Twin Farms

Sometimes you spot a place in a magazine, or online, and you never quite forget it. Over the last little while I’ve seen Twin Farms pop up here and there and I think there is something really interesting about how imagery can capture your imagination so completely and stays imprinted in your memory. I think it was late last summer I saw Twin Farms pop up on the Goop instagram feed and then finally, I looked it up properly, and promptly fell hook, line and sinker. If Twin Farms wasn’t already in your top 5 places you want to visit: it will be soon.

So, the first thing to love about Twin Farms is the history. In the 1920s, Sinclair Lewis, the Nobel prize-winning novelist and playwright, proposed to political journalist Dorothy Thompson which she accepted on the condition he would buy a farm in Vermont with “sweeping lawns, orchards and delicious air”.

In 1928 they purchased Twin Farms, a 1795-era farmhouse set in over 300 acres of land. Over the next 30 years, it became a sanctuary for friends and guests who moved in political and literary circles and who cherished their time spent enjoying outdoor pursuits in the day, and provocative discussions at night (not to mention the now legendary parties thrown by the couple).

Since then, Twin Farms has changed hands on a number of occasions but it was in the late 1980s that the Twigg-Smith family, who had purchased it as a second home, decided to turn it into a “Bed & Breakfast” – a terribly quaint and charming idea at the time.

They could never have foreseen that Twin Farms would be catapulted to the best small hotel in North America and winner of the Forbes Travel Guide 5*Hotel Award for 19 consecutive years.

Today, Twin Farms is still resolutely small with only 20 cottages occupying over 300 acres. It’s secluded, exclusive and luxurious; the three qualities that make it the most perfect hideaway retreat from the rest of the world.

The next thing to love about Twin Farms is that it’s the kind of place you can do pretty much every outdoor pursuit under the sun: fly fishing, canoeing, hiking, biking, downhill ski, cross country ski, snowshoe, the list goes on.

Or you can do pretty much nothing but relax too. The Bridge House spa has a simple philosophy that uses natural and organic ingredients to inspire balance and well-being, while suppliers Tata Harper, producer of 100% natural skincare products, and Lunaroma, experts of aromatic apothecary, are both local Vermont businesses.

Each cottage in completely unique and has a theme that seamlessly and effortlessly carries through the architecture, the interior design and the art collection.

If I could choose to stay in any of cottages, I would choose the Treehouse which is set within a private pine wood and literally surrounded by trees. The interior design of the Treehouse has a familiar air of British heritage mixed with a few quirky oriental influences. The ceilings are lined with unskinned logs which I’ve never seen before and brings the quiet beauty and grace of the outdoors into the cottage.

Take a look at the whole gallery here.

I could probably list another 20 things to love about Twin Farms, but I’ll finish with this one; the Pub features a Steinway baby grand, a 46″ television with VCR, a Wurlitzer CD jukebox, a pool table, a darts board, not to mention an around-the-clock, fully stocked, help-yourself bar. Doesn’t this look like the most perfect place in the world to grab a drink after a long day skiing?

Images: courtesy of Twin Farms