In Fields of Green, West Brome, Quebec

I am surrounded by fields of green. Green clover. Green trees. Green, green. Everywhere.

I am in a village called West Brome, which is in Quebec, about an hour south of Montreal. Basically, once you look at a map, it turns out that I'm only about 20 minutes away from the US border and the state of Vermont.

I'm here on tour of the Eastern Townships, which is a road trip through small-town southern Quebec. I don't know much about this area, and I didn't study up on it before I arrived.

Even though this trip has been on my calendar for a month, it snuck up on me and my life and suddenly ... well, here I am surrounded by green.

After checking into a small inn just beyond West Brome, I slipped out of my room eager to stretch my airplane legs.

Seemingly endless amounts of green stretched from the inn's back door and a walking path was cut through it. I strode off, up a hill and passed grazing cows. In the distance, bails of hay dotted the landscape. After the hay, the trail entered wooded land.

Back in my room, I decided that maybe I should learn a little bit more about where I was. My inn, which is actually and inn/spa, is called Auberge & Spa West Brome.

It sits on 200 acres of land and the owners have put forth considerable efforts to keep the pastures green, not only in color but in the trendy version of the word as well.

For example, they capture rain water and use it in their spa treatments. The kitchen composts its scraps to bolster up the garden soil. The bar shreds its wine corks to mulch the garden. The garden grows organic herbs for use in the kitchen.

Plus, for every event held on the inn grounds (apparently this is a big wedding spot), the owners plant a tree and dedicate it in your name.

On top of that, because the inn is a bit off the beaten path, the inn makes a donation to offset the carbon emissions put out by the arrival of corporate types who come from the big city for company conferences.

No wonder I'm sitting pretty in fields of green.