Great Escape: Have a Maple Weekend

Want to take a step back to a more relaxed time? New England's sweetest tradition, the maple harvest and sugarmaking season, is coming to a close in Connecticut, but this weekend offers a chance to get a taste of it.

The Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton will hold a demonstration called Maple Sugaring in Your Own Backyard at 2 p.m.  Sunday, March 13. The cost is $6 for adults ($4 for nature center members) and $3 for children ($2 for nature center members.) Visit roaringbrook.org for more details.

You can stop by Sweet Wind Farm in East Hartland for maple syrup any day, but this weekend is special. The farm's maple festival will be held until 4 p.m. on Saturday,  March 12. Visit www.sweetwindfarm.net for details.

If you're up for a drive to eastern Connecticut, the Hebron Maple Festival, featuring a slew of maple-related activities, is being held this weekend, March 12 and 13. Learn all about maple sugaring and try such treats as traditional sugar on snow and less traditional maple cotton candy. Visit hebronmaplefest.com  for the details.

Among the other sugarhouses dotting the landscape are Leonard's Sugarhouse at 555 Cherry Brook Road, North Canton, and Lamothe's Sugar House at 89 Stone Road, Burlington.