Comfort, Luxury, and a Delicious Meal: The Village Inn of Woodstock and The Vic Tavern

Oct 08, 2025 03:50PM ● By Katherine P. Cox Photography By Monica Darling

Heather serves up her Chicken and Shrimp Spring Rolls.

Heather Adams, innkeeper at The Village Inn of Woodstock, is just as bright and cheerful as the distinctive salmon and mustard exterior of the Victorian inn she presides over. Why is she so happy? After years in the hospitality world, she’s realizing a long-deferred dream that surprisingly was a positive result of the pandemic five years ago.

It was the end of 2020. Her husband Jarret was untethered from his job, working remotely from their home in Virginia. Heather, a chef trained in Thai cuisine, was teaching people how to cook Thai food. When COVID hit, she had to close her studio. “I had a huge clientele and was cooking from my kitchen and serving food off my front porch. My husband said, ‘If you’re going to work this hard, let’s do something that showcases all of your talents.’”

Since he could conduct his business from anywhere, they decided to revisit the idea they’d had in the past of running an inn. “I’ve been in hospitality my whole life. I owned a touring company in South Africa, I was a travel agent in Manhattan, I was a flight attendant and worked in restaurants since I was about 14. In 2015 I did my culinary certificate in Thailand.” Running an inn seemed like a natural next step, Heather says.

Finding the Perfect Inn

Heather and Jarret wanted to be in New England and spent one weekend in early November 2020 looking for an opportunity. “We were looking for a B&B with a minimum of seven bedrooms,” Heather says. After looking in several places, they landed on The Village Inn. “This was the three-season place we were looking for. We spent the night here and I had the best night’s sleep!” By the time they returned home, they had sold their house in Virginia and became the new owners of The Village Inn.

They moved in at the end of December and the previous owners trained Heather for a couple of days. The first few months were slow until the COVID vaccines rolled out in March of 2021. After that, the guests began to roll in.

Elegant and Welcoming

Heather and her husband did extensive cosmetic work, taking down wallpaper in the dining rooms, pulling up carpeting to reveal Douglas fir floors, removing heavy velvet drapes, and adding period-appropriate art—including large artwork on loan from Loren Fischer at Focus Gallery. “We’ve made some elegant changes while still paying homage to the Victorian era,” Heather says.

In the hallways and guest rooms is beautiful designer wallpaper. There are seven rooms, which can sleep 14 to 17 people, and each one is different, with Victorian décor and antiques and reproduction furniture, including massive, inviting four-poster beds with plumped linen and lots of pillows. Snack baskets with local treats are in every room. There are three suites on the second floor, each with a special feature, including the primary suite with a wood-burning fireplace. The original primary suite, “which we call the magical sleep room” because guests report they’ve had the best night’s sleep there, has been a working bedroom since 1899. The honeymoon suite has a separate sitting room with a gas fireplace, a two-person Jacuzzi, and a king-size bed. Sumptuous breakfasts are reserved for guests of the inn. They offer one-night stays during the week, from Sunday to Thursday, with two-night stays on the weekends.

The Vic Tavern

Chef Ryan Barton with Executive Chef Heather Adams.

With running the inn under her belt, Heather then turned to reopening the former restaurant, which had been closed for nearly 20 years. Before, breakfast and drinks at the bar were for guests only. Gradually the Adamses opened The Vic Tavern, with an eclectic Thai fusion and gastropub menu with many of the ingredients from local sources and Thai ingredients from Boston. Heather makes her own curry pastes and sauces from scratch, having learned how to cook authentic Thai cuisine from one of the top chefs in Thailand. As executive chef, Heather develops the menu, which changes seasonally, as do their signature cocktails; their fall menu debuts in September. There’s an extensive wine list with wines chosen to pair with the food; the beers are from Vermont. The menu has something for everyone, from those who are gluten free, vegan, or vegetarian to those “who are fearful of spice. It’s a small menu but we’ve tried to satisfy everyone without sacrificing flavor.” The Vic Tavern is a special place to come for dinner, Heather says, with an eclectic menu at reasonable prices.

They are open Monday and Tuesday, when many restaurants are traditionally closed, and Friday and Saturday. Reservations are recommended and extended foliage and holiday hours will be posted on the website. “We want people to come here and feel relaxed.” Heather has high praise for her bartenders and service staff, who are knowledgeable about the menu and wine pairings.

“We have got the most stellar staff,” Heather says. “I’m the luckiest person in town to have the staff I have right now.” Current staff includes Chef Ryan Barton; Svitlana Leblanc, housekeeper and sous; Nicole Phelps, housekeeper; Jacksyn Pawlowicz, kitchen assistant; servers Morgan Friedman and Charlotte Atkinson; and bartenders Jackson and Jarret Adams. “People love the family feeling we have here.” She has a special shoutout to her husband. “I could never run this place without him. He’s my all-around right-hand man.” The Adams have a daughter attending Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island who helps out as a server during her off season, and a son Jackson, who is a street artist in Nashville and is a bartender at the inn during busy times such as foliage season.

The Vic. Team, from left: Jarret Adams, Nicole Phelps, Heather Adams, Charlotte Atkinson, Ryan Barton, Morgan Friedman, Felicity Adams, Ivy Smith, and Charlotte Winn.

A Magical Experience

What Heather is most excited about now is something they’re offering for the holidays. This fall and winter, she says, “We are going to rent the inn out to one lucky group for a seven-day period for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It will be decorated to the hilt. They’ll have full access to the bar and the commercial kitchen, and Chef Ryan will be on-site to do private meals and offer concierge services.” Heather feels it would be a magical experience, especially for a family.

During the holiday season, “this place looks like a Norman Rockwell house,” Heather says. During the annual Woodstock Wassail Weekend in early December, “we invite everyone to come in. We have an open house with wassail (a traditional spiced, warm cider) going on the stove and home-baked cookies. Jarret is the town Santa Clause. It’s his dream retirement job,” she jokes. The parade, with people dressed up in Victorian garb, passes right in front of the inn.

Maintaining relationships with Woodstock residents is important to Heather and Jarret. “Local people and guests of the inn are our priority.” She offers a Mother’s Day brunch open to the public and hosts specials for local folks she calls the VIPs as a thank you for their support. “I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished here. The inn is running like a dream. Every year we’ve gotten the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence and we’re in the top 10 percent of hotels in the world. It’s a lot of work but a labor of love. This has been an amazing journey. We’ve enjoyed every minute of our experience here.”

The Village Inn of Woodstock
41 Pleasant Street
Woodstock, VT
(802) 457-1255
villageinnofwoodstock.com

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