Top 10 Ways to Enjoy the Outdoors in Doylestown

 

Quintessential New England charm, an old-fashioned Main Street district, fall foliage, and a comfortable spring and summer climate are just a few of the pleasures in Doylestown. Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is home to small and large parklands, working farms and orchards, and luxe golf courses to enjoy at the end of a long work week. While Doylestown’s outdoor activities are seemingly endless, Paula Campbell invites you to experience a few of her favorite ways to enjoy the great outdoors beyond the borough of Doylestown.

 

First established in 1916, the Doylestown Country Club is the most prestigious private club in Bucks County. One of the most beautiful 18-hole courses in the state, it is exquisitely maintained and boasts beautiful scenery and lush, rolling green hills. Members and their guests are also afforded access to formal indoor dining and patio seating overlooking the course, with a menu featuring local ingredients. Poolside dining is also available between Memorial Day and Labor Day, where guests of all ages can enjoy various activities tailored specifically to their interests.

 

Doylestown is home to ten municipal parks stretching across more than 80 acres. Veterans Memorial Park is one of the community’s larger options, boasting two baseball diamonds, sporting fields, a pavilion, picnic space, ADA-accessible playground equipment, a “tot lot,” and shady walking trails. Chapman Park is another option featuring similar amenities, sand volleyball, basketball courts, and a youth fishing program. Next door, the Chapman Pool has been a favorite spot among Doylestown locals of all ages to cool down for nearly a century. The pool offers memberships for individuals, couples, and families, swimming and diving lessons, a competitive swim team, and ample seating for patrons to enjoy a picnic lunch.

 

 

Nockamixon State Park is located less than 20 miles northwest of the center of Doylestown, spans 5,286 acres of rolling green hills and lakes, and boasts multiple boat launching points. One of the region's more popular spots for outdoor recreation, it features a dozen trails of various lengths and degrees of difficulty, a vast half-acre pool, fishing, boating, and other water sports, picnic facilities, varied vegetation and greenery for observing native wildlife, and land specifically set aside for in-season hunting. Ten modern-style cabins are also found along the Church Trail for a more comfortable camping alternative, all of which are open throughout the year.

 

 

Doylestown is one of Pennsylvania's favorite spots to enjoy a scenic bike ride and offers a plethora of pathways and trails for riders of all skill levels. A very bike-friendly community features plenty of bike racks throughout town so residents can ride to Main Street to enjoy lunch and other activities. The Doylestown Community Bike and Hike Network is an extensive 25-mile long collection of trails, pathways, and paved biking lanes located throughout the community, while more adventurous riders may enjoy the Doylestown Pump Track. Safe for all ages and experience levels, this hilly dirt track is designed to challenge its visitors and offers a unique riding experience not found in many communities. Doylestown also hosts the Bucks County Classic, one of the area's most highly anticipated events. Every fall, the Classic consists of five different amateur, pro, and mastery races. The Classic also encourages riding and healthy physical activity for community members of all ages with lessons, a parade, and a community-wide evening ride for those not participating in the race to look forward to.

 

 

Peace Valley Park is another large regional park spanning 1,500 acres surrounding the 365-acre Lake Galena. Fourteen miles of trails, immersive nature education programs, weekly bird walks, full moon walks and paddle sessions, and other happenings offer visitors a chance to disconnect and recharge their mental batteries. Nearby, the Peace Valley Lavender Farm is a fragrant and surreal sight to behold. The gift shop carries dozens of lavender-themed gifts, from live plants to dried bulk bouquets, to lavender-infused pantry staples and homemade apothecary pleasures. Peace Valley Lavender Farm is open year-round, with June and July as peak blooming season.

