Patch Picks: Picnic Spots

Patch runs a weekly feature called Patch Picks, highlighting five choice local businesses, destinations, services, organizations, and more, hand-harvested by either us or you, the reader! You’ll find useful lists to help you, your family, friends, and significant others find the best places for everything from Sunday brunch to New Year’s Eve celebrations, pumpkin patches, date night destinations, florists, girlfriend nights out, kids’ party places, parks and more.

This week the theme is Picnic Spots,  Patch has found a number of places you can check out if you want to spread out a blanket and open your old picnic basket.

Elizabeth Park, Hartford

Elizabeth Park in Hartford is home to the oldest municipally operated rose garden in the country. With more than 15,000 plants, about 800 varieties of roses grace the two-and-a-half acre garden. The park also has an herb garden, a rock garden with ornamental grasses and a perennial garden with a gazebo. There also is a Tree Trail with 40 labeled trees, some more than 100 years old. There is a picnic area, where you can bring a lunch to enjoy before or after exploring the park. Elizabeth Park is at the corner of Prospect Avenue and Asylum Avenue on the Hartford/West Hartford line.

Wickham Park, Manchester

in Manchester has 250 acres of gardens, open fields, woodlands, ponds, picnic areas and sports facilities. One of the highlights of the park is an aviary, with a variety of display birds including turkeys, pheasants, owls, waterfowl, exotic chickens, red-tailed hawks, Canada geese and a Great Horned owl. The migratory birds are kept because they have been injured. The park also has a nature center, sensory garden, playgrounds and a disc golf course. Wickham Park is open seven days a week from April through October. Park hours are 9:30 a.m. to sunset. There is fee per car, $4 on weekdays and $5 on weekends and holidays.
1329 West Middle Turnpike, Manchester

Soapstone Mountain, Somers

For hikers and bikers who pack a lunch, check out , on the Shenipsit Trail, which is in southeast corner of Somers, near the border with Ellington and Stafford. The mountain has an elevation of 1,075 feet and from the top you can see views of Connecticut to the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont in clear weather. There are biking and walking trails that lead up to a public observation tower. There is an upper parking lot with just a short walk to the observation tower, or there are different trails ranging from 2 miles to longer trails along the Shenipsit. There also are mountain bike trails. Learn more at trails.com, search for Soapstone Mountain, Somers.

Bushnell Memorial Park, Hartford

Home of the Bushnell Park Carousel, Bushnell Park has plenty of grassy fields, a playground, the Corning Fountain and other memorials. It is one of the oldest public parks and has become one of the top tourist attractions in Hartford. For $1 you can ride the Bushnell Park Carousel, one of the oldest running carousels in the United States. Crafted in 1914 by Russian immigrants, it includes 48 hand-carved wooden horses and two chariots with a Wurlitzer band organ providing the soundtrack. The carousel operates Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is on-street parking around the park in downtown Hartford or you can park in nearby parking lots or garages.

Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden, Springfield, Mass.

Enjoy a picnic under the shadow of Horton the Elephant and other beloved Dr. Seuss creatures in the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden. The bronze sculptures are in the Springfield Museums Quadrangle, which is surrounded by four museums. With a range of exhibits, you could visit one or all of the museums and find plenty of things for different interests. They are the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, The Springfield Science Museum and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum.