Can you see my growler?

New Hampshire our new friend. We’ve only had a short time to get acquainted but you’ve certainly made a lasting impression. While your leaves and vistas are worth the trip alone you have tantalised our tastebuds and filled us to burst! Kudos to our hosts, Nick and Miram, who knew exactly where to go, what to do and when to do it. You will be hard pressed to find a more approachable and welcoming person than Nick. It’s not even because he’s British, although it was great to be greeted with a more familiar sense of humour! His advice was trustworthy and spot on every time, so if you choose to stay in the area, go for the Bartlett Inn on Route 302.

It’s a beautiful little hideaway in the woods, perfect for escaping the busy city and getting back to nature. The Inn houses several cottages to accommodate guests, and we stayed in quaint and cosy Parker Cottage with its amazing fireplace that got the room toasty in no time after we’d sat sipping drinks on the porch.

You need a car to get around here, it’s in the middle of nowhere and you couldn’t walk to any of the locations. If walking is your thing, you can hike plenty once you’ve driven to one of the many parks or trails or if, like us, you are more interested in eating then there are several excellent restaurants also within a short drive:

White Mountain Cider Co. 

Cheese and charcuterie board

Korean Shortrib Sandwich: Marinated braised short ribs, pickled daikon, cucumber, sriracha aioli, French fries. 

Cider Mill Burger: Extra thick beef, wilted spinach, tomato chutney, roasted portabella, cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, hand cut French fries. 

As you’ll see from the name, they also serve cider. Strong cider. As if that wasn’t good enough, we had the nicest beer yet; smooth and buttery – Moat Mountain’s Bohemian Hipster, which we loved so much that we went directly to the source for a growler!

Moat Mountain Smokehouse & Brewing Co.

Before I tell you any more, let me explain what a growler is! It’s not anything to do with Lorraine Kelly or Bo Selecta. It’s a bottle. A glass, 64oz take-away bottle that you buy from a brewery filled with beer. You can re-use them and you get a discount for doing so. 

Now that’s cleared up any confusion, here’s what we ate at Moat Mountain: A Combo Platter which was a mountain of 1/2 rack ribs, brisket, 1/4 chicken, slaw, yam fries, green beans & jalapeño corn bread. Which Dan washed down with a tasting rack of 8 of their in-house brews. 

The Bartlett Inn breakfasts were great and set us up for the day; their blueberry pancakes with warmed New Hampshire maple syrup were a winner. Better than Vermont’s maple syrup eh Nick? ;

Purple Tomato

We chanced upon this driving back from the Flume Gorge; it’s an unassuming organic grocery store selling some of the freshest local produce we’ve seen. Their takeaway fresh sandwiches were fantastic – one was peanut butter and jelly and the other was pulled pork. The pork was so tasty. Juicy and full of flavour, it didn’t need to rely on being smothered in barbecue sauce like a lot of recipes, it was perfect not being overpowered. 

Even though at this time of year in Bartlett, a lot of places were either closed for the winter or had reduced opening hours, you can see we didn’t go hungry!