It’s only fitting that we celebrate the launch of DailyCandy Boston with a trip to the Berkshires. The land overrun with Tanglewood fanatics and preppies who use picnic as a verb. A land so bourgeois, the mosquitoes won’t feed on anything but blue blood. At least, that is, in the summer. Come winter, the crowds shake out. The pretense fades. And the area’s cute shops, mansions-turned-museums, and super-luxe inns are all yours.

Appraise
Money isn’t the most important thing in the mountain retreat of the Gilded Age. It’s the only thing. Spend yours wisely at Charles H. Baldwin & Sons (1 Center Street, West Stockbridge; 413-232-7785), a family-owned country store that’s been peddling syrups and penny candy since 1888. The homemade vanilla extract is out of this world. (The formula’s top secret.) Snag Provencal place settings at À Table (4 Main Street, Lenox; 413-637-5066); then get a Victorian-era table to put them on at Saddleback Antiques (1395 Cold Spring Road, Williamstown; 413-458-5852). Spend whatever you’ve got left on dreamy Italian linens at La Pace (313 Main Street, Great Barrington; 413-528-1888).

Gaze
There’s more art in these parts than you can shake a palette knife at. Survey the most expensive art (Renoir, Degas, Monet) at Clark Art Institute (225 South Street, Williamstown; 413-458-2303), the most daring at Mass MoCA (87 Marshall Street, North Adams; 413-662-2111), and the least daring at the Norman Rockwell Museum (9 Glendale Road, Stockbridge; 413-298-4100).

Graze
Rustic refinement doesn’t have to be an oxymoron, and the Berkshires’ restaurant scene is proof. To wit: Mezze Bistro (16 Water Street, Williamstown; 413-458-0123), a local fave, now reopened after a fire. The rotating menu includes lovelies like roasted skate with chanterelles. Newcomer Pearl’s (47 Railroad Street, Great Barrington; 413-528-7767) is earning a loyal following for its cushy dining room, near-perfect Rob Roys, and barbecue quail.

Daze
Want to squirrel away with some serious pampering? Tread over to The Spa at Cranwell (55 Lee Road, Lenox; 413-637-1364) for massages, body wraps, and plant-derived facials. Unwind after it all (ha!) with a walk through the grounds. The no-brainer? Canyon Ranch (165 Kemble Street, Lenox; 413-637-4100).

Laze
After all that decadence, are you really going to crash at some tacky inn with thin quilts and communal bathrooms? Didn’t think so. If you’ve already marveled at the decor and the food at the Wheatleigh (Hawthorne Road, Lenox; 413-637-0610), get thee to the Porches Inn (231 River Street, North Adams; 413-664-0400), where the jetted tubs and five-trillion-thread-count duvets make the Four Seasons seem like roughing it. Blantyre (16 Blantyre Road; 413-637-3556) has four-poster beds, impeccable grounds, and a manor modeled after a Scottish castle. Need to make like a Vanderbilt? Do so at Elm Court (310 Old Stockbridge Road, Lenox; 413-637-1556), the family’s old haunt, which now offers elegant suites with fireplaces and flat-screen TVs.

And nary a summer crowd in sight. Or mosquito.