The Mad River Valley of Vermont is a wonderful place to check out, if you are looking for a true country retreat with beautiful mountains, hiking, swimming holes on the Mad River, horseback riding, and world class skiing in the winter (downhill and cross country). There is also a low-key art scene, with the whole month of August dedicated to arts events, galleries, etc--and a Saturday farmer's market every week with wonderful crafts, arts, live music, and small-farm produce and goods. Check out listings for Waitsfield, Fayston, and Warren--Warren is a beautiful, quiet village, while Waitsfield is more of the hub of restaurants and events. There are many 19th century homes that have been carefully maintained and restored, and there is a build/design school called Yestermorrow in Warren where you can take all sorts of classes (weekend and week-long, as well as llectures). The Valley is also smack in the middle of Vermont, so you are well positioned for trips to Burlington, the Hanover, NH area, and all that Vermont has to offer.

Considering that last night there were close to 20K people expected to participate in Brattleboro, Vermont's Gallery Walk, I think we should talk. I had to spell out the url for a few websites so that I could post them.

Brattleboro is located about 4 hours from NYC (sometimes more, sometimes less depending on traffic through New Haven and Hartford). The surrounding towns that have a pretty good arts scene are: Putney, Marlboro, Newfane, Townshend (pronounced Towns-end), and Saxtons River.

Below is a copy and paste from AbsoluteAstronomy dot com.

"Arts
Brattleboro has a thriving arts community. The town is listed in John Villani’s book The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America, in which it ranks number nine among towns with a population of 30,000 or under.

On the first Friday of every month, an event known as the Gallery Walk is held, in which galleries, artists, and arts organizations open their doors to the public to display new work or hold performances. Included in the organizations that participate are the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, the Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery, the In-Sight Photography Project, River Gallery School, Through the Music, and the Windham Art Gallery.

Other notable arts organizations in Brattleboro include the Brattleboro Music Center, the Vermont Theatre Company, the New England Youth Theater, the Brattleboro Women's Chorus, the Brattleboro School of Dance, Luminz Studio dance and performing arts center, and the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA).

Annual events in Brattleboro include:
•The Winter Carnival in February.
•Harris Hill ski-jumping competition in February.
•Women's Film Festival in March.
•Easter Egg Hunt in April (for residents only).
•Maple Open House Weekend in March.
•River Gallery School benefit auction in March.
•Taste of the Town in May.
•Strolling of the Heifers in June.
•Brattleboro Fest music festival in mid-June.
•Vermont Theatre Company's Shakespeare-in-the-Park in June and July.
•Brattleboro Animation Festival on the first Friday in July.
•Brattleboro Free Folk FestivalBrattleboro Free Folk Festival
The Brattleboro Free Folk Festival is an annual music festival which takes place in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. The festival began in 2003....
, begun in 2003.
•Brattleboro Literary Festival in September.
•World Solstice Celebration in December."

The Brattleboro Literary Festival is in October and draws my in-laws to town from Long Island and Hawaii: BrattleboroLiteraryFestival dot org.

My wife and I are hosting several members of her family from LI and Hawaii that have come to town this weekend for the Strolling of the Heifers: StrollingofTheHeifers dot com.

I would share more, but we are rotating through for showers and starting to eat breakfast so we can get into town and get some prime seats for the parade. The link below is for my personal website. My contact information is at the bottom left. The best way to reach me is my cell or through email. Feel free to call me and I can give you a bit more information on the area. Just don't call before noon today, I won't be able to hear you over the crowds and bands.

Best of luck and let me know if I can help you in any way.

Good Evening

Did you want to move to another state? Many parts of Pa are within your price range, have great communities and good schools.

Go to my website and you can search our area MLS.

If you have any other questions you could contact me directly.