was fantastic. The views of Newfound Lake are great as well.

One caution - be patient. Took a while for our drinks, but overall the service was good. In the heat of the season though, service can be tough.

Good luck!

[Y2K]

Thank you all for the ideas. It came down to the 1810 House and the Hotel Concord. We decided on the Hotel Concord's Romance package mostly due to it being in an area we haven't been to before and getting the dinner voucher at the steakhouse.

We have both been busy marking up brewery and winery maps with locations/days open/hours so we can maximize our tours. The 24th can not come quick enough.

Again, thank you all. If you have any other special spots, quirky locations, or just favorite little stops you recommend please do not hesitate to post!

See you soon.

[Winnigirl83]

Gotta check out Chuck's BARbershop. It's a speakeasy. Great spot! Let us know what you think!

[rick35]

If you’re in Moultonborough check out the Country Store. We spent a weekend at the Center Harbor Inn back in April and had never stopped until then. It’s jammed full of interesting stuff.

[jbolty]

Originally Posted by rick35

If you’re in Moultonborough check out the Country Store. We spent a weekend at the Center Harbor Inn back in April and had never stopped until then. It’s jammed full of interesting stuff.

… and the museum upstairs

plus cup and crumb is right up the street

[Y2K]

Thank you all again for your suggestions. This will be a little long:

• 6/24/19 (our 19 year anniversary)

*Drove up from CT.
*Hit The Moonlight Meadery in Londonderry on the way thru. VERY good place, I love their Meade, and they are available in CT. Highly recommended.
*Next we stopped at LaBelle Winery in Bedford. Beautiful place. They appear to be well setup for large events. Did a tasting and the wife took home a few bottles.
*Stayed at The Hotel Concord in Concord . Lovely hotel. Had a room on the top floor with a great view. The Romance Package was affordable and included champagne in the room w/chocolate and $80 towards "O" Steak + Seafood in the hotel.
*Checked in and then took a walk around Main Street Concord. Cool town.
*Dinner at "O" was good. Beer seemed quite overpriced but overall we were happy.
*Unfortunately The SpeakEasy Chuck's BARbershop was closed on Monday. I need to give that place a try, nothing but positive reviews.

• 6/25/19 - Rain all day

*Checked out, grabbed some 'Dunkin and headed over to the Mall of New Hampshire since it was a bit early for the wineries to be open. The Boss picked up a few things. Nice place.
*Went to Zorvino Winery in Sandown. We had been here before years ago. Good wines, and we sat outside under the covered porch to eat some lunch and have a glass before moving on. Wife bought a $30 bottle of wine just because she liked the moon shaped bottle (no idea what the wine tastes like)
*Next up was Flagg Hill Winery and Distillery in Lee. Last time we were there you could do EITHER the wine tasting or the spirit tasting, now you can mix. Wife stuck to wines while I tried some spirits. Absolutely LOVE their Maple Liquor (always have several bottles at home), and the Raspberry Liquor was very good. This stop hit the wallet pretty hard
*On the way to Steele Hill we stopped at Kettlehead Brewing in Tilton (finally, a brewery). Great little brewery. Did a tasting flight and grabbed some pretzel bites to snack on. Took home a 6 pack of their
Hefeweizen
*Checked into Steele Hill in Sanborton (2 nights here). We split a timeshare with my in-laws so we have been here before. Recommend highly, the biggest issue is it takes 10 minutes just to get back to Route 3/Lacona from the top of the hill. Large indoor swimming pool with a good size slide in the new section.
*Met up with my Lumberjack friends Billy (Stihl Series competitor) and Kendall (1st ever woman's Stihl Series Champion) at the Holy Grail Irish Pub in Epping. The food here was EXCELLENT, and it's built inside an old church. Cool experience. (Side note; I announce Lumberjack shows around New England, including the at the Merrimack Busch Brewery)

