Inn idea for catching the yule spirit

By Richard P. Carpenter, Globe Staff

IF YOU GO . . . The 11 inns and bed-and-breakfasts paticipating in this year's White Mountains Inn to Inn & Cookie Tour are the 1785 Inn; the Buttonwood Inn; the Country Inn at Bartlett; The Forest, A Country Inn; the Darby Field Inn; the Ellis River House; the Inn at Jackson; the Old Red Inn & Cottages; the Riverbend Inn; the Snowvillage Inn; and the Tamworth Inn. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 on Dec. 12, the day of the Cookie Tour. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. To get tickets by mail, send a check payable to the Country Inns in the White Mountains along with the number of tickets you want and your mailing address to Country Inns in the White Mountains Cookie Tour, PO Box 2025, North Conway, NH 03860. Tickets are also available at the participating inns. For more information, call 603-356-9640 or 207-773-8798, or visit www.white-mountains-inns.com. Most room rates at these inns range from about $70 to $150 a room. Although the Polar Express has sold out for this year, you can get in the lottery drawing for next year's tickets by calling 603-447-3100 and requesting a form. An alternative activity this year, though, is Santa's Village in Jefferson, which will hold a Christmas pageant on Nov. 28 and 29 and Dec. 5, 6, 12, and 13. For more information, call 603-586-4445.

NORTH CONWAY, N.H. -- If you want to get into the Christmas spirit, head for the White Mountains.

This is ski country. And it's outlet country. And its crafts and antiques country. But there's no need to step into skis or a shop to enjoy the lights and wreaths and decorations that transform the area into a holiday wonderland. And if you're here when a couple of special events are happening, you just may end up feeling as Christmasy as one of Santa's elves.

Those events are the Inn to Inn & Cookie Tour, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 12, and the Polar Express, which runs several days in December and brings to life the delightful children's book about a magical train trip to the North Pole.

Christmas was decidedly in the air as my wife, Linda, and I drove to the White Mountains on a crisp December morning, listening to holiday music on the car stereo and, for once, enjoying the sight of snow on the ground and flurries in the air. Our first stop, appropriately enough, was in Snowville, off Route 153 and just a few miles from Conway.

The Snowvillage Inn in Snowville was where we chose to start the tour, a new event sponsored by Country Inns in the White Mountains, 11 New Hampshire Inns that are proud of their variety and charm. Last year's tour spotlighted four of those inns, letting visitors admire their holiday decorations, peek into their rooms, and sample some mulled wine, punch, or cider and cookies. This year, all 11 inns will participate, and you can visit them in any order from about 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The tour is self-conducted.

The Snowvillage Inn set the stage for what we'd see wherever we went: halls decked with garlands and roping, windows lit by candles, cleverly decorated Christmas trees, and myriad twinkling lights. In addition, there were such nice touches as candles at the door, glowing from within ``buckets'' made of ice. Our only regret was that we wouldn't be there to see the place aglow after dark.

While sipping cider in one of the fireplaced common rooms, we were greeted by some of the people responsible for the decorations in the three-building, 18-room inn -- host Kevin Flynn, ably assisted by daughters Caitlin and Maggie. We learned, among other things, that for those who simply have to get on skis, the inn is surrounded by cross-country trails, literally beginning at the front door.

Touring makes me hungry (everything makes me hungry), so we drove on Route 16, past the ``Moose Crossing'' signs and past the outlets, busy with Christmas shoppers, to our second stop, the 1785 Inn in North Conway, which sits on six acres overlooking the Mount Washington scenic vista. The inn was both the site of a tour and a buffet luncheon put on by the member inns. But this year, in place of lunch, all inns will offer an appetizing array of holiday cookies, and their recipes as well. Thus the name change from last year's Inn to Inn Tour and Luncheon to this year's Inn to Inn & Cookie Tour.

During lunch, we didn't forget about looking at Christmas decorations. How could we? In the bay window of the main dining room was a miniature Christmas village, as well as decorations in the two living rooms and the pub, where hot mulled wine was served. Innkeepers Becky and Charlie Mallar kept busy as we toured a few of the 17 individually and tastefully decorated rooms, some of which have fireplaces.

Just two minutes away was our third stop, the Buttonwood Inn on 17 acres of Mount Surprise in North Conway. Despite the mountain's name, we weren't surprised to find the inn decked out in holiday finery. More than 100 feet of Balsam fir roping was swagged along the windows and porches, with pine cones and burgundy bows interspersed throughout. Inside were two Balsam fir trees and, waiting for us, poinsettia punch, cookies, and carols.

