Top O' The Hill Farm: Our Saturday Ride

Another Saturday, another great excursion out with Keri and Teasel. The horses were excited as they must have heard Zoe and I discussing our itinerary. We have talked about cruising through the Chester Green for several years now, and never made the trip -- Yesterday was the perfect day for it. Sunny and warm- but not too warm. Ideal trotting weather. Keri had new shoes put on during the week as she had worn her other ones down.. she was pretty happy about it. We headed over Crow Hill again. Although we travel this road quite a bit lately, it's never boring with the gorgeous views.

We have lost so much snow where the sun can warm up the ground-- Here's where "T" fell in the ditch-- now open and fully visible. You might also notice here I roached Keri's mane. It was quite long, but following Denise's advice on mane care, I decided to start fresh with a sheared mane and the "treatments" .

We trotted over Crow Hill and turned right at the end- to head out onto Route 103.

We enter what is called the Stone Village, where we had a wonderful ride last year, (lots of photo's of that ride on the March 23 blog of 2008) only we came at it from the other direction on that day. The Stone Village is a cluster of 30 dwellings which line either side of the street all erected by 2 brothers from 1834- 1850's all built from local granite. The quarry is located up on Trebo Road. It is our intention to find that quarry-- there is a trail somewhere that leads to it- one day we looked for it... we still need to investigate some more on horseback !

The main road into the Stone Village- Route 103

Like Willie Nelson's Back on the Road again- I guess this could be our new theme song "Back on the Sidewalks Again" !!

Lined along the sidewalks of Stone Village are these tie rings from the days when all travel was by horseback or wagon/carriage.

A brisk trot through the village, then we cross over the highway onto Church Street- which is a little road I rarely travel, so the sights are all new to me and also for the horses.

The red light is flashing at the railroad crossing-- the train whistle is a loud warning, as the train has to signal its arrival at every crossing with a very loud blast... this is no subdued little toot-- but a repeated lusty intense resonant blare. We are wondering how the horses are going to react- although last year we did meet up with the train on several occasions, we were never quite so close to the train as this. But after last year's up-close and personal rendezvous with the Governor's helicopters landing right near us, the train should pose no problems.

The horses stand quietly and wait with the other traffic for the Green Mountain "express" to pass.

We reach the end of Church Street, where we cross the main road again and turn left to head down to the "Green". Chester is the "picture-postcard" town that comes to mind when you think of Vermont. The town green is encircled by small shops and historic homes from the late 1700's and early 1800's. Most New England's towns have a "green". A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events. Some may also have a pond, originally for watering stock.

I guess the most commonly known "Greens" of New England are Central Park in New York City and the Boston Commons and Public Gardens (where the famous swan boats are). Chester's Green is small but a real touristy

attraction.