QUICK SUMMARY: Excellent State Park with partially-paved bike trails, beautiful sights especially in the Fall, and a great place to take portraits! The park is open from sun up to sun down. Parking is by a self-pay meter and is $5, entry to park itself is free. My boyfriend and I came here on a whim one crisp Saturday morning in September. We brought our mountain bikes and spent about two hours leisurely exploring the trails, which are paved only half of the time, but still well-maintained. There are many lush sights to see, both with colored/green trees and the Ipswich river (along the path) was a pretty sight as well, with turtles/ducks swimming nearby. We saw only a few people while on the trails, mainly people on bikes, but we did see some walkers as well. If you decide to walk, I would definitely suggest grabbing a trail map at the beginning of the trail, as there are many different routes along the way and it can get confusing without one. There is a giant treeless field at the center of the park which made for a great landscape for my boyfriend and me to take pictures using our tripod/camera. Overall, I would highly recommend this park for all ages/types of people! read more

Nice splash park for younger children, in a pretty setting. Nice changing rooms. We only stopped at the splash park, but as we drove through it looked like there were nice trails for walking. Google maps directed us the wrong way, to the southern entrance, which is now an exit only! We had to drive 10 minutes round to get to Northern entrance. read more

Take my dog here everyday all season. Great main trained trails, lots of diverse trails. Great for biking, walking, horseback riding (I do all of it). The River is clean and wonderful on hot days. Wonderful wildlife, trees and wildflowers. Such a beautiful place ! read more

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Scenic, well maintained, well marked, and tranquil. My husband decided to try the trails across the way at Willowdale since there was no open mountain bike trails near our Maine home. I started on his trails and was soon side tracked when I crossed the street to take a quick look around. Various types of trails (old tar, crushed gravel, wooded) kept me wanting to see what was around the corner. An hour and a half later I finally pulled myself away from their well marked trails. I really enjoyed the beauty of the walking bridge and the large field nestled in the quiet woods. The trails were well marked to let you know what number trail you were about to embark on. I also happened upon two men that were finishing up some trail maintenance. I was just in time they said, any earlier and I would have been climbing over a dead tree. Good to know they have frequent help keeping the trails clear and safe. I would gladly join my husband for another day adventure on this trail! read more

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Fun playground, sprinklers, and wading pool. Good size and they limit the # of people allowed in so it doesn't get too crazy. (Which also really sucked when I got there at 10:30 and there was a sign stating they would reopen at 12:30 bc it was full! Super hot day though so prob not always the norm.) Clean facilities including ample changing stalls. Water fountain. Bathrooms. Ice Cream truck showed up when we were there but otherwise no food sold on site. Can bring food in and there's plenty of green space and/or picnic tables to sit and eat. $5 parking. Pictures of fenced in wading pool area attached. Additional picnic tables and a grill or two are located outside the fence. read more

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overall nice place to ride a bike or take a walk. can get kinda busy sometimes. you could also probably roller skate here bc it's flat cement for a while but still in the middle of the woods read more

Went to take my two grandchildren there yesterday to the wave pool. Started driving down the rode to get there. There were a couple cars in front of me when a four wheeler went In front of me. He was going like 2 mikes an hour so I thought I could pass him. I thought he was just a four wheeler in the park like we see on the main roads that should be on the side of the road!!! I looked down the road to make sure no one was coming and went around him,, he flys by me and slams on his brakes and parks like sideways in front of me!! He jumps off the bike and comes over yelling at me!! I wasn't sure if I should put my window down. He scared me and I had my 2 grandchildren in the back 1 and 3! He showed me his badge and was very rude. Said I passed him and was going 30 mph ?? Kicked me out and followed me out. Didn't need to treat me like that. Maybe he should concentrate on bigger things. !! read more

This was a weekend to get outside, and after biking the South Shore on Sunday, we decided to head North on Monday. Being that we have a parking pass for the Mass state parks, we used the list of parks to help us choose a location. We packed a lunch, the bikes and a kite and hit the road. The drive was pretty quick, and the directions on the site got us there with no problems. As you enter the grounds there's free parking, but with a decent walk to main area. Otherwise, the parking up in the main grounds is $5. The main area has a wading pool for the kids, bathrooms (and they were clean!), picnic tables and I believe a few grills. While the place was busy, it didn't feel that way at all. We started out by hopping on the bikes for a ride. The trails were really nice, and again, even thought there were people there, you barely saw them. The difficulty level was better than the Fells as I wasn't battling a ton of tree roots (my bike and I are becoming better friends). There were some hills, but I only really struggled with one. And by struggled I mean I got off my bike and walked up it. After the ride was lunch, and we had no problem grabbing a picnic table in the shade. It's just such a relaxing atmosphere there, and people really seem to do their part to clean up after themselves. There's an open field that's great for flying kites. Although we did have the win for it, ours just didn't want to cooperate and kept nosediving! Overall, this is the type of park i would frequent often if I lived closer. Even with the distance, I can see myself coming here again before the season ends. If you're looking for a relaxing day outside with the family, I highly recommend packing a picnic lunch and heading here. read more

