Southbury With Kids

Southbury, Connecticut is a quintessential New England town with historic churches built before the American Revolution, scenic nature preserves, and fun thrift shops.  Southbury was founded in 1673 by religious dissidents from Stratford who purchased the region from the Native Americans. Today, it offers charming historic sites, modern conveniences, and scenic outdoor adventures. My family's favorite way to spend the day in Southbury involves a little shopping, exploring, and of course, eating! 

​Though Southbury is home to many well-known chain stores, we prefer to take a ride to Southbury Training School Thrift Store. The thrift store is large, occupying 4 separate sections: clothing, antiques, miscellaneous toys and housewares, and electronics. The clothing store frequently has amazing sales, like 4 pieces of kids clothing for $1. The antique section and electronic sections sell used products at marked prices, but our favorite part is always the toys and miscellaneous section. There, you bundle up anything that looks appealing and asks an associate for a price. Based on the items, we normally score a bag full of goodies for $5 or less.  
 
After our thrift shop fun, we head down the street to the Audubon Center at the Bent of the River.  The Audubon is a 700 acre nature sanctuary, filled with trails, bird sanctuaries and scenic views of the Housatonic River. There is a main barn equipped with a bird look-out deck, information, and restrooms. If we're feeling energetic, we continue on to the rocky beach and splash in the Housatonic River.

​We always pack snacks and extra clothes for the kids and take precaution against ticks. Our last visit was in May, and we spent 4 hours and left with 3 ticks. I'm always far more concerned with the ticks you don't see and remove, so be sure to use tick spray and dress appropriately when exploring the Audubon!
 
All that shopping and exploring makes for a hungry crew so we drive a few miles to a family owned sandwich shop, Nardelli's. Nardelli's is one of my favorite stops because they serve up unique in house sandwich creations right alongside the traditional deli favorites AND they offer gluten-free buns and cookies. My favorite sandwich is the original turkey club on a gluten-free bun and my picky eaters love it just as much as I do!
 
Some other fun Southbury stops that we enjoy include the playground at Ballantine Park, the library's children section, which houses a small play area for small kids, and Denmo's for an Ice cream treat!

Have you been to Southbury? What do you enjoy?