Nebguy's Nirvana.

Looking For Gnomes And Other Treasures
Bakerwoods In Ashford Is A Little Bit Farm, A Little Bit Trail, A Lot Of Fun
August 20, 2010|By Peter Marteka, Nature's Path & Way To Go

The gnomes had left the nugget of gold next to a moss-covered stump and, slightly out of breath, I called out to my children.

"Daaaaad, stop telling us!" my 8-year-old said, picking up the nugget, examining it and putting a check next to the drawing of gold on her scavenger hunt list. "We are supposed to find them. Hey, is this real gold?"

On a recent summer day, I found myself exploring the "I Spy Gnome Trail" with my children — Molly, 8, and Sam, 11. The trail — around a fishing pond and through the forest — is part of a quirky place known as Bakerwoods in the eastern Connecticut wilds of Ashford. Bakerwoods is part petting zoo, part fishing pond and part trail hiking. There's quite a menagerie that includes a donkey, ducks, rabbits, llamas, horses, cows, geese, cats and even a few talking parrots. While we were there, the chickens made a commotion in their coop as though the end of the world was near.
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"Oh, don't mind them," owner Nancy DiScepolo called out. "Someone just laid an egg."

DiScepolo has been tied to this land all her life and has saved a portion of the 150 acres under the Forest Legacy Program. Her mother Frances, who was from New York City, and her father Grant Baker, a lumberman and trapper, raised rabbits, chickens and goats in the 1950s. Then a kennel was built and dogs and cats were added to the growing collection. Today, there are more than 250 animals in assorted barns and enclosures at Bakerwoods.

The theme at Bakerwoods is "letting your imagination run free." And nowhere is that easier than along the half-mile gnome trail, where visitors young and old can find 16 items left behind by the gnomes who live in little houses or hollowed-out logs in the forest. There is even an anti-logging device — a huge arrow powered by a bundle of TNT — for anyone who dares disturb the gnomes' homes.

We found an assortment of items, including a toad, compass, violin, horseshoe and a fork, and our reward was picking out a prize from the gnome treasure chest at the end of the trail. The beauty of it was my children were hemming and hawing about having to go on a hike with me, and here they were having so much fun, they didn't even notice they were on a hike.

 

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