• 6/26/19 - Sunny and beautiful

*Had breakfast at a local diner, then drove around Winni to Wolfboro.
*Walked around a bit, then took a trip on the Mount Washington to Weirs Beach and back. I need to stop going on the boats, they make me want to sell everything so I can get a place on the lake
*Hit up Lone Wolf Brewing in Wolfboro. Great beers, laid back vibe. Took home a pack of their Amaranthine beer. Visit this place if your into beer!
*Next up was Winnipesaukee Winery in Wolfboro. This is also where the 1810 House B+B is. The winery was not open, but the lovely woman who runs it all came out anyway and let us do a tasting. Unique wines, and the owner could not have been nicer! Just based on talking with hew we will definitely stay at the 1810 House next time we have a chance. It sounds like many nights she invites guest from the B+B down the winery to finish off bottles that were opened for tastings . Also found a walking stick in the antique shop for my son to replace the one I had custom made that got broke during our last Cub Scout camp out.
*Drove up to Ossippe to try out Sap House Meadery. A little spot off the beaten path. Free tastings and it looked like their food was popular as there were people picking up take out. Many different styles of Meade. I did not like them as much as Moonlight, but that is mostly because I tend to like sweeter Meade.
*On the way back to Winni we stopped at Hobbs Tavern & Brewing Company in West Ossippe. This was a disappointment. They were out of half their beers, to the point that they didn't have enough to do a full tasting flight without beers from national sources. I grabbed a pint of their stout (was OK) and moved on.
*Tried to stop at Hermit Woods Winery in Merideth, but they had just closed early for a staff outing.
*Had dinner at the Town Docks in Merideth. Good Watermelon Sangria and food was decent (like always). Got there just before a huge rush of patrons lined up for tables
*Since we are all kids at heart, we had to stop at Fun Stop on the way thru. Played some old arcade games and some ticket games. The Nice thing is the ticket slips are good forever so we saved all the points we got from the tickets for when we come back next year with the kids.
*Pulled into Weirs Beach. Most of the stores were closed (wanted to grab a new Winni Shirt) but the Dive was open Sat up on the top and had a round of drinks. The drinks were VERY good. The slight rocking of the boat took a little getting used to, but I liked the vibe and the staff was friendly.

• 6/27/19 - Sunny and beautiful

*Got up, packed and checked out
*Drove down the hill and had breakfast at Heritage Farm in Sanbornton. Wow, just wow. HUGE pancakes that come in a massive amount of flavors. Some of the best home-fries I've ever had. Whatever you don't eat they encourage you to feed to the chickens and goats in the back. Can't recommend this place enough.
*Drove back to Weirs Beach and did some shopping (I got my shirt )
*Hit up the outlets in Tilton for some shopping, then onto the highway for the long ride back (with a stop at the NH liquor store of course).

I have pictures, but I don't want to spam the forum. Maybe i'll find a place to post them and share.

It had been 9 years since we got away for more then 1 night without the kids and we had a blast. We will be back in 2020 for our family vacation either at Steele Hill in Sanborton or The Summit in Laconia. I love the Winni region and will one day figure out how to get a place on the lake.

[eillac@dow]

Originally Posted by Y2K

Thank you all again for your suggestions. This will be a little long:

• 6/24/19 (our 19 year anniversary)

Excellent summary! Thanks for the follow up. Happy you had a nice time!

[joey2665]

Awesome report on your trip!!! Instead of putting your photos in a thread you can post them to the forum gallery

[The Real BigGuy]

I have one question (and this is serious) - what the heck is Meade? I’ve seen it mentioned in the Bud Light commercials but have never seen it for sale. I saw one description as “barley wine.” Does it taste more like beer or wine?


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[Phantom]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead

[The Real BigGuy]

So more of a wine taste I guess. And barley wine is the great grandfather of beer and nothing to do with Meade. Thanks


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[Y2K]

Originally Posted by The Real BigGuy

So more of a wine taste I guess. And barley wine is the great grandfather of beer and nothing to do with Meade. Thanks


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Since it was mid-week, many of the breweries were not open. I guess the wine drinkers like to partake mid-week more then the brew crew

I don't recall seeing any Barley Wine anywhere we went.... I do love me some good Meade though, and Moonlight is about the best I have had

[chipj29]

Originally Posted by Y2K

Since it was mid-week, many of the breweries were not open. I guess the wine drinkers like to partake mid-week more then the brew crew

I don't recall seeing any Barley Wine anywhere we went.... I do love me some good Meade though, and Moonlight is about the best I have had

I'm reasonably sure they don't have meade or barley wine, but next time you are in Concord, take a swing through Lithermans Limited taproom. I'm not a big craft beer guy, but I really enjoy some of their flavors.

[Y2K]

Originally Posted by chipj29

I'm reasonably sure they don't have meade or barley wine, but next time you are in Concord, take a swing through Lithermans Limited taproom. I'm not a big craft beer guy, but I really enjoy some of their flavors.

Ugh, another one that was closed when we were in Concord. Looked great too!