Best Glamping near Boylston, MA

WE come here every year with our group, RVing Women Northeast Network for our first rally of the season each year for a number of years,  The reason we come back is the way we are treated, because they have pavilions that have a campfires pit and the roof is made so it takes the smoke straight up out of the pavilion yet is protective of those under the roof from rain etc.  VERY enjoyable.  We all park around this Pavillon.  IT is well kept, kids are entertained by parents and fishing etc.  Parties are present but they have quiet hour and it seems to be obeyed.

We were delighted when we learned we had the little peninsula of site P1 all to ourselves. Stunning views across the large pond, and serving as a wonderful halfway rest/respite on the journey from NYC to Belfast, ME. We felt like we were on top of the world, discovering this perfect quiet nook and basking in nature’s splendor.

I can only speak for the camping on this peninsula/land, but the rest of the sites looked cozy, family-friendly, and fun. Cabins and RV sites across the lake, along with beaches for swimming. Bathrooms located on P1 peninsula. Canoe rentals on-site. Lovely picnic dining area alongside covered bridge and waterfall. Completely picturesque and, mostly, totally peaceful!

My family and I stayed here a few years ago in the tent area. Not all sites are secluded, but we were the only ones so it was nice and private. At the time there was only one port-a-potty for the tent area we were in and no water source. It’s a dog friendly park which was good for us, our dog could swim in the lake with us. Cute patio overlooking the lake as well with seating. Wood delivery is awesome especially since tent area is a slight distance from office, but that is also a bonus so you’re away from the RV sites. Also price is reasonable for a private campground considering the rates a lot of other places charge.

Pros- very clean, bathrooms kept up with regularly. Staff is very nice. They offer boat rentals, canoes, paddle boats and kayaks. Store on site and they do activities during the week. Definitely more kids friendly I think. They do have a pool, park, dog park, lake and food trucks visits at times. They have community fires and dances. Pet friendly. Wood available on site.

Cons- loud cars going all night, some lights in your face. Some people tend to fly down the road on golf carts. You can also hear the main road from the open style campsite. No privacy. People will walk threw your tent site. They will talk during the night while doing this, smoking seems to be allowed at pool. No fires between 9am-5pm.

Overall we had a good time.

Campground review: Camping at Boston Harbor Islands requires some planning, but you get the benefit of a remote island with minimal company. Unless you book one of the 12 yurts on Peddocks island, the camping is rustic; you’ll need to bring everything, including water. Reservations open 6 months in advance and sites fill quickly, so plan ahead if you’re counting on a particulate day. I only visited the campsites on Peddocks Island, so I can’t speak to the ones on Lovell, Grape, and Bumpkin. 

Getting there: Unless you have your own boat(check regulations on the website; you’ll need to anchor offshore overnight), you’ll want to catch a ride on the ferries to the Boston Harbor Islands. Figuring out the schedule is the trickiest part, not least because they don’t make the inter-island ferry schedule as readily accessible. Here’s the scoop: 

1. Check the ferry schedule. Figure out which departure makes the most sense for you. You may choose to leave from Long Wharf, near the Aquarium T stop on the Blue line, or from Hingham, with overnight parking available. For Bumpkin and Grape Islands, you’ll want to leave from Hingham; Peddocks and Lovells are available from either departure point
2. Buy your ticket online in advance. Some town libraries have passes offering 2-for-1 ferry rides, so if you’re a MA resident in the greater Boston area, it’s worth checking that out first. Otherwise, you’ll be looking at an extra$20 for the ferry, but that fee covers your round trip as well as the use of the interisland ferries so you can explore other islands. If you’re traveling as a family, look at the family pack for another discount. You can show the ticket on your phone when you board. 
3. Pack as lightly as possible and plan to carry or wheel it to your site. If you have a folding wagon, you may appreciate having it to carry items on and off the ferry and to your site on the island. There may or may not be carts available on the island. Peddocks has running water available, but otherwise you’ll need to bring gallon of water/person. If you want to grill, bring your own charcoal; otherwise bring a stove or bring food that doesn’t need to be cooked. You may scavenge wood to build fires below the high tide line only. No alcohol and no pets. 

The yurts on Peddocks are great, providing shelter from the elements, bunks with mattresses, electricity, a ceiling fan, table with benches, and a grill. There are 6 yurts up a small hill, with a composting toilet and water from a tap nearby. The 6 tent sites are also in this area. An additional 6 yurt sites are below the hill and in the woods, so it’s a slightly longer walk to the toilet. at the top of another hill there is an open, grassy area, also with a composting toilet, that provides group campsited.

While you’re out on the islands, take time to explore one of the others…look for sea glass on Spectacle Island and climb the hill for a view of the Boston skyline, explore the old forts and visitors centers, earn a Junior Ranger badge from the National Park Service, fly a kite, or go for a swim or kayak. In mid-August we collected handfuls of blackberries as we explored Peddocks. 

