Red Clover Inn
Reopened June 2024. A restored 1840s farmhouse on 13 acres, minutes from Killington.
A restored 1840s farmhouse on 13 acres outside Killington, reopened in June 2024 after a multi-year renovation. Red Clover is the rare central-Vermont inn that earns the "near Killington" pitch without being a ski-condo property — far enough from the access road to feel like the country, close enough that you can be on the lift in fifteen minutes.
The look is rustic Americana in the disciplined sense: stone-and-timber, restored barn-board, real fireplaces, a sauna in a converted outbuilding, a kitchen that takes itself seriously without affectation. There are 14 rooms total, split between the main farmhouse and a barn — a small enough scale that a slow weekend in mud season feels possible, and a big enough scale that it works as a winter wedding-free dinner-and-fireplace property.
The setting
The inn sits on a quiet road in Mendon, two ridges east of Rutland and four miles down-mountain from the Killington access road. Surrounding land runs farm-and-forest with a small brook on the property. Killington Resort and Pico are 15 to 20 minutes by car; Woodstock (the picture-postcard Vermont village, with the Woodstock Inn and the Norman Williams library) is twenty minutes east via Route 4.
Coming in: Rutland is three hours from Boston and four and a half from New York. The drive in via Route 4 from either Bennington or West Lebanon is the slower, prettier way. Killington's snow season runs roughly mid-November through April; foliage peaks early-to-mid October.
The building
An 1840s farmhouse — the standard Vermont vernacular form, two stories with a center chimney — restored down to the floorboards and reconnected to a side barn that holds additional rooms and the dining/bar program. Materials run stone-and-timber on the exteriors and lower public rooms, with clapboard and wide-plank pine in the upper rooms and the new-build sections. Public spaces lean to a couple of fireplaces, a small library, a barn-bar, and a screened porch facing the meadow.
The rooms
Fourteen keys total. Main-house rooms have the historic-farmhouse character — period mantels, narrow stairs, smaller scale. Barn rooms are larger and more modern, with vaulted ceilings in a few and direct meadow views. Several rooms have wood-burning or gas fireplaces; the upgraded categories include soaking tubs. From-rates around $325, climbing during ski weekends and foliage.
Food & drink
A full restaurant is the second reason most guests come — open to non-guests, modern New England menu with local sourcing, a bar program built around Vermont distilleries and beers. Breakfast is included for inn guests. The dining room is small enough that reservations matter on weekends.
On the property
Sauna, hiking, fire pits, a brook, the porch.
- Wood-fired sauna in a converted outbuilding
- Fire pits and lawn games
- Hiking on-property and on local trails
- Killington and Pico ski-shuttle distance (15–20 minutes)
- Open year-round; mud season (April) and stick season (early November) are the quieter windows
Who it's for
- Skiers who want better lodging and dinner than a slope-side condo
- Couples doing a Vermont weekend who want country over village
- Foliage travelers willing to skip the Stowe crowds
- Anyone who'd rather sauna than sit at a hotel bar
Who it's not for
- Travelers who want ski-in/ski-out — it's a 15-minute drive to the lifts
- Families with young children — small scale, restaurant-led, quiet
- Anyone needing a full spa or gym
Nearby
Killington Resort (skiing, golf, mountain biking depending on season) is 15 minutes. Pico is ten. Woodstock — the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, the Woodstock Inn bar, F.H. Gillingham general store, Sugarbush Farm — is twenty minutes east. Quechee Gorge is forty minutes northeast. For a longer drive: Lake Champlain and Burlington are about ninety minutes north; the Berkshires border is ninety minutes south.
