5 Family Fun Adventures for a Day Trip to Colchester, Connecticut

Colchester, CT offers a couple of our favorite activities that can be done together for a fun family-filled day, or a perfect parent’s (or mom’s) day out! Today’s adventure is filled with hiking, animals, cheese, wine, beer, and ice cream!

One of our favorite weekend activities is hiking. I love to find trails with beautiful scenery so I’m always looking for recommendations on trails that have exciting features (waterfalls, lookouts, caves, etc.). I’d say the motivation for these “exciting” features is all for the boys but who am I kidding, it is most definitely for my love of nature as well! There’s something about finding a trail that holds a unique feature that leaves me scouring hiking trail apps and the internet for hours to find the “perfect” trail for where we want to go. 

Stop 1: Today’s trail has a beautiful waterfall which will not disappoint those of you who are like me! We went to this trail in early May 2020, so it’s possible that it gets more dried out later in the summer, but when we went it was flowing and gorgeous. Our picture is actually only half of the waterfall because we were social-distancing and could not safely make it all the way to the bottom for the whole view (but it was still gorgeous even at only half view). The trail itself is a little over 3 miles. 

To access the trail, we started from Day Pond State Park. There is another route from East Hampton near the Comstock Bridge of the Salmon River as well (that would be a much longer trail and does have some pretty steep parts for little legs). 

We followed the blue trail North Loop. Make sure you follow the trail- there will be a split point where you’ll see a sign for the Comstock Bridge- definitely make sure you do not go that way or you’ll end up in East Hampton many miles from your car! We did not have a problem following the trail, but I have heard from other families that they did (there are smaller trails off of the main one). I would recommend using the All Trails App and following along at points where you are unsure (it GPS matches you to the trail so you can check your path if needed). To see the falls you’ll do an “out and back” extra part called “Day Pond Brook Spur Trail”.  

If you go when it’s warm out, Day Pond also has a small swimming area at the pond that’s perfect for sand play and splashing. If your kids like snakes, when it’s warm you’ll likely see black snakes in the stream by the pond (we always see them on the rocks of the stream that runs under the bridge right by the pond). 

Stop 2: After hiking head over to Cato Corner Farm. In spring and summer, you can see the calves in the barn and cows out in the pasture. The calves are always a hit for my boys and afterward, we always do a cheese tasting and pick out some delicious cheese to bring along to Priam winery (note: the cheese is not pasteurized). Cato Corner is typically open Friday-Sunday, but check out their website for updates. When I last checked they had closed the barn and aren’t doing tastings due to COVID, but hopefully this changes soon. Even without the barn, you can see the older cows easily in the pasture, and ask for cheese recommendations that you can take with you.

Stop 3: Right down the road from Cato Corner Farm is Hop Culture Brewery. I’m unfortunately not a beer drinker (is there a way to learn to “like” beer?? I feel like I’d love all these craft breweries that are open now, but I cannot get myself to enjoy the beer taste!), but my husband is. Hop Culture has some great outdoor space and we visited during COVID restrictions and felt comfortable in our outdoor seating setup. They have tables and you can also bring your own chairs as well. The boys enjoyed walking around the property with us and enjoyed the food truck and snacks that we had packed.

Stop 4: Next up is Priam Vineyards! Also right near Hop Culture and Cato Corner Farm. They have an outdoor patio and a hill with picnic tables, or you can bring your own chairs. They also frequently have food trucks and events, so check out their website for upcoming concerts, comedy shows, etc. When it’s not busy we enjoy the patio area (the boys love the “fish planters” filled with goldfish. When it is busy we prefer to set up our own area on the hill so the kids have more space to walk around without bothering the other guests. We recommend bringing your own chairs and a pop-up table where you can set up snacks for the kids and rest your wine glass and cheese.

Stop 5: If you still have room for more food at this point, consider heading to downtown Colchester for some ice cream! There are two ice cream/gelato shops right next to each other – the Mad Hatter and Mel’s Downtown Creamery. The Mad Hatter has more specialty type desserts (gelato, mocchi desserts, Italian ice) whereas the Creamery is your more “classic” ice cream shop. 

Are you headed out on this adventure today?! If so, make sure to tag me in your Instagram posts and stories so I can see what you are up to, and let me know what you think!  @TravelBoundBrieres and #TravelBoundBrieres

In the comments – let me know if you have been to any of these places and also if there is somewhere else in Colchester, CT worth checking out!