Lisa Landry, husband Flavio Lichtenthal and two sons, Sebastian and Paolo, moved to the Berkshires from Brooklyn 13 years ago. After living and working for 10 years at Gould Farm, they moved to Great Barrington. A little over a year ago, they opened No. Six Depot Roastery and Café in West Stockbridge, and in just that short time it has become a beloved Berkshire business. When you visit No. Six Depot, there's a good chance Flavio (and the kids) will be on hand to help you select your roast; Lisa splits her professional time between the cafe and Cloudberry Creative, an NYC creative agency, where she works with clients on branding and digital projects. We’d been going to the Berkshires for years on weekends and even celebrated our wedding here 20 years ago. We decided to move for many reasons as our children became school age because we just wanted to give them the space to explore and roam, which can be hard in the city. One of my earliest childhood memories is playing in the woods behind my house and I wanted this for them. My husband and I also wanted to explore, and see what we could grow and create on our own — that can be cost prohibitive in the city. We ended up at Gould Farm, a unique and amazing place to work and raise our children. And then we moved to Great Barrington and started on the No. Six Depot project, so I guess that the Berkshires has given us much of what we wanted when choosing to live here. When guests come to visit, I want them to experience how beautiful the area is. We drive around a lot. I could drive the backroads forever. And going on hikes and long walks are even better — in pretty much any season. I love crafting the perfect hike or walk and ending up at a body of water, a view, or a lovely town or restaurant. For example, I love Race Brook Falls, over the Race Mountain Ridgeline, through Sage’s Ravine and down Bear Mountain in Connecticut. It feels like a journey moving through many landscapes, and ending at the Stagecoach Tavern for a drink or dinner is perfect. I love the small trails around Stockbridge Bowl, how fertile Sheffield and New Marlborough are and how lovely it is around Bartholomew's Cobble. What makes the area really special is that you can end or begin a hike at a lovely spot for lunch, a drink, etc. Many museums and cultural venues have hiking paths and even lakes. It all adds up to this wonderful combination of nature and culture. If I could take on one project in the Berkshires, it would be trail connectivity between the towns. The ability to hike from Lenox center to West Stockbridge center, for example, with a solar bus available to take people back to the town they began. We’ve enjoyed this all over the world, from Mallorca to Turkey, and it’s a lovely way to get that mix of nature and culture which makes this region so special. I also think the people make this region special. There are so many hidden gems who choose to make their lives here, create here, work here, be it full or part time. There are the “locals" for generations (the hardware store across from our café has been owned by the same great family, same location for 150 years); there are the “transplants" who bring new energy, tastes and talents into the area; “second homeowners" who truly consider this their home and also bring so much art and culture with them. It feels alive, moving, vibrant because of all of these people. Because there are not a lot of large employers in this region, there is a great sense of entrepreneurship and creativity here. There seems to be a lot of people “making" things here — whether food and drink-related, furniture, films, books that just make it a very interesting place.
