What to Wear on a Fall Weekend in the Hudson Valley

The drive up is the easy part. It's the packing that catches people out — you leave the city in shirtsleeves and by the time you're walking back from dinner it's fifteen degrees cooler and there's mist coming off the river.

The trick is one warm layer you actually like wearing. Not the emergency fleece that lives in the trunk, but a real coat that looks like you chose it. A wool overcoat or a quilted jacket does the whole weekend: over a dress at dinner, over a sweater on a morning walk, thrown on for the drive home.

Underneath, keep it simple. Two knits, one pair of trousers you can sit down in for three hours, and something with a bit of stretch for the drive. If you're bringing a dress, bring the one you've already worn — the one you know sits right when you stand up from the table.

Shoes are where weekends go wrong. One pair you can walk on gravel in, one pair for dinner. That's it. Nobody has ever come back from two nights away wishing they'd brought a third pair.

And leave room. You will buy something at the farm stand, and it will be heavier than you think.