Just Add Family

The ideal New England summer vacation includes sun, sand, and a week's worth of ways to keep the kids busy. Here are four perfect places within a day's drive. Your only challenge will be choosing just one.

May 22, 2005|Stephen Jermanok

Thinking of starting a family tradition? We've found four spots in four states to suit four budgets. Each is a great place to spend a memorable week with the kids and the grandparents. The goal: Nobody gets bored, and everybody's batteries get recharged for another year.

HISTORY MEETS MODERN CONVENIENCES
OCEAN EDGE RESORT & GOLF CLUB ///Brewster, 800-343-6074, www.oceanedge.com.

Driving along Route 6A in Brewster, it's hard to miss Boston banker Samuel Nickerson's turn-of-the-century mansion. Today, it's the centerpiece of the sprawling Ocean Edge Resort, a new kind of Cape Cod landmark. While the main estate no longer houses overnight guests (it's used for meetings and wedding receptions), there are plenty of places to stay at the resort, with more than 300 guest rooms and town houses. The latest addition, 88 one-bedroom villas, over-looks the golf course. There are also lodgings closer to the water, some just a short walk from the resort's beach on Cape Cod Bay.

No matter where you're staying at Ocean Edge, there's no better way to start the day than a brisk stroll along the shore. After that, it gets more complicated. With its six pools, 18-hole Geoffrey Cornish-designed golf course, and 11 tennis courts, this is not a cozy little hotel where you can just grab your ice bucket and walk to all the amenities. You'll want wheels (bring your skateboards or scooters or rent bikes) just to get to many places on the grounds.

To help families negotiate their many choices - say, if the grown-ups need a little time away to play - the resort offers supervised programs for children ages 4 to 12. Counselors lead groups in age-appropriate activities, such as walks along the tidal pools looking for shells, turtles, insects, and other critters. There are also movie-and-pizza events for kids at night, in case parents want to sneak away for dinner in town, just a half-mile down the road. Summer rates range from $329 to $475 per night.

Resort bike paths connect to the Cape Cod Rail Trail, 23 miles of smooth, flat bikeways through towns and parkland. Or drive to nearby Nickerson State Park, once a private game preserve, which has three of the Cape's 300-plus kettle ponds, freshened with rainwater and perfect for canoeing (rentals are available). The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster is a favorite for families on soggy days. Just bring your bathing suits and towels in the trunk of your car. If the rain subsides, you can take the John Wing Trail from the museum through a forest of oaks and pines and over marshland to a quiet beach.

THE CLASSIC: COTTON CANDY AND FIREWORKS
SEASIDE VILLAGE RESORT /// North Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 603-964-8204, www.seasidevillageresort.com.