Ranger Product Review: Banner& Oak Traveler Shirt 

As a Ranger with the Dyrt, I sometimes get to test items; in this case I ordered the Banner& Oak Traveler long-sleeve t-shirt  in indigo. It’s long sleeved and super soft, but the first time I went to put it on, I realized the Banner& Oak tag along the hemline was sewn through both the front and back, so I couldn’t put t on until I removed the tag. I didn’t have scissors with me, so it was tough to get it off and ultimately I ended up with a hole in both the front and back. I’ve worn this on strolls through the woods when the weather was nice, but cool and on the foggy morning ferry ride to the island. The sleeves are not constricting and when I pushed them up to my elbows, they stayed in place while I hiked. I will say that it is a unisex t-shirt and the sleeves and body of the shirt tend to run long. I like that, but if you're petite, it may be annoying.

(As a Tent Camper)

Let me start this off with there are not many campgrounds I would rate this low. There are a lot of little detractors that add up quickly. 

First, one of the pros, we enjoyed their small but nice petting zoo of a few goats and a horse. Their general store was adequate.

Now some of the cons we encountered. 

The other campers were very loud and ruckus, especially in the safari field with the RVs.

The campsites have VERY little to no privacy, we had to hang up tarps in between us and our neighbor or else we would practically be looking straight at each other if we both had a camp fire at the same time. 

Something I've never encountered before, but our fire pit was not the typical tire ring, it was some other type of ring I've never seen before. It was almost as if it was designed to not allow any air flow for the fire. We thought we were going crazy until our neighbors were having an issue too and had to plug in a hair dryer and every 5 minutes turn it on to keep the fire from going out. And our wood was pretty dry too. 

The pools were very lack luster, they are quite small for the amount of guests in the campground. They get crowded way too fast, we had probably a 2 ft bubble around us in the pool and could not move around at all if we wanted too. The kiddie pool which is 2 ft deep was a waste, it is too big with very little amount of kids who actually use it. 

It was the first time we thought we had actually wasted a weekend camping. Would not return.

A little tip about GPS: if you’re using Apple Maps, it will likely take you to a turn that is not the campground entrance, there’s even a hand-written sign on someone’s lawn that has directions to the entrance (seems to happen frequently, I guess). We chose this campground because we got a booking discount on the Dyrt app.

Pros: Friendly staff, clean bathrooms, clean grounds, gated campground with card key access in/out of the grounds, 2 pools (closed for the season during our stay), pavilion, activities/entertainment, fairly quiet during quiet hours, laundromat, playground, dog park, boating pond, Horse shoe & Basketball court.

Cons: No hot water for showers, no separation between some tent sites, strong sewer smell in woman’s restroom & on some campsites, late check-in (7:45 p.m.) was a bit tricky — an envelope with a key card and map were placed in a mailbox for us due to store/office closing @ 6 but no mention of this in the confirmation email & long wait time on hold to find out site # (not included in confirmation email). I believe they use a 3rd party company for reservations. You do not get a choice during the online booking to choose the campsite to reserve & the site # is not included in the confirmation email. The mailbox that had our envelope in it was difficult to locate & we may have not found it if it weren’t for a very kind camper that showed us when she saw us looking around confused at the entrance.

So this is a pro & a con, I will try to start with the negative & end with the positive- Our site was in a field that was near the bathrooms. We were on S1, near a septic pipe & there was a severely nauseating, strong smell of sewage coming from it; we went to the front desk the next day & asked to move to S5, as we were the only ones on any of the 6 tent field sites. They were completely fine with it & apologized saying that they recently had someone there to fix the septic concern. We dragged our things down by noon. Within the hr, there was a large canopy tent set up right in between us & the bathrooms that we were now much closer to & there was a band setting up for their afternoon show. The live band was cool but we had golf carts & parked vehicles pretty much surrounding us & some right on our campsite, it was a little awkward. Then around 8, there was a gentleman that started setting up for a comedy show that they would be doing that night. A staff member came to our site and let us know that there is an 18+ comedy show but there was a children’s movie being played on a big screen on the other side of the campground. This was a nice alternative, however it left us with 2 choices: leave our site (with a fire we just started) for a couple hrs & have strangers & golf carts directly on our campsite again or stay on our site, watch the stand up comedy show & hope our 9 yr old won’t get the jokes. We chose to stay. So, here’s the main positive about the events — the band was good & the stand up comedy was awesome. For the most part, the comedians kept it fairly clean & our 9 yr old did not get any of the jokes that were a little sassy. All 3 comedians were clearly aware that there was a child in the audience & one specific comedian (Rob Steen) said right from the get-go that he was going to keep it clean for his bit & use innuendos that would go right over his head. There’s a high likelihood that we wouldn’t have went to see the comedians if it were held at the pavilion because of it being an adult show so we were kind of glad everything unfolded like that because they were really fantastic. We might return to the campground again but hopefully would get the choice of picking a more secluded campsite next time.