I used to live there for a bit, I think Northfield is a great little town. It does have Norwich University's campus there, so that might be a bad thing for you if you can't stand college kids or a good thing for you if you want to go watch the games there.

It's a beautiful area, it has a cute downtown, it's near Montpelier, and it's generally affordable compared to a lot of other areas along 89. There are some great houses there for the money, the only reason I haven't moved back is because my entire professional and social network lives between Burlington and the Canadian border, so it's a long commute.