Colin Chambers, an advertising executive from New York, first came to the Northwest Corner of Connecticut because one of his accounts was Lime Rock Park. Like so many of us, he fell in love with the area, and when the economy took that royal dip a few years ago, he was ready to make a change. In 2010 he and Susan Sweetapple bought The Falls Village Inn, and had it restored by local craftsmen. Bunny Williams, one of the country's leading interior designers (and a Falls Village resident) redecorated the interior. RI asked Colin to tell us, from an innkeeper's perspective, what winter in our region has to offer visitors (and the rest of us). We encourage all of our guests to get outdoors. Winter here is as beautiful as any season, so we point them towards Mohawk Mountain in Cornwall, Butternut in Great Barrington and Catamount in Hillsdale. There’s such great skiing around. We have so many lakes and ponds. Ice skating is always great here — there are lots of rinks in the area. And the Appalachian Trail runs right through Falls Village. Even in the winter, it’s a great walk. What we hear our guests say all the time is they hadn’t realized how beautiful our area is. They’re so happy they didn’t have to travel far distances to be in the country and experience the natural beauty that we sometimes take for granted. It’s the perfect weekend getaway that’s relatively close to home but it feels so far away. Being the co-owner of an inn, I have to add that this is possibly the best time of year to experience a classic New England inn. You can get into the places that are hard to get into in the summer, the pricing is terrific, many have great deals — we do at the Falls Village Inn — and you get the same level of service as in the summer.
