NEW HAMPSHIRE: THE GRANITE STATE
In Discover New England The Guide (2007)

Lakes and mountains dominate this picturesque state, which has 18 miles of seacoast and one photogenic village after another. Most inhabitants are in the south, so there are miles of quiet lanes to explore. The White Mountains provide great skiing and snowboarding in winter and fabulous hiking in summer and autumn. On vast Lake Winnipesaukee, you can paddle or boat, fish or swim. Its pine-clad islands provide a retreat from everyday life. As for shopping: there’s no state sales tax!

My kind of town
Concord is typically New England, typically understated. Despite its gold-domed capitol, this feels more like a large town than a capital city. The Museum of New Hampshire History records the past, while the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium honours the local schoolteacher, who died in the 1986 Challenger space tragedy. Portsmouth – known first for trade, then for industry and a shipyard – is now enjoying a renaissance. A highlight is Strawbery Banke, another fine example of New England’s living history museums. Here, local life from 1695 to 1955 is reflected by interpreters and artisans in authentic old buildings.

Somewhere special
In the Mount Washington Valley and regularly rated one of New England’s prettiest villages, Jackson offers a range of comfortable country inns. Popular in winter with cross-country ski enthusiasts, summer is perfect for walkers. Hanover, the attractive and sophisticated home of Dartmouth College, makes an excellent base to explore the attractive towns of the Upper Connecticut River Valley, with their museums, covered bridges and country stores.

“Jackson’s town center, a tiny village of clapboard buildings and a 19th-century school, sits in a deep bowl in the Mount Washington Valley, surrounded by the White Mountain National Forest. Nearby, houses are tucked into the wooded hillsides. Coming into town from the south, through a one-lane covered bridge, is like crossing over into a bygone era.” New York Times

Highways and byways
Southern New Hampshire is rural and quiet, but thick with pretty towns and villages, such as Peterborough and Hancock. Feast your eyes on old buildings and ponds, covered bridges and orchards. Mount Monadnock is only 3,165ft high, so you can walk up what is often called the ‘world’s most climbed mountain’. The trek only takes four hours. The state’s 30-mile long Currier and Ives Trail is a meandering route with highlights along the way: the Mt Kearsarge Indian Museum and small towns such as Henniker, Webster and Hopkinton. More on www.visitnh.gov/scenicdrives

Culture club
See works by Constable, Picasso and Monet at Manchester’s small but highly rated Currier Museum of Art. For fine furniture and other crafts, visit the Shaker settlement in Canterbury, where you can buy chairs, oval boxes and other Shaker-style gifts. Throughout the state are branches of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, the oldest organised crafts association in America. Their creations are the antiques and collectibles of tomorrow, from woodcarving, quilting and jewellery to pottery, glass and silver. Find them in official galleries in Center Sandwich, Concord, Hanover, Littleton, Meredith, North Conway and Wolfboro.

Only in New Hampshire
There’s nowhere quite like Mount Washington. At 6,288 ft, it is the highest peak in the Northeast and one of the most popular attractions in the region. You could hike up, but most visitors ascend by car, in a ‘stage’ (shuttle bus) on the 144-year-old, 8-mile-long Auto Road, or aboard the 136-year-old Cog Railway that chuffs its way to the summit. At the top, the views are terrific, but the weather is unpredictable. Even on the hottest day down below, it’s chilly up there, so take an extra jacket

Away from it all
Cutting through the White Mountains, the Kancamagus Highway (often referred to as The Kanc) is famous for its panoramas, with no human habitation to intrude on the views. Running east-west from Conway to Lincoln, the 34-mile-long stretch of State Highway 112 follows the Swift River. Pull in at Scenic Areas, such as Sabbaday Falls, Lower Falls and Rocky Gorge. Glorious at any time of year, this run is particularly popular in autumn, when thousands come out to ooh and aah at the fall foliage, autumn leaves whose colour covers the mountains’ slopes like a fiery tapestry.

Fascinating facts
Lake Umbagog, straddling the New Hampshire/Maine border near Errol, is one of New Hampshire’s most wild and scenic lakes, attracting large numbers of moose, waterfowl, songbirds, loons, osprey, bald eagles and other wildlife. To the south, in the Great North Woods, moose abound: spot these huge but shy animals on a guided Moose Tour starting from Gorham.