 

 

The lush countryside of southeastern Pennsylvania is home to several fully operational farms and orchards, frequently visited by locals and visitors alike. Hellerick's Family Farm is just one popular option boasting dozens of seasonal activities to be enjoyed in the company of Mother Nature. The silo climbing wall, obstacle course, and goat yoga are a few unique activities, but countless visitors enjoy their seasonal market, pick-it-yourself produce, and farm-to-table dinners. Strawberries, sugar snap peas, seasonal berries, native wildflowers, and pumpkins are some of their most popular pickings.

 

Just a few miles away is Solebury Orchards, one of the county's favorite orchards known for its juicy apples, peaches, blueberries, cherries, and other flavorful fruits. The farm covers approximately 80 acres, and guests have the option to shop at the Solebury Orchards Market for a selection of treats made exclusively from local produce. With such a high concentration of farms and orchards in the area, Doylestown is home to one of Pennsylvania’s best farmers’ markets, taking place every Sunday from April through November. In their nearly 40 years of business, the market has grown to include apothecary items, homemade sauces, ceramics, farm-raised beef, and more.

 

The picture-perfect epitome of New England charm is on Doylestown's own Main Street. Both visitors and locals alike can easily spend hours wandering up and down the street discovering dozens of locally owned shops, eateries, and the Main Street Marketplace. One of the area's most unique shopping and dining destinations is an indoor promenade offering a casual vibe set against an upscale backdrop. Here, guests can enjoy fresh northeastern seafood, wood-fired pizzas, wine, and charcuterie plates, shop for local goods, and wind down with a craft cocktail. Doylestown’s nearby Cultural District has been featured in Travel + Leisure and was named one of USA Today's ten best small-town cultural scenes.

 

 

While the Main Street Marketplace offers a plethora of great indoor dining options, the surrounding streets boast many outdoor patios and decks, which are especially enjoyable on a spring or summer day. Penn Taproom serves an all-American menu featuring fresh, seasonal ingredients, with their watermelon arugula salad, seared sesame tuna bites, fish and chips, with a multitude of craft burgers as their best-sellers. These are best enjoyed with an ice-cold beer from their carefully curated selection of craft brews. Geronimo Brewing at Lily’s Jury Room is just one other place to enjoy refreshing, local beers. Unlike most breweries, Geronimo doesn’t only carry their own creations. Instead, many other local companies are featured to allow guests to enjoy the best of what southeastern Pennsylvania has to offer. Plus, many of these businesses also provide covered outdoor dining and heaters for year-round enjoyment.

 

The community of Doylestown boasts a storied history with dozens of fascinating sites and monuments. Play tourist in your own town and explore Doylestown’s ties to the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and a few of the city's more spooky sights on a haunted ghost tour. There are several locations throughout Bucks County along the Underground Railroad where thousands of people made their way north on the pathway to freedom.

 

Doylestown is also home to the Bucks County Civil War Museum, where visitors can watch a live-action reenactment of battles that took place nearby almost two hundred years ago. Guests watching the reenactments can also speak with in-costume “soldiers,” and children can partake in hands-on activities authentic to the 19th century.

 

From June through Thanksgiving, the Doylestown Historical Society puts on walking tours after dark for patrons to learn the fascinating history of some of their community’s oldest buildings and hear the tall tales of residents from years past who supposedly still wander the hallways of these old structures.

 

Fonthill, popularly referred to as Fonthill Castle, is a historical estate once home to the famous local archaeologist, anthropologist, and ceramicist Henry Mercer. This architectural feat boasts 44 rooms, 18 fireplaces, more than 200 windows, and over 70 acres of extensive grounds. The Fonthill Castle Park Walk is one of the area's more extraordinary opportunities to marvel at Mother Nature's beauty.

 

A longtime resident of the region, Paula Campbell is a keen outdoorswoman who enjoys exploring all that Bucks and Montgomery Counties have to offer. When she isn’t showing homes across the community or learning more about her industry, you can find her out by the lake, gardening, volunteering among her neighbors, and spending free time with her four-legged friends. Contact Paula today to find your next dream home in this idyllic neighborhood of Pennsylvania!