Above: Brooke Abercrombie providing a brief history of the estate
After months without weekend plans, my schedule ballooned on the final September Saturday. Farmers markets and Cornwall Days’ slate of townwide live music would have been plenty had I not checked my email (something I’ve gotten considerably worse at) to read the editors request I attend “A Curated Day in Cornwall CT” organized by Happening in the Hills, publisher of Litchfield Magazine. On the docket: a rare opportunity to visit the town’s one and only castle, a guided garden tour of Coltsfoot Cottage Farm and a cheese tasting replete with wine pairing at Coltsfoot Valley Farm. Considering we’d all be hunkered in front of wood stoves in a month, I figured, why not stuff one more event, and some cheese, into my already busy day?
Many who’ve been in town longer than I had probably availed themselves of a self-guided tour as the castle moldered under Buddy Fletcher’s ownership, but I settled for the non-trespassing kind given by current owner Brooke Abercrombie, who may have missed her calling as a docent. Her insights into the architecture and history of the property kept the 20 odd attendees–vacationers, Litchfield residents and fellow 1920s architecture buffs–rapt. Brooke’s passion for the period and the house were only surpassed by her excitement for our subsequent stops, Coltsfoot Cottage and Coltsfoot Valley Farms, which anchor the Village’s southern end. Feeling peckish and parched from doing the Cornwall wave in buggy humidity, I was happy to drive back down the valley.
Coltsfoot Cottage Farm is a welcome sight on Pine Street any time of year, but none better than when the dahlias are blooming like they were on Saturday. Angus Gracey met us to discuss his and his brother Jed’s motivation and philosophy on farming and why he didn’t do the agriculture program at Housey. Then it was a quick trot to the dairy where Tommy Eucalitto was busy whipping up plates of cheese, from a fresh farmer’s to a three month aged alpine and even peaches and cream. Tommy gave us a bit of his story on going from Torrington to Cornwall by way of the Alps and Sardinia before Erika DaSilva of the newly opened Ten Mile Table bottle shop in Wassaic, NY, introduced three wines she selected to accompany the cheese.
Even one stop would have been worth leaving the house for.
—John W. W. Zeiser
📸: John W. W. Zeiser
The Castle
Cornwall's own castle
Angus Gracey gives an overview of Coltsfoot Cottage Farm's practices to Litchfield Magazine's EiC, Mary Beth Lawlor
Brooke Abercrombie providing a brief history of the estate
Coltsfoot Cottage Farm dahlias preside over the valley
Late season lettuce at Coltsfoot Cottage Farm
Coltsfoot Valley Farm welcomes visitors
Coltsfoot Valley Farm's cheesemaker Tommy Eucalitto prepares cheese for plates designed by Jordan Colón
Tommy Eucalitto gives a brief overview of his cheesemaking practice to Mary Beth Lawlor and Erika DaSilva of Ten Mile Table in Wassaic, New York
A scenic view of Coltsfoot Valley
Cheese spread
Ten Mile Table's Erika DaSilva introduces her selection of natural wines to accompany Coltsfoot Valley Farm's cheeses
