Shelburne Farms, open to the public since 1985, is devoted to education, investigating the latest farming techniques, and sustainability. It is open to the public from mid May to mid October (check their website for the exact dates) for tours, inn accomodations, and breakfast and dinner. I visited there October 11, 2008, and it was a great time for beauty and not being crowded.

For $6.00 you get admission to the farm, and you can walk or ride the shuttle from the welcome center to the barn. I chose the tour for $9.00 -- we boarded a wagon with a sunshade and padded seats pulled by a tractor. The tour guide gave us blankets, and they were appreciated. The grounds and farming plots were designed by a landscape architect, so the fifteen miles of mcadam roads curve, and around each bend the scene is like a postcard. The wagon stopped at the summer mansion of the Webb (Vanderbilt) family. We saw the ground floor. There are twenty-four rooms that make up the Shelburne Inn, and if I ever come back to Vermont, I would stay there, and eat at the restaurant (blue jeans are not allowed, and coats for men are requested), too! If you go there, I hope you not only tour the farm, but stay there, and eat there, too.

The barn at one time about a hundred years ago housed 300 horses. One of Dr. Webb's pet projects was the breeding of horses. Now it houses the cheese-making facility and special facilities directed to children.