"If I were a painter And could paint a memory…read moreI'd climb inside the swirling skies to be with you" (Norah Jones) The East Granby Farms Town facility has quite a lot of features - the  Kilbon Recreation Center for community classes, its home for the town's Historical Center, it boasts a baseball field and basketball court, picnic facilities, and some gorgeous scenery for your hiking enjoyment. But none of those are the prominent feature you'll see when you drive into the South Entrance. There, you'll be greeted by an enormous concrete silo painted with an equally enormous farmland mural. You see, when the Town of East Granby converted the old Viets farmstead into a public park, they left the landmark L. H. Viets silo standing and commissioned a mural to be painted on the silo. It covers the silo from top to bottom and is really quite a gorgeous work of art showing farm scenery, farm animals, rolling hills and a blue sky. Definitely worth your time to swing into the parking lot and check it out.

This park is on 116 acres and provides many recreational options. We came here for the playground…read more The tot lot playscape was nicely maintained and is on mulch with a couple of benches. This playground is for children ages 2-10 and is a fenced in area. Over by the basketball courts, there is the playground for children ages 5-12. Parking was plentiful. Across the street are the restrooms. There are tennis courts right nearby and a huge soccer field. There are ball fields, a bandshell, basketball courts, bathhouse, children's memorial garden, dog park, horse exercise area, horseshoe game area, pavilions, volleyball courts, veteran's wall memorial, swimming in a pond, snack shack during games, and a pond house for events. This place has got it all for your recreational needs!

We visited Salmon Brook Park by parking in the hiking trail entrance so we could wander through the…read morevery pretty area. The hiking trail is very easy to follow and navigate. No rocks, no tree roots, and not too much animal waste except for one enormous deposit that had us wondering if it was squeezed out by a Great Dane or a bear!! We took one of the side trails to the right and entered the river basin where we saw some jaw dropping beautiful vistas down in the valley. Five stars for a photo op, believe me. We walked all the way to the event meadow, but things were quiet today. Salmon Brook Park has a lot to offer - a Band Shell, an Event Room, Baseball Fields, Basketball, Volleyball, and Tennis Courts, Field Hockey, Soccer and Lacrosse Fields, a river, a playground, 2 picnic pavilions, and that very nice network of Hiking Trails. Come to think of it, it has pretty much everything you need to spend a few very nice hours in the great outdoors.

It was very peaceful place to walk as well as very friendly people the little mini beach with the…read moresand is very cool

The playground fits into the park perfectly...a tree house and more…read more... Provided by Premier Park & Play from Newton, MA

Ended up at this park by accident and we can't wait to go back and explore a bit more…read more At first this park seems like an open field and parking lot but if you walk over the bridge and pond, it opens up to the rest of the grounds and the Connecticut tobacco museum. They have a few farm animals like horses, cows, donkeys, rabbits, chickens, and more. The barn includes information about all of the animals and the nature center has more information about Connecticut's nature scene. There's also a trail that seems to lead pretty far out. We'll check it out next time.

Wonderful hidden gem especially for families with small children. They have trails a barn with…read moreanimals and the playground which our children loved.

The Viets family of East Granby operated a farm and livestock business on this site for many years…read more After the business closed, the land came into the possession of the Town of East Granby, who converted it into an almost 500 acre public park with a recreation center and hiking trails. In a beautiful nod to it's prior owners, the Town not only decided to leave the Viets Farm concrete silo standing, but also commissioned the painting of a mural on it to serve as a huge welcome sign to the park. It stands in the main parking lot entrance to the complex on Route 187. The gorgeous color mural covers every square inch of the silo with a lovely farm motif of animals, scenery and a blue sky. The original lettering was left undisturbed: L. H. VIETS & SONS CATTLE & HORSES It really is a gorgeous and very unexpected sight to see!!

I would never recommend this day camp to any parent. My experience showed an organization that was…read moreincredibly disorganized, constantly understaffed, and poorly managed. It often felt like there was no clear communication between staff and administration, which created unnecessary confusion every single day. I was extremely disappointed by how little the camp seemed to value its employees. Rather than supporting staff or listening to concerns, management seemed more focused on protecting its own image than creating a positive environment for either employees or campers. I also found the camp's priorities concerning. Instead of encouraging accountability, respectful communication, and good decision-making, situations were often handled in ways that sent the wrong message to children. It was frustrating to watch inappropriate behavior go unchecked while staff members were blamed instead of supported. From my perspective, this camp appeared to prioritize filling enrollment and collecting tuition over providing a well-organized, well-supported experience for campers and employees. Parents deserve to know exactly who they are trusting with their children. Overall, I would not send my child here or recommend that anyone else work here. There are much better camps that are organized, supportive, and genuinely focused on providing a safe, positive experience for children.

