Field Trip in April: Tip Top Tulips!

Spring moves pretty slowly in New England, but it really is here, and with it comes the flowers. Blue skies may be fickle and fleeting, but you can tell everything is coming back to life. It’s so exciting. This month, I went on a field trip (two, actually) to Tip Top Tulips in Ipswich, MA, a place where you can ‘tip-toe through the tulips’ and pick your own bouquet!

I was pretty excited to discover this place. Tip Top Tulips is new this year and has two fields. There is a small field with no entry fee where tulips are $1 a stem. You can keep the bulbs if they come up when you pick the flowers or not–your choice. They may not grow next year, but I kept ours. We’ll put them in the garden in the fall and see what happens.

The small tulip field just after it opened.

My kids and I checked this out last week. It was a fun way to pick a bouquet. I gave each of them a budget and turned them loose. The farmers were very helpful and friendly, and we had a great time.

There is also a large tulip field in a different part of Ipswich where admission is $10. Tickets can be purchased on their website. Tulips are also $1 per stem here and you can keep the bulbs if you like.

On Thursday, I went back with a friend to check out the large field. We spent over an hour walking through trying to pick out our favorite flowers.

Thanks to the cloudy day, we had the whole field to ourselves a good part of the time. The misty skies were really beautiful.

My plans to only pick five dissolved and I came away with twice as many.

I even wore the wooden shoes my parents got me on a visit to the Netherlands when I was a child. They were awesome and still fit! My feet stayed dry and they were easy to walk around the field in.

There were some really interesting tulip varieties.

My friend and I had a great time. We sort of forgot to catch up because we spent all of our time exclaiming over the tulips. It was such a nice pick-me-up during COVID, you know? I’m not sure how long they will be open, but if you are near Ipswich and you like tulips, it’s a fun outdoor activity, whether you choose the large or small field.

Sounds like there are plans for a sunflower field in August and a dahlia field in the fall. Fun!

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Another Kind of Riches

 

Crane Beach, Ipswich, Massachusetts

 

Field Trip: Marty’s Donutland

If you’ve ever travelled to New England, you know of the ubiquity of that mecca of doughnuts and coffee:  Dunkin’ Donuts.  It’s great.  I love Dunkin’ Donuts–great coffee, doughnuts, muffins, etc. etc. etc.  Even growing up, not living in New England (for the most part), when we got doughnuts, that’s where we went.

I never really thought about OTHER doughnut places.  But somehow, at some point, I discovered Marty’s.

 

Marty’s is the opposite of flashy.  It’s got the wood panelling of a few decades ago and is populated with townies sitting on bar stools passing the time of day, drinking coffee, and eating large doughnuts.  It took a few trips, but eventually I was won over.  For less than a dollar, you can get a delicious, filling, wonderful doughnut.  You never know exactly which ones they’ll have that day, but it’s never hard to find a good one.  My current favorites are chocolate coconut and chocolate butter crunch.  I have to recommend their Boston Creams, too.  One of those doughnuts can just about get me through breakfast and lunch.

Really, though, part of the allure is that Marty’s feels like an enclave of “townieness”.  I didn’t grow up in a small town, so I find them fascinating, especially those little spots where you feel like you entered the inner-workings of the place.  Despite that, Marty’s isn’t only for townies.  It’s also got a pretty good college following due to its unusual hours.  They open at midnight when someone comes in to make the doughnuts and stay open until about noon or a little before.

Also, they have the coolest mixer I’ve ever seen.  I don’t think this picture does it justice, but maybe you can get a glimpse of it anyway.  See it over there on the right?

 

Now that I have discovered the true wonderfulness of this hidden gem, I’ve gone to Marty’s for doughnuts for Sunday morning breakfast, fuel for road trips long and short, and the “baked goods” I was supposed to bake myself, but ran out of steam for.  And actually, bringing doughnuts from Marty’s gets me at least as many compliments (but usually more) than when I bake things myself.  They’re just THAT good.  Unfortunately, there’s no cookbook to tell you how to make these doughnuts.  If you are on Boston’s North Shore, you’ll just have to come in and experience them for yourself.

Marty’s Donut Land, 8 Central Street (Rt. 1A), Ipswich, MA 01938

978-356-4580

Hours:  midnight to ??? (about noon or a little before, usually)

Sad, Sad Update:

After decades as a town institution in Ipswich, Marty’s closed last week.  One of their employees wrote to tell me the terrible news (thanks, Koda), which I had heard rumors of, but hadn’t confirmed.  What will Ipswich, Gordon College students, and other doughnut-lovers in the area do now?  We’ll have to wait and see.  Thanks for nearly 60 delicious years of doughnuts, Marty’s.  We’ll miss you.