June 7th 2024: Water Bodies in Leicester and Spencer

 Today, I was in Spencer,

Watson Millpond, 74 GH Wilson Road

going on a hike at Spencer State Forest to find a water body I missed before. The path I took from 136 Charlton Road is shown below in pink.

Pretty nice view of the water body here, minus the bugs.

From here, it was on to Leicester,

Henshaw Pond, 155 Henshaw Street

Where I stopped by Tatnuck Farms Creamery

getting a Southern Peach Milkshake.

Pretty good end for a day of checking out water bodies in LEicester and Spencer.

Recommended Places to Visit: Leicester

Recreation

Parks

Town Common
Paxton Street and Washburn Square

Towtaid Park

Church Street and Towtaid Street

Farms

Cooper's Hilltop Farm

515 Henshaw Street

Waterfalls

Greenville Pond
~713 Pleasant Street


Water Bodies
Smiths Pond

Gerald Court

Kettle Brook Reservoir #2
Mannville Street and Paxton Street

Kettle Brook Reservoir #3
~530 Paxton Street

Sargent Pond
1230 Main Street

Waite Pond
~85 Manville Street

Clark's Mill Pond
~137 Baldwin Street

Lynde Brook Reservoir
End of Reservoir Street

Kettle Brook Reservoir #1
Mulberry Street and Chapel Street

Burncoat Pond
End of Town Beach Road

Cedar Meadow Pond
395 Rawson Street

City Pond
~81 Chapel Street

Rochdale Pond
~1066 Stafford Road

Bouchard Pond
Pine Street near Charles Street 

Henshaw Pond

155 Henshaw Street

Hiking

Tried:

Shaw Pond (private)

65 Watson Street

Southwick Pond

Walbridge Road near Cutler Road, Paxton

Frank Cooke Forest

250 Manville Street

Architecture

Monuments
Leicester Lions Park
Main Street and Bottomley Avenue


Places of Worship

Leicester First Congregational Church
1 Washburn Square

St. Joseph's Church
759 Main Street

Leicester Church of Christ
2 Church Place

Christ Episcopal Church
1089 Stafford Street

Greenville Baptist Church
674 Pleasant Street

Leicester Unitarian Church
5 Washburn Square


Schools
Becker College
964 Main Street


Town Facilities

Leicester Public Library
1136 Main Street

Town Hall
3 Washburn Square

Police Department
90 South Main Street

Restaurants

Higly Recommended:
Breakfast

Uncle Jay's Twisted Fork

509 Stafford Street

Recommended Dishes:

Hot Chocolate

Shrimp Scampi Omelette

Twisted Benedict

Tried:
Breakfast
B Law's Diner (closed)
15 South Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Egg Cheese and Bacon Sandwich
Hot Chocolate

Farmhouse Diner
15 South Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Mac and Cheese

Mike's Donut Shoppe
1181 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Honey Dipped Donut

Pleasant Street Diner
310 Pleasant Street
Recommended Dishes:
The Jason

Tiny Tim's Cafe

1137 Stafford Street

Recommended Dishes:

Hash

Italian
Northeast Pizza (chain)
1205 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Sweet and Sour Chicken Pizza
Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Dressing Pizza

Uncle Sam's Pizza
1072 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
BBQ Pit Pie
Pastrami Hot Sub

Dessert
Wicked Wings and Ice Cream
15 South Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Spicy Ranch Wings
Sticky Sesame Wings
Spicy Fried Pickles
Sundae

Tatnuck Farms Creamery

55 Marshall Street

Recommended Dishes:

Southern Peach Milkshake

Western

Castle Restaurant
1230 Main Street

Eller's Restaurant
190 Main Street, Cherry Valley
Recommended Dishes:
Clam Chowder
Triple Sec Ravioli

Joe's Drive-In Restaurant
1673 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Veggie Burger

Hot Dog Annie's
244 Paxton Street
Recommended Dishes:
BBQ Hot Dog

Barber's Crossing (chain)
861 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Flowering Onion
Lobster Roll

Yankee Pot Roast

BBQ Texas Beef Ribs

Chicken Marsala

Castle Cantina Tapas Bar and Restaurant

1230 Main Street

Recommended Dishes:

