Managed by the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust, Parsons Reserve is a lovely location to be outside, stretch your legs, and take in the beautiful sights and sounds of early Spring. If you visit mid-April to early May specifically, you will be rewarded with an absolute ocean of daffodils, the deep yellows, creams, and greens rolling over about an acre and a half. The bulbs of 27 different varieties of this flower have been blooming since WWII era after the land was used as commercial bulb farm. I learned all this from the very pleasant and helpful volunteers that dotted the property and were clearly enjoying the peacefulness of this location (mid morning on a weekday) as much as I was.
While the property has a whole series of trails, if you're there for the flowering field, you're in luck as there is a short trail from the main parking lot that contains 50 or so spaces. I was there for both hiking and a visit to the field so I opted to park a bit further down the road at their ancillary lot that holds an additional 10 spots in the limited pull off so that I could get some additional steps in. I'm glad I did, because the land as a whole offers a small bit of elevation to get your heart pumping, as well as some well-built boardwalks, and a place to relax by one of their vernal pools. You'll catch glimpses of Destruction Brook and quiet wooded glades. The trails are well maintained and blazed (their color coded blazes even have letters on them so those who are color blind can tell the difference). I was happy to see others taking advantage of the system here after visiting the daffodils.
The pièce de résistance though are certainly the daffodils and I can se why they've become so popular. As you come up over the hill to the field, there is a donation tower where you can leave your recommended $5. On the day I visited there was a small table of volunteers with information about the space as well as helpful advice re: how to enjoy your visit. They have a series of wood chipped one-way walkways that make it easy to walk about without destroying the bulbs. They do have a few other rules pertaining to professional photography but for the average visitor, it doesn't feel restrictive at all.
I hear things can get a bit hectic during school vacation week and that parking can get tough since street parking is not allowed. If you can time it right though, this place is definitely worth your time. Daffodils were only listed as being in 30% bloom when I stopped by and as you can tell from the photos, even a partial bloom is a sight to see. read more