Best Glamping near Norton Center, MA

This campground was recently bought by Sun RV so there already some changes happening- the arcade room is closed and being remodeled and they now allow you to use your own boat (non motor) on the pond which is a definite improvement. Mini golf and the pools are nothing special. We have camped here every summer for 4 years in a “glamp” site which is large with fire pit. The staff has always been friendly and we even projected a movie 4th of July outdoors with no issue. That being said, we use this mostly as a location to do other things- Old Silver Beach is 10 minutes down the road as is the Shining Sea Bike path. Downtown Falmouth is 10 minutes away as well where you have great restaurants, shops and the ferry to the islands.

Tents, yurts, powered or not powered. You can have remote-feeling sites, or ones that are close in…and all are “floored” with nice flat cover of dry pine needles from the towering white pines local to this area. A few miles from the north coast of Cape Cod (town of Sandwich), close to beaches and to a lovely long narrow “board walk” across a sea grass / marshland. You can have a campsite with a mountain bike trails leaving your space and ride through miles of trails. You can walk to fabulous shower and bath houses; you can also rent yurts!

This campsite loop at Myles Standish State Forest is closest to the headquarters and borders a small pond with beach. In addition to tent/RV sites, there are 3 yurts available with bunks. Sites that appear to be near the pond are pond view rather than pondside. Approaches to Yurt JC and J5, J 26, J27 are sloped. J14 is a little awkward. J33 is probably among the largest and nicest with a pond view. The sites aren't as large as those in the Charge Pond loops, but it's a smaller campground.

The loop has flush toilets and showers. Water is available, but no electric hookups. Fire rings and picnic tables provided. Cell phone coverage throughout the forest is poor to absent; download maps for offline use if you want to be sure to know where you are or find directions. There are miles of bike trails and ponds for fishing, swimming, and boating. There's a larger beach and picnic area at College Pond.

This campground has 6 yurts and 6 tent sites. The yurts have bunk beds, a floor lamp, a table inside, a picnic table outside and a grill. Just getting to the island is a fun adventure. The island is beautiful and has an old fort to explore as well as a lot of Rocky shoreline and trails. You can build bon fires and see gorgeous sunsets. During the day you can take small ferries to a variety of other islands to go swimming or explore. This is a great adventure for kids. On peddocks island there is plenty of drinking water available and a ranger station. These sites book quickly, so you should try to book 7 months to the day in advance. That said, you can also look for last minute openings. I been 3 times and always have a great time. This campground is only open during the summer months.

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.

The HanscomField Fam Camp is a wooded recreational camp for military families and retirees, as well as for RV camping for active duty military on temporary orders. The campground offers RV sites, some with hookups, as well as more walk-in secluded tent sites as well as one yurt tent. The campground is peaceful and quiet, although adjacent to a very busy AFB. Proximity to the base provides access to the base exchange and other facilities, but the quiet location is a recreational retreat centered around several indoor and outdoor gathering spaces such as basketball and outdoor sports, and an indoor game and recreation room complete with crafts supplies for the kiddos and tourism info for the lical area. In the immediate vicinity are the villages of Lexington and Concord as well as the Minute Man National Park and Walden Pond, so the campground makes a great basecamp for exploration of the area’s rich culture and history. You are also not too far from Cambridge, and can easily access Boston from there if you like.

There are several clean modern bath houses, with hot showers and flush toilets. The office staff is very helpful and friendly!

Dogs are welcome too.

This state forest campground is located just over the Sagamore bridge, across the Cape Cod canal. It's a basic, no-frills campground, with more than half the sites designated as tent only; a few of the sites are designated for tent/pop-up. The tent sites tend to be on short spurs that may be hilly and uneven, so would be difficult to navigate with a trailer or larger vehicle. If you don't have camping gear, there are 6 yurts available for rent, though they were not available during the 2020 covid season. The bathrooms offer showers and are undergoing some renovations in 2020. No hookups, but there is a dump station. 

