Travel: Green getaway in the Berkshires
On a recent long-weekend roadtrip to the Berkshires in Massachusetts (a quick hop south of the border from Montreal, a slightly longer leap from Toronto), I happened across Topia Inn, an entirely green and very modern B&B in the town of Adams. With eco-credentials including solar roof panels, radiant baseboard heating, high-efficiency toilets and non-toxic clay wall finishes, the cozy house feels (and smells) entirely pure and clean.
To keep it a non-toxic haven for weekend-trippers with chemical sensitivites, you’re asked to leave your shoes at the door and your toiletries in the car. I was a touch worried, but discovered there’s no need to sacrifice grooming—a full array of luxe organic and natural products populate the bathroom shelves in each room. (I even made a great beauty discovery: Egyptian Calendula & Blood Orange cleanser by Pangea Organics.) The rooms are simple but plush, with bamboo flooring, organic mattresses, rain showers with steam or spa tubs with chromatherapy underwater lights, and the softest organic cotton sheets and towels. And green does not equal Luddite: You won’t have do without wi-fi or a flat-screen TV/DVD/CD player.
Breakfasts are organic, natch, and a cut above the usual continental fare. (I’ve found Costco muffins are alarmingly common.) We had yogurt, plum and granola parfaits, sprouted-wheat English muffins for me, and, a rare treat for my gluten-free fellow, rice-bread French toast. After breakfast, we went for a breezy spin with Topia’s bikes on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, an 11-mile paved ribbon winding through woodland and past lakes that begins right behind the inn’s back fence. All of this feel good luxury comes at a pretty reasonable price (from $135 US, topiainn.com), and don’t count it out now summer’s almost over—the region’s gazillion trees probably put on the best display of fall colours on the continent.
Get the scoop on more weekend getaways to Quebec City and Chicago.
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