Experience the best of Boone

Boone sits at about 1,000 metres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of north-western North Carolina, in the area known as the High Country, about 105 km north-east of Asheville. Appalachian State University makes it a busy college town, and King Street has shops, cafés and galleries. The town is named after the frontiersman Daniel Boone, and an outdoor drama about the Revolutionary era is staged in summer.

The Blue Ridge Parkway passes nearby, with overlooks, lakes and walking trails. Grandfather Mountain, with its mile-high swinging bridge, lies about 30 km south-west, and the resort town of Blowing Rock is a short drive south. Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi, is roughly 75 km to the south-west, and the New River, one of the oldest rivers in North America, is popular for paddling.

Appalachian cooking in the High Country means biscuits, fried chicken, trout, apple butter and cider, and local breweries pour mountain-made beer. Summers are cool compared with the lowlands, autumn colour peaks in October, and winters bring snow, with skiing at nearby slopes. Spring comes late to the ridges.