Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Western Mass Ice Cream Places: Seren-Dip-ities

While my wife and I were out on a recent "galavanting" day we encountered a lady who is an ice cream affecianado.  She told us her four  favorites in the North Quabbin area so we decided to check out some of them.  Below are photos from one we visited in Orange, Mass.
This photo actually came from Cindy's Ice Cream in Granby Mass.  It seemed appropriate to put it here since the subject of the day was ice cream.  Now you know where the term "lucky dog" came from.  This puppy was enjoying his cone which included doggie "bisquit" treats.

This is the featured ice cream shop on East Main Street in Orange, Mass.
Their small cones are not quite this big but they are big!

There are two great ice cream shops in Orange, just a short distance from each other.  The other is Anne's which we will feature later.  If you are not a big ice cream eater, order something smaller than the small cone because they are huge at both places.  Seren-Dip-ities serves Maple Valley ice cream which is made in Hadley, Mass.  In addition to the 27 flavors of hard ice cream which are listed on the side of the building, they also have several flavors of soft serve ice cream.

When we arrived about supper time, the parking lot was practically full.  Before we finished, it was completely full.  In addition to ice cream, they serve a variety of other fast foods including seafood.  We were impressed with their mini-meals which were reasonably priced and which left room for ice cream (which is why we stopped there!)  The hot dog mini-meal featured two hot dogs, a small drink, and a choice of either curly fries, homemade fries, or regular fries for $6.00.  You should definitely choose the homemade fries---they were fabulous and the serving was large enough for sharing.  The homemade fries alone are enough for a return trip!

There were lots of outdoor picnic tables in a very relaxed setting.  Some were under trees, some under umbrellas and others were under a rustic covered pavilion which provides additional shade.  The property is surrounded by a pleasant wooded background.  Our time there was very peaceful.  In fact there seems to be a peaceful, relaxed atmosphere at many of the recent ice cream places we have visited.  We are impressed with Seren-Dip-ities and will stop again when we are in the area.   We might even drive up there again just for the outing.  I like the Orange area and enjoy  visiting nearby Tully Lake and the Community Boat House.

Check it out.  Summer is short.  Get up there before it is too late in the season.  I think you might enjoy exploring this part of Western Mass too.  If you are an outdoors person, be sure to visit the Trail Head outdoor store---good people and they also sponsor some of the outdoor activities in the area such as evening kayaking at the boat house.

 Update:  Here it is two weeks later and we are back again.  We could not resist the lure of the homemade french fries so we made sure our outing today included another stop at Seren-Dip-ities.  It was not quite as crowded on a mid-afternoon Monday so I was able to take more pictures without intruding on the privacy of other customers.  Pictures are worth a thousand words.

We each got our own hamburger mini-meal today with the delicious homemade fries.  We splurged and got a side order of corn on the cob which was quite tasty too.




Very comfortable seating areas.  You might be tempted to sit there and read awhile after your food. (If they are not too busy at the time!)


Under umbrellas.

Under the pavilion.

Under the trees.

They serve locally made ice cream from Hadley, Mass.



When I asked the young lady who served us today,  "We're back again. Do you know why?"
"Because we are awesome?"
That too, plus the fries!