Tostones Rellenos

Aguacate Rellenos

Del Mar Paella

Papajotes

Karol Corner Take Out
610 Pleasant Street
Recommended Dishes:
Chicken Marsala

Rochdale Burgers, Subs and More (closed)
610 Pleasant Street
Recommended Dishes:
Spicy Thai Peanut Wings
Steak, Cheese, Mushrooms, Pepperoni Sub

December 27th 2023: Rawson Mill Brook Reservoir, Shrewsbury

 Today, after checking out several water bodies southwest of Worcester,

Smiths Pond,
Gerald Court, Leicester

Tinker Hill Reservoir,
42 Tinker Hill Road, Auburn

Texas Pond,
149 Southbridge Road, Oxford

we decided to go for a short hike to look for Rawson Mill Brook Reservoir in Shrewsbury, parking at 318 Prospect Street. A new dam structure with a gurgling brook alongside the path, but nothing much else here.

 

27th May 2022: Spending Time with the Little One

 This morning, we headed back to Harvard for another hike, this time at Prospect Hill, which I visited once before in the past, this time to try to look for Dean's Hill. The path we took while here after walking through Ryan Land Park

is shown below in blue.

Unfortunately, the views of the orchards were just alright.

After our hike, we decided to head into Westborough for a quick bite from Swanski's Bakeshop, which has taken over from Yummy Mummy Bakery, which I visited once in the past. We got the Lavender Honey Roll,

which unfortunately was nothing special, especially due to the cinnamon in it.

For dinner, we decided to head to Leicester at Castle Cantina Tapas Bar and Restaurant, located within a castle which used to be the Castle Restaurant, which I visited once in the past. Much nicer inside now.

    

We got the Muy Baya Sangria (blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, brandy, red wine, apple juice and lemon lime soda),

the Tostones Rellenos (fried plantain baskets topped with Garlic wine sauce shrimp),

the Aguacate Rellenos (freshly cut avocados topped with chimichurri steak),

the Del Mar Paella (saffron rice, shrimp, scallops, mussels, calamari, clams, red and green peppers, peas and basil),

and the Papajotes for dessert.

Unfortunately, the food tasted overly simplistic, definitely not worth what we paid for. What a pity.

July 28th 2021: Frank Cooke Forest, Leicester

 Today, I decided to go on a hike at Frank Cooke Forest in the town of Leicester. The rough path I took to get to the beaver wetland here is shown below in pink.

 

Really overgrown right from the start,

and half the time I had no idea where I was, guided only by my GPS and the streams crossing the area, which allowed me to locate the gate to go through to get to the power lines, although the path here was really muddy here as well. At least there were nice views here, but definitely not worth the thrashing and semi-wading I had to do.

The wetlands were nothing to look at either, and the paths to them non-existent, at least to my knowledge. With that in mind, I decided to use the path along the power lines, however muddy, to make my way to Paxton Street, then walk along the roads back to my car. There were cars stopped along the road on my way back, but everyone drove off as I approached. So much for a hitchhike back to my car. At the junction with Manville Street, I checked out Kettle Brook Reservoir #2 along the way.

With that, I got back to my car somehow. Definitely not hiking here ever again.

May 13th 2021: Shaw Pond, Leicester

Today, I decided to go for a hike at Shaw Pond in Leicester, where the path I took to get to the water body is shown below in pink.

Relatively easy hike, although the pond itself is actually off limits because it is a public water supply.

November 22nd 2020: A Day Out in Leicester

 Today, we decided to spend the day out in Leicester, 

Towtaid Park

Becker College

Cooper's Hilltop Farm

going for lunch at Barber's Crossing, a bar restaurant which I visited a long time ago. This time we sat in a nicer part of the restaurant.

For food, we got the BBQ Texas Beef Ribs,

the Lobster Roll (5 oz fresh lobster meat with a hint of mayonnaise on a buttered, grilled hot dog roll)

and the Chicken Marsala (Sautéed chicken breast with mushrooms and finished in a Marsala demi-glaze over linguine).

The ribs were a little on the tough side, though still not bad, while the pasta was just alright. There were big chunks of lobster meat in the lobster roll though. Overall, not too bad a meal.