Paved trail for walking with kids. Great leaf cover to keep cool in the summer. There is an amazing wading pool with lifeguards for children. Park free at the main entrance and enjoy a 1 mile walk or it's $2 for the afternoon (or I think $5 for the day). Deepest part is about 2 feet and tons of cool things to keep the kids occupied. Even if your child gets upset, nobody is going to look at you in disgust because everyone there has kids with them. There are picnic tables to eat at and outdoor grills for use! read more

Well, we drove 30 minutes just to be blocked off and told the lot was "full" and to wait until noon. They opened at 10:00. We got there at 10:05. My friend was already in and saw that there was plenty of room left, much more than last week when we were let in. The friend of the mother behind me who drove 45 minutes also said there was plenty of room left. And to top it off the guy at the gate was a jerk. I'll never waste our gas and time going there again. Such a shame because it's a nice place but they disappointed a lot of kids today, at least 5 families, and should have a warning up on their website or Facebook page that you may drive all that way to be told to leave. read more

BP park is a very nice place with a paved road to walk plus other trails offroad. The water park for children is also very nice. I love taking walks there year round, although not so much in the middle of the summer because of the bugs. Not much they can do about that since it's a forest! Only things that keep this place from getting 5 stars is the neglect during the winter when it snows, they rarely plow the paved road, so it turns to ice. Other thing is the low life trash who walk their dogs and neglect to clean up after them. Especially in the winter when the road is littered with dog poop everywhere like a minefield. They ruin it for all dog owners. read more

Great place to walk, Run and Bike but I Wish it was a little cleaner and that dog people cleaned up there dog sh..t

Fantastic place to take the fam for a picnic or just a little walk in the woods. The Ipswich river runs next to the park and there are numerous benches, perfect for a little canoodling with your sweetie or just relaxing. There are some really nice meadows too if you want a little sun and some peace and quiet. There's also a wading pool with a park for the kids and grills if you decide you want to cook up some burgers or dogs. If you've got one, there are also trails for horseback riding. Or you could rent a canoe from the Foote brothers and tour the river. Fun for everyone! read more

About 45 mins from Boston, this place is awesome for kids under 6. Very clean and just nice people. It's a wading pool in the middle of the woods, you can cook on your small grill, grab a picnic table and enjoy the area. It costs $5 to park and you should get there before 11am before it fills up (gates open at 10am) read more

+: clean, new children's water park is amazing with two life guards, $5/car entry fee....if entering at 4:30 or after this fee is waved....def worth it if u have a toddler or even younger, they have areas to sit/set up around the water area and they even built a playscape, bathrooms, showers and changing rooms.... -: no garbage cans! so bring ur own trash bag!, location is far read more

Great and beautiful park and well maintained- but if you have a dog be sure to do a thorough tick check before you leave , must have pulled 30 off him ! read more

Really nice large open area where you can do anything from walking along the river, riding your bike, rollerblading, walk your dog, etc. I used to camp here all the time when I was younger, and it was pretty fun. Just a really good place to get in touch with nature, if that's your sort of thing. read more

So we decided to go to the wading pool at Bradley Palmer State Park for the first time this year... The first thing we noticed on arriving at the pool is that the parking is no longer next to the pool. You have to hike 1/4 mile down a road which is shared with traffic coming in and out in order to get back to the pool which you just drove past on the way in... Why not at least provide a paved trail next to the road so young kids are away from the rod ? Our family has always liked this wading pool because it was large and thus never got overcrowded - on finally arriving at the pool, to my horror I discovered that it had been "modernized"... gone was the enormous wading pool - replaced by a "splash park" and a pool which was about the third of the size of the original wading pool. Not only that, but the original pool was nice because one part was pretty deep - nice for the adults to hang out in and get fully submerged over your shoulders to keep cool whilst the kids played in the shallower part. The 'new' pool is barely 12" in the deepest part. Of course it's much more overcrowded now because there is less pool to play in so everyone is packed together. My kids couldn't care less about the "splash park" - these things seem to be popping up all over the place at the moment and whilst this concept could be exciting, the water pressure is feeble enough that most of the fountains just "dribble" half the time. Waste of space... One good thing is that now you don't have to go through a gate from the pool to the restrooms - and they added outdoor changing rooms - although I guess they ran out of money because none of the changing rooms feature a bench - so you just get to change on a concrete floor inside a vinyl fenced enclosure. Although there are outdoor showers, it would have been nice to provide hot showers inside the restrooms so that you could take a proper wash with soap to get all the chlorine off. As it is, the restrooms are just as grim as before - but with a new coat of paint. What really gets to me is the "carry-in-carry-out" concept. This is a facility where many people bring toddlers to ... Not a trash can in sight - do I really want to carry my son's poopy diaper home with me in a hot car ? Surely my tax dollars provide enough money to pay the life-guards to empty a trash can several times a day ? Maybe I should just drop my trash by the gate on the way out to prove a point ? Also the lifeguards are bossy and rude. When the pool was closed for 15 minutes for a "safety check", the errant kids who couldn't wait were on the receiving end of a strict tirade from the guard - regardless of age. You try keeping a 2 year old out of the water on a 90 degree day !! Try to be more understanding !! Sorry MA DCR, but you dropped the ball on this one. Your press release describes a "fresh new look" to replace an "outdated wading pool" - well your "outdated wading pool" was one of my kids favorite places to go - and you've ruined it !! Thanks for nothing. read more