Explore Norfolk
Norfolk Has Been Named Connecticut’s Best Small Town for 6th Year in a Row!
Connecticut Magazine named Norfolk the state’s Best Small Town in 2024!
Watch this News12 video from 2021 to learn more about Norfolk ~ Video: News12 Road Trip to Norfolk
Traveling in to Norfolk
Bradley International Airport is a 50-minute drive. Uber, cabs, and car rentals services are readily available. We recommend renting a car to enjoy the scenic surroundings of the Northwest corner.
We recommend using the Waze navigation app. for driving since there are sometimes seasonal road closures and construction.
Limo Services for airport runs or winery and brewery tours. Nearby providers include All Transportation Network in Lakeville and Avon Limo in Torrington.
EV Charging is available one block away at 19 Maple Ave at the Town Hall
Traveling with a furry friend? We aren’t able to accommodate animals indoors but Norfolk is very dog-friendly and there are great locations for outdoor hiking with your fur baby. For overnight, there are some highly-rated kennels and sports training centers nearby.
- Pooch Palace Resort in East Canaan (5 min)
- Diamond Creek Pet Retreat & Canine Sports Center in Goshen (20 min)
- Sand Road Animal Hospital in Falls Village (15 min)
*The Manor House Inn assumes no liability for providing links to potential resources. For outside services, guests agree to use at their own risk.
More About Norfolk
The serene beauty of Litchfield Hills offers a tranquil getaway for Manor House Inn guests. With historic homes, intimate music venues, art galleries, antique shops, gardens, forests, and lakes, there is so much to explore year-round. Visit the Activities Page to see some of the nearby activities that residents and guests enjoy.
“Rural but not remote, rustic but decidedly not unsophisticated, Norfolk is an unspoiled northwestern Connecticut outpost of pastoral landscapes and wooded hills replete with its own unique cultural touchstones. The village, first settled in 1744, is accentuated by a picturesque, colonial-era Green and marked by an unpretentious, relaxed lifestyle reminiscent of days gone by.” (From Norfolk Town website)
Norfolk has been a focal point of creative excellence since the late 19th century. This cultural past is evidenced in masterworks by Tiffany and Saint-Gaudens, and eye-catching architectural treasures by Rossiter, Taylor, and Keller among others. Beautiful downtown Norfolk features historic buildings, the Norfolk Library, Norfolk Hub, City Meadow, Self-Guided Walking Tours, The Norfolk Foundation, Norfolk Historical Society, and Battell Chapel. The Manor House Inn is also a town treasure, designed by Ehrick Rossiter and featuring Tiffany stained glass, native cherry-wood paneling, intricate millwork, vintage decor, and Victorian antiques.
Every summer, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, in conjunction with Yale University’s Summer School of Music and Art, makes its home on the rolling grounds of the Battell Stoeckel Estate in the heart of the town. Just across the road Infinity Hall, a lovingly restored 1883 music hall, is the intimate setting for concerts all year long by noted musicians from across the popular music spectrum. Adjacent to the Village Green, the Norfolk Library, built in 1889, is perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing and welcoming library in Connecticut.
Down a secluded, winding wooded lane a glimmering community pond beckons residents to the town’s sandy beach, where generations of families have whiled away blissful summer days. Close to the pond is the country club’s splendid A.W. Tillinghast 9-hole golf course, rated one of the best in the country, and, next door, a nationally known curling club is alive with bonspiels all winter. Many grand estates are hidden from view, built by summer colony tastemakers who discovered Norfolk in the early 20th century, enticed by the pure air and bracing atmosphere. Within its diverse landscape, Norfolk also boasts Haystack Mountain, Dennis Hill State Park, Campbell Falls State Park, Great Mountain Forest, and Norfolk Land Trust, a state boat launch, and thousands of acres of preserved land laced with trails for hiking, cross country skiing, snow-shoeing, and other outdoor activities.
Norfolk is home to families attracted by its unhurried pace, extraordinary civic engagement and highly rated grade schools. Less than 2.5 hours from both New York and Boston, Norfolk is also a second-home retreat for city dwellers and suburbanites looking to decompress. A convenient East-West road connects Norfolk to nearby small villages, to Hartford on the Connecticut River, to thriving river towns on the banks of the Hudson and to other cultural attractions that include the renowned Tanglewood performance center in the Berkshires. Yet with all its connections (Bradley International Airport is just 34 miles away), Norfolk embodies the essence of country contentments mingled with a multitude of cultural delights. A bit out of the way and far from the expected, Norfolk is in so many ways a place apart.” (Description above from the town website). It’s also a short drive away from world-class mountain bike trails and disc golf at Norbrook Farm Brewery.
Here are a few of our favorite spots in Norfolk and the surrounding area. Make sure you check out the wonderful activities in the area that keep Manor House Inn guests coming back time and time again.
