Self-guided bicycle tours in New England

Highlights:
> 5 nights in charming B&B's with abundant breakfasts and 1 packed gourmet lunch included
> 2 dinners, one is elegant Austrian-German cuisine and the other a special farm-stay meal
> Ride through farmland, picturesque town commons and protected forestland
> Meet local artists and shop in their studios
> Swim in pristine lakes
> Enjoy an optional hike in Bafflin Audubon sancturary
> Wine tasting and winery tours
> Luggage transfers

Enjoy a short warm-up ride to Willard House Clock museum before settling into your home for the eveining, the Captain John Slocumb House. Located adjacent to the Grafton Common, often called the prettiest in Massachusetts, you are a short walk away from a typical New England tavern. Enjoy dinner on your own at the tavern after relaxing at the B&B.

After a hardy breakfast, you will cycle to the well-preserved village of Sutton. Visit a renowned folk art gallery that produces chalkware Santa, an 80-year old family orchard and a chocolate confectioner. You will also enjoy the dramatic setting of Waters Farm, a restored living history museum, which overlooks Lake Manchaug. Cycling continues past another lake which offers a sandy beach for swimming and lake side picnicking. Spend the evening at Grace Note Horse Farm Inn, nestled next to 4,000 acres of protected forestland in Northern Rhode Island. Virginia, the Inn's owner, will be preparing your dinner to be enjoyed in her restored home.

After breakfast and packing the lunch prepared by the Inn, you'll head west for the "Quiet Corner" of Connecticut. On your way you will pass Thompson Hill Common featuring a grand collection of 18th and 19th century homes. Continue on with views of farmland vistas into South Woodstock with a varied collection of nice shops. An optional ride to a local winery is available, offering an opportunity to meet the enthusiastic and friendly couple who started the business. The award winning Inn at Woodstock Hill will be your home fro the next two nights.

After your breakfast in the Inn's dining room, today's loop ride heads south to Pomfret and Brooklyn with their open farmland, stately homes and rolling countryside. Stop at Bafflin Audubon sanctuary, with miles of hiking trails and some of the best birding in Connecticut. Further along is a winery which is an excellent site for a refreshing picnic lunch. The grounds of Sharpe Hill Vineyard are carefully maintained and the tasting room is a nice stop. A few miles away enjoy a treat at an all-time favorite ice cream stand with delicious homemade flavors. Tonight consider a popular local eartery which hosts folk music concerts several nights a week.

Today's ride includes the expansive town green of Woodstock with stunning Roseland Cottage and historic Woodstock Academy. The back roads of your ride will bring you to revitalized Southbridge, once a bustling mill city and now home to such projects as 12 Crane - where you will discover fine art, live music and entertainment, shopping and much more under one roof. You will be welcomed by the wonderul couple who run the Vienna Restaurant and Historic Inn. Tonight enjoy the Austrian-German food prepared by your hosts.

After authentic Viennese pastries, enjoy more quiet roads on a loop ride to Oxford, MA. Check out the Clara Barton Homestead, honoring the founder of the American Red Cross. If it's a warm day and you feel like a swin, we route you near a state recreation area.