Enders Falls is just what the spirit needs from time to time. I reached this lovely site after driving over the dam of the Barkhamsted Reservoir, having started near Riverton, just northeast of Winsted. The reservoir isn't amazingly scenic despite the forests which come down to the water's edge, but it's an impressive structure and it has created a lake many miles long. For the Enders Falls, a few miles further on, there is a small parking lot on route 219 which is easy to miss if you don't keep your speed down. The walk itself lasts for about one mile but it can be extended into the forest, although care must be taken because there are many black bears roaming the forests of Connecticut. Once I reached the river, more a stream than a river, I felt myself back in Scotland when I was younger, visiting similar sites of natural beauty. The valley down which the river cascades in stages is dark, cool and somber, which is so often the case in Scotland too. You get the feeling that a few dark pages of history have been written here. Just like in Scotland the water has a dark and peaty colour to it, as it splashes down from stone shelf to stone shelf. The granite rocks sparkled, despite the lack of sunlight, a phenomenon which fascinated my companions.

After the falls we drove south to the settlement of Avon with its pretty white church on route US-44. Avon is almost part of the West Hartford suburban area and the name makes me think of southwest England. But the reason we were here was to visit Dom's Creamery, an outstanding ice cream parlour whose quality seriously challenges its Italian counterparts. There were about 20 ice cream flavours, not the hundreds you usually get in the US, and they were all made out of natural ingredients.

My friend from university days has bought an old house dating back at least 200 years in the Connecticut forests near Winsted and has been slowly renovating it. It is an incredibly peaceful spot and black bears are regular visitors, along with other wildlife. You can get lost in the grounds or simply while away the time with a locally brewed lager or IPA beer. I told him that it would be a great place to do some musical composing!



The Barkhamsted Reservoir, near Winsted in Connecticut


Enders Brooks Falls, in the Connecticut woods


Here you can see the nature of the rocky shelves at Enders Brooks Falls


Close-up of a granitic block in the forest


Selection of ice cream at Dom's Creamery in Avon, Connecticut


White clapboard church in Avon, Connecticut


In the woods north of Winsted, towards the Massachusetts state line


At the highest point in the woods there is a fire tower and I rather like the sense of movement in the shadows here