Claudia Needham, who owns the inn with her husband, Peter, somehow found the time to give us a tour, pointing out not only what was there (including Shaker furniture and antiques), but what would be coming. This spring, the inn underwent extensive renovations, changing it from a nine-room inn to an 10-room inn, complete with hot tub and conference room. Remaining, thankfully, is the fieldstone-fireplaced common room with a guest refrigerator, TV/VCR, and movies. Cross-country ski trails begin at the back door.

That left one inn on the tour -- the Ellis River House on Route 16 in Jackson, which lives up to its name by overlooking the pristine Ellis River. It was a Victorian Christmas here, hosted by inkeepers Barry and Barbara Lubao and including three trees decorated with old-fashioned trinkets and toys, along with holiday music played on the baby grand piano. The 18 rooms were decorated with antiques and Laura Ashley prints; some rooms had fireplaces, whirlpool baths, or balconies. Outside, there was cross-country skiing and skating. As with so many of the inns, this one has a varied history, beginning as a farm at the turn of the century, later becoming a boarding house, then a private residence, and now an inn.

And that was it for inn touring. Well . . . not quite. We would get to explore one more, for we had booked reservations at the Inn at Jackson, also a member of the Country Inns group and just a quarter-mile from Jackson's famed red covered bridge. We had met the innkeeper, Lori Tradewell, as she was helping out with the buffet dinner earlier on the tour. And we found lots to admire about this 14-room inn, built in 1902 and designed by architect Stanford White: the holiday lights and decorations; the proximity of alpine skiing, sleigh rides, and cross-country skiing (again, right from the door), and shopping; the outdoor Jacuzzi; and the resident cat, Clever. But mostly we admired our room, with its fireplace and four-poster bed. Not that we would be there long: It was time for a memorable meal before boarding the Polar Express.

For dinner, we returned to the 1785 Inn in North Conway, having earlier noted its extensive menu and wine list. Here we faced the hardest choices we had to make all day: selecting from among appetizers ranging from escargot in red wine to blackened scallops, and main courses that included raspberry duckling, curried chicken, sherried rabbit, rack of lamb, and black Angus sirloin steak. We settled on lobster crepe and cinnamon steamed shrimp for appetizers, and for the main courses, the night's specials: for my wife, red snapper; for me, the best venison I've ever had -- tender and not at all gamy.

Thus fortified, we were off to see a Christmas story come to life.

Just a couple of minutes from the 1785 Inn is the village train station, so colorful that it looks like an illustration from a children's picture book. And that makes it the perfect place for The Polar Express, a phenomenally successful performance based on the children's book. This year, the Express will be in its fourth season and, alas, has already sold out. It's an experience meant to be shared with children, but even though we had no small people with us, we were delighted.

``The Polar Express'' by Chris Van Allsburg tells of a boy who mysteriously finds himself invited aboard a train heading for the North Pole and Santa's stomping grounds, passing snow and trees and even wolves along the way. Just as in the book, the train features helpers in treetop-tall chef's hats, doling out hot chocolate and nougatty candy. And just as in the book, wolves are spotted. (These particular wolves aren't very scary -- or very realistic, for that matter. No nightmares here.) From time to time, carolers stroll through the car, encouraging passengers to sing along.

After 45 minutes, the train arrives at . . . the North Pole! Here, at the base of a mountain, colored lights play on Santa Claus's headquarters and create giant shadows of his elves, who are jumping with excitement over the train's arrival. The elves guide passengers to Santa's building -- and any resmeblance to a New Hampshire ski center is pure coincidence, I am sure. Inside, ``The Polar Express'' is read by the storyteller, Ed Fayle, who does an excellent, exuberant job. Then Santa arrives and, just as in the book, he gives out the first gift of Christmas -- a bell from a reindeer's harness. It, of course, is a magical bell, whose ringing can be heard only by those who truly believe in Santa. Which means that on the train ride home, every passenger may well end up with such a magical, musical bell.

Back at the Inn at Jackson, we lit a fire before turning in to dream Christmas dreams. The next morning, after a breakfast at the inn of pumpkin bread and French toast, it was time to head home, stopping and shopping along the way.

After a weekend like that, I'm sure I'll be able to hear my Polar Express bell ring for a long time.

Published 11/22/98 in the Boston Suday Globe's Travel Section