Experience the best of Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard is an island about 30 kilometres long off the south-western tip of Cape Cod, reached by ferry from Woods Hole, with six towns and a mix of farmland, moors, salt ponds and beach. Edgartown has the white mansions of whaling captains, a lighthouse and a tiny ferry across to Chappaquiddick, while Oak Bluffs is known for its Victorian gingerbread cottages, built around a Methodist camp meeting ground, and a carousel from 1876, one of the oldest in the country.

At the western end, the Gay Head Cliffs at Aquinnah show bands of red, white and ochre clay above the sea, with a lighthouse on top, and the Wampanoag community has lived here for centuries. Menemsha is a working fishing village, and West Tisbury has farmland and an agricultural fair. The film Jaws was shot on the island in 1974.

Scallops, lobster, oysters and clam chowder are the island's seafood, and farm stands and bakeries fill the up-island roads. The island is crowded in July and August and hushed in winter.