[racham84]

I personally love Manchester, VT, but like others have said it can be a bit pricey. It's a great community and I always see families at the rec center, which is a large park, with sports fields, an outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, a dog park, and a one mile running/walking path. Also has plenty of restaurants and hiking and skiing opportunities. Other nearby towns to consider would be Arlington/Sunderland, Londonderry (on the mountain) or Danby. Londenderry or Danby would be the most rural, but Danby is about 15 minutes north of Manchester and 25 to 30 minutes south of Rutland.

[Gloucester]

MRVphotog — I am in New Gloucester I do adore the rolling hills. Especially this time of year when the greens unfurl and all the farmland comes alive. That's the hard part of my decision because I absolutely love this community, both the people and the scenery.

Racham84 — Thanks so much for the info! I loved seeing all the kids at the rec center when I visited. I have to say, I was really impressed with the options of both the indoor hockey rink, as well as all of the sports fields. That is definitely one of the tempting parts of Manchester. Plus, the school options seemed really wonderful as well.

[MoosePond]

We've owned a weekend retreat/future retirement home in the village of Winhall (10 miles from Manchester) for nearly 10 years now and absolutely love the area. Yes, Manchester has lost some retail stores (mostly outlets) as a result of the economy in the past year or so (Bose, Escada, Nine West, Dana Buchman, Betsy Johnson, Pac Sun, Izod, Van Heusen, etc.) but none of them have had any impact on our quality of life up here. There's still plenty of places to shop locally for everyday items and Bennington is only half an hour away and Rutland (Vermont's 2nd largest city) less than an hour. Plus, for those really big shopping events, it's just over an hour to Albany.

There is certainly plenty to do around here year-round and absolutely no shortage of places to eat, including a few that are in our opinion exceptional. For the Northeast the weather is pretty decent although Dec-Feb can be a bit challenging in terms of it getting really cold (single digit weeks are not uncommon) with lots and lots of snow. We've had accumulations of 4-5 feet in our yard (we're at 1,650 feet elevation halfway between the Bromley and Stratton Mountain ski resorts) but the town does an excellent job of plowing and we've never been unable to go anywhere we desired. Having a vehicle with 4WD or AWD is pretty much a necessity around here (particularly during the Mar/Apr "mud season" if you live off of a paved road) and a generator with an automatic turn on certainly takes the sting out of power outages.

[sherboom]

Hi Shankwheat
We are considering moving from the Portland, Maine area to greater Burlington. Any chance you would give us some insights into your experience? I see that you are regretting your choice. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to hear more.

thanks!

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by sherboom

Hi Shankwheat
We are considering moving from the Portland, Maine area to greater Burlington. Any chance you would give us some insights into your experience? I see that you are regretting your choice. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to hear more.

thanks!

You might want to send him a message because he might not see your post in this old thread.

[sean222007]

I would check out Dorset, pawlet, or rupert.

[mr.magoo]

you said some magic words there..'good job opportunity'
The area around Manchester is pretty much exactly like Vter says..one of my favorite parts of the state..Dorset is right out of a storybook.

[squarpeg]

We love our life here. We have a warm, small community, great gardens and happy chickens.

If the above is true, why would you leave? Most people spend their life looking to live a statement like that. Forget the money for a minute. Ask yourself if you would bring the whole family over if the money was exactly the same? How much of the equation is just about money? When I was an 8 year old boy my folks moved my family to a new town, more money, better schools. That was a difficult move for me. I struggled in the new school, lost all my old friends and I will be honest it was a rough couple years after that move. From a happy kid, to a not so happy kid. Lots of kids will have no problem, but I am just pointing out, it sounds like you are asking 3 other people to follow you. What is in it for them?