Hill Farmstead (2020)

Thanks guys, really appreciate it

 

FWIW I opened a bottle from this batch over the weekend and it was delicious. Enjoy!

 

Hey there, we're considering a spontaneous trip to Hill Farmstead February 6-7. How bad should we anticipate the weather/snow storms will be this time of year? We're planning on swinging over to New York or maybe Boston for that Saturday and Sunday after Hill Farmstead. I'm in California so it's typically 60 to 65° that time of year here… Ha ha Ha!

Also, are there typically any festivals at hill farmstead in February March or April that we should wait for instead because we don't have to go this Feb 6-7 weekend. We're just trying to use an airline voucher that we have to get rid of before October.

 

Roads can be pretty rough depending on the amount dumped down, and icy roads. It was kinda sketchy when I went up one day last month. Rent an SUV/Jeep don't go economy/compact car. As far as festivals, there's no such thing other than FoFA in Aug, unless you wait til May(anniversary/memorial weekend) which is a time to avoid because of their biggest crowd size. Enjoy your trip in Feb when it's chill or April (mud season) where they usually do an event at Parker Pie or Farmhouse Tap & Grill. It's also their 10th anniversary year and they might be doing scattered events throughout the year. Cheers.

 

IMO there's never a bad time to go to Hill.

 

I’m going to be up there at the end of April and first few days of May for the first time. Is this still considered “mud season?”

Trying to see if I’d be fine in my AWD sedan or need to borrow the wife’s SUV for the weekend.

 

Anyone try the new Flora Raspberry yet?

 

My experience is that time is the end of Mud season. Cars welcome
Cheers

 

You will be fine with an AWD sedan. If it happens to be really muddy, drive carefully once on the dirt road and be ready to clean your car. April could also be very snowy, you never know.
I have taken my wife's Prius to HF during every month of the year in all weather conditions and have never needed assistance.

 

Agreed, people make way too much of the road situation at Hill. It’s an unpaved road but it’s not like you’re driving on a horse trail with rocks and inches of mud or anything. I’ve never heard of anyone actually getting stuck despite the frequent discussion of this topic. Drive carefully and all will be fine.

 

Agreed. Take it slow and all should be fine.

Although, not stuck, there was the guy (from Maine) who overturned his car on Taylor Road a couple of years back during an Aaron release weekend. Then again, that was November and on a snowy road.

When the weather is tricky I tend to go via Willey's-Baker Hill-Hwy 8-Hill Road (back way in?) versus the more direct Taylor Road, which is windier and uphill.

 

Awd sedan should be fine just don’t drive like an idiot or go in the middle of a snowstorm unless you are used to driving in those conditions. I agree I people make the drive out to be way worse than it is. It’s only a mile or two on dirt road and they do a good job plowing/maintaining the roads. Also cell reception is still spotty in those parts, which adds to peoples concerns about the drive, what ever happened to using an old fashion map,

 

Appreciate all the suggestions everyone. My concerns are alleviated. It sounds like it’s probably a little overblown and any of the horror stories you hear are probably the result of people not using good judgment or not being used to driving in New England conditions.

 

Your comment about cell reception reminded me of another pro tip I wish I’d known on my first visit. Before you go to Hill, pull up the directions on your phone and take screenshots. That way you can find your way home, or wherever you’re going afterwards, even if you can’t get reception for your gps to find your destination from Hill. On my first visit, I had to start asking around the taproom if anyone knew how to get to Waterville.

 

That’s a great suggestion. My first time there we left and somehow ended up on the worst dirt road.... sort of more like a creek bed, actually. Fun times.

 

We drove from Burlington to HF on the first morning of my bachelor party, all very hungover. We got stuck on a hill in like 8 inches of snow 1.5 miles from the brewery. Literally could not get any farther. Everyone got out of the car except me (the driver) and I backed slowly down the hill to the main road with my driver's side door open in case the car slid of the embankment into the woods. In that case, I'd save myself. Fun times. Never got to Hill that day. Turned right tf around and went to drink.

 

You can also have Google Maps download and save the map data for the area:

https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6291838

 

So combining all these comments together (and for the record I totally agree about the brutality of the road to HF being overplayed) - whenever we go up, we usually rent this same house on Caspian Lake. But it was taken one year so rented somewhere on Lake Parker. We downloaded the route in advance. Had no cell service as we got close, and it was late at night. In retrospect, we should simply have turned off Bean Hill Road onto Parker Road. For some reason though (and we had no idea it was an off suggestion having never come this way before), it directed us onto a rutted farm track about half a mile before. The track soon deteriorated to something that literally you would only voluntarily take a tractor down. We bottomed out the rental car several times. I have no idea how we didn’t get stuck. I think probably in part because I’m from a very rural part of Scotland. The city slickers I was with (cough - my wife, sister-in-law, and her husband) would never have managed....

 

Despite getting there three times before with no problems, last month, my GPS routed us via Keniston Hill Road in Sheffield. (We were coming up I-91 from White River Junction.) It sounds like the hill we eventually encountered was very similar to your situation. We backed down and were able to get there taking a State Road to Taylor Rd.

I should have known something was up when we pulled onto a dirt road 6 or 8 miles away and not 2 miles away.