This past weekend we celebrated our dear daughter’s 4th birthday! But instead of going on our usual neighborhood walks, we headed over to Farandnear, an 89 acre park that provides a couple miles of trails, as well as beautiful gardens and old cranberry bogs.

Saturday was her birthday, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. She and I went, just the two of us, while her brother napped. We didn’t get too far around the grounds, but it was nice to be out in nature and see new sites.

Not one to be left out of the fun, David asked if we could go again on Sunday, even though the weather was less than ideal. But that just meant the rain kept everyone away because we had the whole place to ourselves. With Lincoln in the backpack, we were actually able to make it around the entire property; a little under 2 miles. We saw the old cranberry bogs, an old well and even some beaver dams.

If you ever find yourself in the Shirley area of Massachusetts, I highly recommend a visit to Farandnear. Even on beautiful days, there’s still places to park and you almost feel like you’re so much more remote than you actually are. We’d love to come back, to see the flowers in bloom and enjoy a picnic in their garden.

Where’s your favorite place to go, to “get away from it all”?