If you have young kids, they'll love the new playground area. That's really about the only attraction within the campground, though there are some hiking and biking trails. The Cape Cod Canal Bikeway is nearby and provides easy biking and exploration. If you're looking for a beach experience and you'll be there a few days, consider buying a weekly parking pass. During the week, it may be worthwhile to cross back across the Sagamore bridge to visit Scusset Beach State Reservation, but weekend summer traffic will likely make that prohibitive.

If you forgot food, Market Basket is a short distance away.

When you are sitting by the campfire, sometimes, chilling with a beer or another adult beverage is nice. Not in Massachusetts State Parks. No alcohol allowed. Too bad. The place has nice level sites and close to the Cape.

We planned a brief stop in the Boston area with the intent of seeing the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and Normandy Farms appealed to us for various reasons. One reason was the fact that they have dog walkers that will come to your site and take care of your precious pooch while you are away. Not knowing how long we would be away from the campground that service was a great option. As it turned out, we did not need to use this service but for some it would be a great perk if you were going to be gone all day. And with Boston traffic, we can see how that could happen. By the way, the library is well-worth it.

When you enter Normandy Farms it is more like checking into a hotel than campground complete with a concierge and express check-in. The park is gated and a code is needed to enter and leave giving you a sense of security but I’m not sure it is necessary. Driving in you quickly realize how huge this park is with some 400 RV sites, tent sites, yurts, lean-to’s, safari tents, and cabins. 

There are plenty of sites to choose from the “premium” full hook-up (50 amp) to basic with just water and electric and many others in between. Both back-in and pull thrus are available as are sites with shade and full sun. Premium sites have paved patios while other sites are gravel. Roads are paved and plenty wide enough for big RV’s to navigate. They offer cable television that yielded nearly 100 channels. Wifi worked well at our site and other places throughout the park. All sites come with a fire pit and picnic table. 

We chose a paved full hook-up pull thru with paved patio (Site E1). Our site was easy to navigate in and out of and was definitely big rig-friendly with ample space for our motorhome and tow car. All utilities were well-placed and functioned properly. The site was level. At the time we were there in October the campground was not very busy but we imagine that things get a little crazy when the park is full. 

There is a really long list of amenities for this campground….four pools (include an indoor heated one), fitness room (with elliptical, treadmills, bikes, machine and free weights), creative arts center, camp store, 20,000 square-foot activities building (with adult only lounge, pool table, arcade, games, wide-screen televisions, sauna, Jacuzzi), restaurant, huge off-leash dog park (you can reserve individual day kennels), BMX bike park, horse shoe pits, baseball diamond, volleyball, fishing pond, shuffleboard, disk golf, and playground, and probably a few more things I missed. During the busy summer months there is a long list of activities ranging from yoga to kids games.

Normandy Farms is approximately 35 miles from Boston. If you don’t want to drive to the city, you can park at the nearby train or subway station and ride into the city. You are just five miles from Gillette Stadium (home of the New England Patriots) and Patriot Place (a hub for shopping and dining). About a mile from the campground is Foxboro State Park where you will find 20+ miles of hiking trails. Also within a five mile radius are plenty of restaurants, shopping, hardware store, grocery store, and more. 

Some of the really good features are the huge dog park which has a dog washing station, water fountains for dogs and humans, agility-type obstacles for them to play on, dog kennels, and a bin with balls and Frisbees. I also liked (and used daily) the fitness center which had functioning equipment and a large television to help pass the time while working out – and was never crowded. The large community building has and adult-only lounge which serves as a nice place for people to get together and watch television or hang out without kids. With everything this campground has to offer you can see why it is a destination park for some people as their kids would be busy all day. 

The downside really is the price and how many sites there are. If you are looking for a quiet, peaceful getaway this is not it.

Well maintained campground with an equally maintained indoor pool making this my favorite cold season spot.