This park is on 162 acres; it's a farm, trail, and education center…read more The coolest part are the barnyard animals and large garden. They are open all year round so it's a nice spot to take the kids or yourself to. There are three miles of trails too; don't forget your duck boots, we went after rain and it was muddy but fun nonetheless. There's even a half mile of that trail that is handicap accessible. There is a discovery room that has reptiles, amphibians, and a parrot! There were plenty of parking when we went. A great spot to explore for sure!

Four cool things we saw at Westmoor Park:…read more Llamas Chickens People snowshoeing A curious black and white cat that followed us around! Even though most of the facility was closed, it sure scratched our cabin fever itch and provided a very nice place to get outside, walk around, and breathe some fresh air. Although the Indoor facilities aren't open at this time, you can explore the park grounds and trails as we did today. We want to come back when things are opened up because this looks like an awesome place with tons of fun things to do. It was pretty cool seeing people snowshoeing today, we never saw that before.

Beautiful place! Trails are amazing. If you pay to go inside the money goes to support wildlife. We…read morehad an excellent afternoon hiking and playing in the brook.

We went on a Monday but the nature center was closed. This was fine because I wanted to walk on the…read morered trail (Werner Pond Trail); this trail is half a mile long and it's flat. The walk was very easy with some roots and rocks. There were views of the brook which was peaceful and the sound of flowing water was lovely. There were information cards everywhere detailing which wildlife lived in these woods. There were a couple of small bridges; one was on concrete and fenced in. We also walked over to the butterfly garden. They did a great job with maintaining this land. I can't wait to go back to check out the nature center and the other trails. Since it's early spring, there were no vegetation; I'm sure in the summer this place gets super lush greenery. They also offer many programs and activities; The Children's Museum in West Hartford is also affiliated with them.

I like this park. What I like about this park is that the geese like to hang out at Union Pond…read more That is cool except for water levels which are lower than I thought but though it's still a great place to relax, wind yourself and either read a book or watch the geese. Also a good place to go out for a walk as well.

This was a great trail though we didn't finish it due to time constraints It was well marked,…read morefollowed the pond shoreline and was relatively easy with a few inclines. Beautiful spots along the way to enjoy the water views. Also found two geocaches off the trail which were awesome. Parking for 4-5 cars but another lot right across the street. There is also a fairly new fitness trail over the footbridge. Not my thing but thought it looked awesome

This is a little hidden gem, that I didn't even know existed!…read more We ended up seeing fennec foxes, emus, wolves, different birds species, turtles and tortoises species, as well as bison, horses, goats, wallaby's and a few more exotic ones that I am missing. They also had your normal household animals, like skunks, raccoons and other animals that were rehabilitated that no longer can be released into the wild This is a nonprofit organization, so all of the donations and proceeds, go to helping the animals We ended up purchasing a Groupon for two people. We did not have an encounter for this one, but noticed that you could purchase that. We ended up buying cones field with feed for the animals, such as the donkey, goats and the horses, and they have a nice feeding area, so you can pet and feed them as well. The education Center was unfortunately closed, and the gift shop is tiny, but there's more than enough to do at this little zoo It only took us about an hour and a half to get through all of the exhibits

We went on a slightly drizzly Sunday after brunch and it seemed like we had the zoo to ourselves…read morebecause the parking lot was empty except for one other car. When we asked if there were any other visitors we were told no one else in the past hour. Admission is a fair price for this small zoo that had plenty of animals to keep us interested for a couple of hours. It was nice to see the bobcats active and the monkey swinging around. Lots of peahens and the peacock was fun to see perched in different places. We were amazed to get a symphony of howling, yapping, barking, neighing, and other animal chatter while we were there. The staff in the Education Center was friendly, alert and readily answered our questions about the animals. If you like feeding the animals, buy a cone of food at the admissions booth to feed the hoofed animals. Careful when feeding the goats. I was taking a picture of my daughter feeding a goat and I was within reaching distance of the goat who craned its neck over the fence and swiftly chomped on the cone of food. I was startled but it was quite hilarious.

A beautiful park which has a playground for kids, trail by the water, also good to host parties…read moreduring spring/summer/fall, perfect outdoor venue, this park has a field for practice and is of a good size. Overall a great place to have fun for all age groups. Located close by the highway. This is one of my son's favorite parks in Manchester.

Great park with lots of space for kids to run around and climb. Picnic tables for snacks or to get…read moreout of the sun. There is a free library with books for kids to drop off/pick up books. They have bathrooms there, but they are not always open, so that can be frustrating if you expect it to be available and it's not. Grounds are usually clean and well cared for.

We come to the playground here and love it. My son calls it the "airplane playground" because of…read morethe airplane play structure. There's plenty to climb on, swing on, slide on, and sand to dig in.

It offers various equipment for different ages. My grandson's favorite was the large shaped plane!read more

The Great River Park is a small park right off the highway, in East Hartford. This park is right on…read morethe Connecticut River. There were a number of people fishing and some were walking. There are some picnic benches if you'd like to be the one with nature while enjoying your lunch. This park is very clean, the grass has been cut recently. There's a substantial amount of trash cans, so no one should be littering on the park. On the other side of the river is where you'll find the capital city of Hartford. With some tall insurance buildings as well as the historic Colt Armory building, that is in plain sight. This is a nice place to step outside, if you happen to be working in one of the close by offices. This however, isn't my favorite or go to park because of how noisy the highway traffic can be.

I adore walking in the park every day on my lunch. I usually walk across the bridge into Hartford,…read moreloop back and then loop down and through the park to get a bit of fresh air. The statues are cool to see during the different seasons, and it's just a nice, quiet, contemplative area to visit. My office overlooks the park too so it's cool to see what's going on if I ever need to daydream out my window.

This is my first time coming here, and I definitely need to return to explore the whole grounds!…read more There is plenty of parking upon entering and a dog park right near the parking lot There is an animal barn, a tobacco museum, picnic areas, a community garden, a maple sugar house, a nature center, a soccer field and 12 miles worth of hiking trails!! This could definitely be an all day adventure.

Northwest Park is a beautiful park located in the Town of Windsor. It is 473 acres and it used to…read morebe a tobacco farm. It's located right on the Farmington River. There are forests, wetlands, fields, and 12 miles of trails. There is a nature center, farm animals, tobacco museum, gardens, playground, and picnic pavilions. The tobacco museum is only opened seasonally. The parking lot was on gravel but there were plenty of spots available when I went; there is a porta potty in the lot as well. You can find restrooms at the nature Center too. Once you walk into the park, there is a viewing platform overlooking a small pond. The pond had goldfishes in it! First we went to the animal barn. There were turkeys, goats, ducks, donkey, chickens, cows, and rabbits. Next door to the barn was the maple sugar house; I don't think it was open when we went. We went into the nature center which was very nice. There were many exhibits, taxidermied local animals, a fish tank, hissing cockroaches, frogs, snake, a gift shop, a turtle pond, a tree house, and a table with puzzles and blocks for the kids. There was a clean bathroom onsite and the attendant working in the nature center was very friendly. The playground was also very nice. There were two playscapes for the different age groups. There were a couple of benches and the large picnic pavilions were nearby. They had a couple of gardens as well; one was an organic garden and the other was a butterfly garden, which was accessible. They had informational signs with braille on it. There are quite a few trails on the property. We walked over to the reservoir and Farmington River; the trails were easy and quiet. You can find the map online and in the Nature Center. There are also soccer fields and a dog park. Seriously, you won't be bored at this place. It's nicely maintained and the people of Windsor are lucky to have this park! I'm looking forward to going back!