Been in Western MA for 25 years, gotta say, traveled and stayed all over new england, Western MA is one of my favorites, fairly normal, no political extremes, people are just friendly enough not to start an unprecedented conversation with you, but also not get road rage if you need to move over a lane lol. It has a great mix of city and "countryside" to it. Fairly safe, just quiet enough to enjoy it but not feel super isolated. Still got dunks every 3 blocks, I'm an hour from Worcester, 1hr 30 to boston and 45 min from the Berkshires. It's really quite the spot.