Pass the pumpkin spice latte, autumn is here. A season synonymous with plaid shirts, blanket scarves and signature Starbucks lattes, autumn has become the ultimate cosy cliché. Fortunately, the USA welcomes a good cliché with open arms. In New England, which, in a Cinderella-type move, sees September 1st as its cue to start its annual transformation to a crimson carpet, the season is almost deserving of national holiday status. Yet, despite draping itself across its six states, autumn in New England is more than just pumpkin patches and yams. It is rooted deep in the American soul – so much so that parts of it feel like they were made to order by the minds of Robert Frost, Nora Ephron and even Taylor Swift. From the leafy parklands and foliage-fringed highways of New Hampshire to the quaint coastlines of Connecticut and Rhode Island, which swaps long drives for long walks on vast, near-empty beaches – told you the USA loves a cliché – New England autumns are postcard perfection and best explored with the roof down and radio on...
Massachusetts
There is something romantic about the idea of hopping in a car and getting lost upstate. Swapping high rises for low-slung hills and small towns with names that’ll have you thinking you’ve taken a wrong turn and ended up in the English Cotswolds, Massachusetts feels like the heart and spirit of autumn. Hit the highway and head to Salem, whose spellbinding foremothers practically invented Halloween, or to Stockbridge for a slice of small-town America pie. From here, head west along the 63-mile Mohawk Trail to the Berkshire Mountains and their 50,000 acres of parkland. Catch glimpses of bashful bears up Mount Greylock and take in its ruby-red sea of delicately bronzing foliage. If city still calls, Boston will happily rise to the challenge. Trade leafy trails for cobblestone streets adorned with festive lights and get a fix of fall round its Public Gardens, the Charles River Esplanade and Harvard’s tree-lined campus.
Maine
The largest and most northerly of New England’s states, Maine was truly spoiled when nature handed out its gifts. Even those who aren’t Mainers will attest that nowhere burns as bright as Acadia National Park during the autumn months. Follow crisp trails through amber-hued woods to quaint harbours, misty ponds and glossy lakes that mirror their surroundings so well you can’t make out where one ends and the other begins. Or pick up the Appalachian Trail for sun-dappled sightings of wild moose, black bears and opossums. With enough hiking trails and wildlife encounters for all skill levels, an autumn in New England is a sure-fire way to keep all members of the family satisfied. Contiguous Maine always aims to please too. While its signature menu of lobster rolls, clambake and chowder will keep you warm on cold nights, its lumberjack fairs and beaches will happily delight in making all your coastal Grandma chic dreams come true.
New Hampshire
Known as the Granite State, New Hampshire is where nature takes centre stage. With a motto as determined and strait-laced as ‘Live Free or Die’ too, New Hampshire’s foliage is well aware of the task ahead of them come September. Leaf peep (the term coined for travelling to view and photograph fall foliage) in style round ‘the Kanc’ (the Kancamagus Highway to non-locals), where hairpin turns give way to explosive views of vibrant undulating forest and the winding Swift River. Pause on route to picnic, hike and photograph to your heart’s content before making a beeline for the state’s offering of autumnal activities. Get lost in Meredith’s mega corn maze, cavort with cattle and Deerfield locals at the town’s annual autumn fair and apple pick in Alyson’s Orchard, which boasts almost 40 varieties of apple. Really, autumn in New England never tasted so sweet.
Vermont
Mosey a couple of miles west and you’ll find yourself in leaf peeping heaven, Vermont. Known as the Green Mountain State for its impressive wilderness, which covers 75% of the state and is home to more sugar maple trees than you can shake a syrup jar at, Vermont is what the Surrey Hills are to London – just a short drive from the city but in a whole other world. Pick up Route 100 – The Skiers’ Highway – for a scenic welcome to the state before ditching it for single lane country roads through sleepy towns comprised of just a general store and gas station. Head to Woodstock, the flagship picture-book pretty town of the region, where streets are filled with dynamic galleries, artisanal shops and hodgepodge bookshops. Spend a few days admiring the ochre halo of golden foliage that surrounds the town’s village green and 18th-century steepled church and climb the reasonable 1,250-foot Mount Tom for peak autumnal views.
Connecticut
If you’ve caught even just ten minutes of a Gilmore Girls episode, you will understand the pull of a cosy Connecticut inn. And if you haven’t, think provincial and plaid with an accompanying soundtrack of crackling fires as you gaze across mist-strewn lakes and small towns. Rich in historical and literary history, Connecticut is home to New Haven heavyweights, Yale University (which is even more worthy of a trip in autumn), and The Mark Twain House & Museum, where he wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But its leaf peeping piece de resistance, however, remains Gillette Castle. Nestled in the eponymous state park in East Haddam, this medieval fortress stands like it’s mid scene in a Disney live-action remake. Complete with high wooden ceilings and deep velvet interiors that lead onto uneven balconies with views across an amber carpet interjected only by the winding rivers, this is where autumn in New England reigns.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island is the smallest slice of the New England pie, but it certainly isn’t spared from its autumnal toppings. Split drives along Route 102 with visits to supposedly haunted towns like Chapeacet (just to amp the pre-Halloween jitters) and to Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, where you’re sure to spot an egret or two before leaving its feuillemorte forests of towering maple trees for the scenic Route 1A. Hugging 40 miles of coastline from Westerly to Wickford, this where coastal chic and autumnal charm meet in the most splendid of ways. Swap mountain climbs for long walks on near-empty beaches, ogle at palatial late 19th-century homes that come into their own during the annual gold rush and hunker down in boutique Newport boltholes, which provide front row seats to sunsets that turn its harbour of pearly white boats into slinky silhouettes against the sinking sun.