Hotel at a Glance: The Wallingford Victorian Inn

Turn-of-the-century charm permeates the Wallingford Victorian Inn, a Queen Anne manse built in 1891. Ornate woodwork, stained-glass windows, and latticed porches catch the eye at almost every turn. With only five suites—each decorated with period antiques that match the inn’s Victorian character—guests can enjoy a quiet, peaceful stay.

• Gourmet breakfast: Each morning, the chef-innkeeper serves a seasonal, made-from-scratch breakfast in the sun-drenched dining room.
• Wine package with cheese, crackers, and a bottle of wine included in each getaway
• Drift to sleep on plush a mattress draped in 600-thread-count pima-cotton sheets and a down comforter. 
• Common rooms: library, parlor, music room, and dining room
• Within walking distance of antique shops and restaurants in the center of Wallingford

Wallingford, Connecticut: Quaint New England Charm near Hartford

Though it’s just 30 minutes from Connecticut’s bustling state capital, Wallingford has all the charm of a small New England town. Stroll down Main Street to browse antique and specialty shops and dine at local restaurants housed in historical buildings. A couple of wineries are within a stone’s throw of here—visit Gouveia Vineyards to sample award-winning cabernet francs and merlots or Paradise Hills Vineyard to sip wines in a Tuscan-inspired tasting room with a handcrafted copper bar.

In nearby Hartford, a lavish, gold-domed capitol building gleams as the centerpiece of downtown. Like most New England cities, Hartford is chock-full of historical sites. You can tour the ornate Victorian home that Mark Twain and his family inhabited for many years, including the period during which Twain penned The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The city’s oldest historical site is the Ancient Burying Ground, where some of the gravestones date back to the mid-17th century.

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