If you’re traveling to Vermont looking for an experience that will pique your curiosity and bring you closer to nature – look no further than the beautiful village of Quechee in the town of Hartford.

First off you’ll find the Vermont institute of natural science. Chris collier director of on site programs and exhibits says “We have a mission to motivate individuals and communities to care for the environment. We do that though education, re search and avian wild life rehabilitation”.

Originally founded in Woodstock in 1970, Executive Director, Charlie Rattigan says VINS has seen plenty of changes and expansion over the years “The first year I was here we had 24 thousand visitors , last year we had 69 thousand 8 hundred 11 visitors, so it’s grown dramatically”.

Rattigan explains how you could spend your visit there, “The tour of VINS is really impressive, you would start in the bird enclosure, and encountering hawks and eagles and falcons. Then you would make you way out to the canopy walk. The remarkable structure 50 plus feet above the forest floor with a tree house that’s 100 plus feet – that’s spectacular”. The Director of on site programs and exhibits Chris Collier said the biggest reason to come to VINS is to have fun and see nature in a different way and experience it in a special setting.

Our stop in Quechee wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Simon Pearce glass, overlooking the Quechee covered bridge and the Ottaquechee River. Simon Pearce, affectionately known as “Simon” offers visitors a chance to see the whole process of how wine glasses and other house wares are blown by hand, just below their retail store. Although Simon has 7 stores in various parts of the East Coast, the one in Quechee is their flag ship and absolutely worth a visit to see the craftsmanship going into their one a of a kind glass pieces.