Maple Walnut
Kayleigh's Ice Cream is a brand new1 ice cream shop on 129 in North Billerica2. (There is also signage for "Hello! Tea" but that isn't currently a separate thing - it's just that Kayleigh's has fancy coffee drinks and bubble tea as well as ice cream.) Service is indoors; there are some inside tables, as well as a handful of outdoor picnic tables and a decent sized parking lot.
They didn't have a flavor menu for me to take pictures of - they just had two a pair of 8-bucket ice cream fridges, with the flavors written on the acyrlic cover in some sort of neon paint-pen, which was challenging to photograph. (They also had a pastry display.)
First Visit
I got Maple Walnut and Butter Pecan; the maple flavor came through more than most versions (most maple walnut is basically chocolate walnut, which is actually fine - but at Kayleigh's, the chocolate was good and the maple stood out, which was unusual.) The Butter Pecan was decent and had a nice texture too.
Next visit I'll probably try the "Billerica Rocky Road" (which is apparently snarky commentary on the local road quality) and possibly the "Best Chocolate You Never Have!!!".
Their website also credits Bliss Bros Dairy in Attleboro, MA as their upstream dairy source.
Two weeks after Labor Day and they are still staying open until 9pm - which was convenient for me, but they didn't have any other customers at 8:30pm so I wouldn't count on that persisting.
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The latest reference to their "opening soon" would be in April 2024; their "Grand Opening" party appears to have finally happened in Late June. In mid-September they still have the Grand Opening banner up. ↩
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It took me a bit of map digging to realize why the area seemed vaguely familiar - it's a five minute walk from the apartment I got when I first moved back north to work for HP/Apollo, 3 decades ago. ↩
Alternately "Kimball Farm Ice Cream at Bates Farm" or "Kimball Farm Carlisle" (there are a couple of others including the huge place in Westford with Miniature Golf) this is one of those that you stumble on when driving through "back roads" but still trying to get somewhere - it's on 225, not far from the Concord River (which serves as the Carlisle/Bedford border.)
Lots of parking and some kid-oriented farm entertainment (literally, they have goats.) Picnic tables, some shaded; they also host a Farmer's Market on summer weekends.
Good dense ice cream in traditional flavors; I stop in when I happen to be relaxing on those particular back roads (the Bedford Boat Ramp is actually a good birding spot when there isn't a lot of boat or fishing traffic.) Most recent visit: ½ Butter Crunch and ½ Maple Walnut, solid classics; my friend had a Strawberry Ice Cream Soda. (Their menu also includes Vegan (coconut based) and Sugar-Free options, which I will not be reporting on further.)
It's one of your New England classics - you might not have been looking for it, but if you drive by and think "Hmm, I could go for some ice cream" you will not be disappointed, and it's big enough that it won't be too crowded in the summertime. I've been stopping at Kimball Farms on and off since 2007, and was there most recently this past weekend.