If you haven’t spent much time in Redding, you're not alone. The only ones traveling down these pastoral roads are the Yankees who live here, and perhaps, after this, the occasional daytripper looking for some fresh air and perspective. Though it’s just minutes up Black Rock Turnpike from Fairfield’s suburban slurry of shopping, Redding is entirely about simplicity and solitude (ok, and and excellent schools). As we drove in on a road that barely qualified as two-lane, I experienced what I recently learned the Japanese call a 'forest bath' — that strangely warm feeling of serenity you get from being deep in the woods … and I wasn’t even out of the minivan yet, with a 1 and 3-year-old in the back, I might add. Not even the ‘How many more minutes?’ could keep me down. Sunlight streaming through the green. Steep rock outcroppings. Winding roads. Even though I live in arguably sleepy Trumbull, I felt even more awesomely removed in Redding — half wondering if maple syrup runs out of the kitchen faucets or something. It is straight up New England here. Mmm-mm.
Our destination was Warrup’s Farm, a place I’d often listed as a suggestion for Fall Fun in Fairfield County, but had never been able to visit myself.
