The museums really are that clich?, world-class: not just the Impressionist-leaning and the American-centric (both in Williamstown), but also the avant-avant in nearby North Adams and - surprise, surprise - Stockbridge's , which will make you rethink that populist phenomenon.

So you're all set. And your physically inclined companion? That's where the right choice of lodging comes in. At the in Lenox, you can both have it all. He or she can golf, if that's their pleasure (there's no accounting), while you culture-vulture. You might both climb not-too-challenging Monument Mountain, where Emerson and Thoreau cemented their friendship, or explore beautiful Bartholomew's Cobble. Or you could stay put right on the 380-acre campus, in one of Cranwell's 116 handsome, country-clubby rooms or suites, and enjoy the spa, which is vast (35,000 square feet), gorgeous, and (unlike a certain world-famous health "ranch" down the road) gloriously devoid of New Agey mumbo-jumbo. This is a hideout for sybarites - and incidentally, one way to guarantee a rain-proof getaway.

There are many terrific restaurants in the region, but again, you won't have to wander far if you don't wish to' target='_blank'> Cranwell's chef, Carl DeLuce, has fashioned a summery menu- calamari tempura with sweet onion-tomato jam, Hawaiian marlin seared in a coriander crust or cool as can be in a mango ceviche- in refreshing apposition to the 1894 Tudor "cottage," Wyndhurst, that is the complex's centerpiece.
The tab for living it up like a robber baron of yesteryear? End-of-summer specials, available through Cranwell's website, start at a prole-friendly $199 a night.