Very fun and really enjoyed with my friends from 8th grade 10/10 would definitely recommend.read more

If you like kayaking, canoeing, SUP, fishing, or have a power boat, etc., and love flat, calm…read morewater, Rainbow Reservoir may just be the place you're looking for. There is a small hill leading down to a nice boat ramp. The parking lot is paved with marked spaces for vehicles pulling trailers, and non-trailer vehicles. There was one porta potty and I found it to be clean. I was there on a weekday when kids were back in school, and found it to be quiet with very little activity, but I was told it can get very busy in the summer on weekends.

July 2016. I am downgrading the spot to 3 from 4. I have been seeing parasites on the fishes…read morecaught here. Most recent trip m, 4?sun fish & one bass, everyone of them got parasites. Either yellow like grain of rice type or tiny black spots in meat. Do not eat fishes caught at rainbow reservoir! If you like fishing, I am sharing my fishing spot especially because I need to write good & useful Yelp reviews :) My spot is to the left of the rainbow reservoir boat launch. The boat is infrequent but the jet ski is a bit annoying to fishermen. However, the spot is productive if you can cast far enough, there is a steep drop off that goes down about 15-20 feet, all kinds of fish there. I've taken my kids there many times, caught sun fish, bass, carp, catfish etc. all at the same spot. Don't eat the bass!!! High Mercury content. Ok to eat sunfish & carp, but carefully check the fish for parasite as I've seen them last year, they look like little grain of rice but yellow in color, yikes! Other than that, it's really fun spot to take the kids & you can BBQ right there as well!

Cute little park. Very easy walking trails, well maintained. The bridge is great for scenic…read morephotos. Small pond with a beach. Restrooms fairly clean.

Great place to spend family time and enjoy the sun or go for walks very relaxing place to be and…read moregreat picnic grill area

In 1982 the State Department of Environmental Protection acquired the original 425 acres of land…read morewhich would become the Newgate Wildlife Management Area. Today, it has grown to over 600 acres. There is one main trail that heads back to and past Newgate Pond. What appears to be a mileage marker suggests that this was intended as a bike path. Either way, it's about as wide as a one-lane road, and makes a nice alternative to the crowded rails to trails bike paths in the area. There are also side trails coming off of it. Some have old sign posts at their entrances, but no actual signs remain. The main trail is in good shape, suggesting that some maintenance is still performed. I wish I could have seen the area when everything was still in place. Judging by what has been left here to rot, at one time there was a huge project to make this quite the nice park. Now, it looks relatively abandoned as far as promoting it as a recreational area goes. You'll see traps in the trees for tracking invasive insects, so the main trail is probably just being maintained for the DEP to gain access. I like this area because it is so rare to see somebody else here. Judging by all of the condom wrappers in the parking lot, that area probably gets more use than the walking paths do. I come out here at least once a week, and have almost always had the place to just me and my dog. An easy walk about a mile down the main trail takes you to Newgate Pond. This is truly a hidden gem. Bring a blanket and some beers and just sit and watch the noisiest geese in the world swim around and honk at you. Right at the pond, the main trail takes a hard turn to the left. I have yet to explore that far, so I can't tell you where it leads. However, I have seen a cyclist coming from that area, so it may connect to the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. Do yourself a favor and come explore this forgotten wildlife area. Chances are, you'll have it all to yourself.

Playground review only:…read more One of the best playgrounds I've been to; it's new, clean, and big. My toddler loved it and so did I. Yes, I went down the slide a few times with my infant and he loved it too. The view from the playground was also spectacular, the rolling hills of Simsbury. This playground is located near a golf course, rink, tennis/basketball courts, and trail. I have not used those yet, so no review on those. The playground had a bunch of picnic tables under a gazebo. There were playscapes for 2-5 year olds as well as 5-12 year olds. One of the playscapes has 3 levels if you count the ground. My favorites were the green tube and red swirly slides. There is a sign to take trash out with you since there are no trash cans. I noticed an older playground down the hill but it was muddy so I didn't go in it. I liked the rubber ground with mulch; smelled really fresh lol. Overall, great playground and will be using it often.

New playground is amazing!!! Great job town of Simsbury! We had not been up there in a while and…read morewas very pleased to be welcomed by a beautiful recreational area; tennis courts, pickle ball games, swings, basketball court and of course the huge playscape! Looking forward to get on the ice and the back on the playground some time soon