I found Heritage Farms as a result of an experiment with the new "nearest unreviewed places" feature of the experimental ice cream map - I was out at the Russell Bird Sanctuary in Westford and this turned up. (Technically this isn't a first visit, since once I got there I remembered the place from back when I lived in North Billerica and was looking for late night ice cream.)¹

It's on Pawtucket Boulevard, which runs right along the Merrimack River; Pawtucket is divided so you can only get there westbound, but there are a couple of reasonable u-turns which you'll need if you're coming from the south west.

The location has lots of parking and both indoor and outdoor seating - picnic tables under an overhang and out in the open, plus two indoor dining rooms (shared with the pizza and subs business.) They have signs about ordering ice cream inside if it's off-season, but it's already the end of April and the outside window is definitely open.

There's a little ATM built into the side of the building, but unlike most other ATM-equipped ice cream shops I've reviewed, they do take plastic (maybe they didn't in the past, but kept the hardware?)

I was pleased that their sizes are explicit: Large is 4 scoops, going down to Kiddie being 1 scoop. Note that I didn't learn from this information and got a ludicrous amount of ice cream anyway…

They have cups and cones, sundaes, a banana split, and a "pina colada boat". They also have chocolate and vanilla soft serve, and packed quarts and pints. They have a bunch of drinks: frappes, sodas, floats, raspberry lime rickey, and slush (red flavor and blue flavor):

I'd only heard of Vevor as a brand of low quality machine shop tools, small lathes and mill tables - lots of youtube videos about buying vevor tools and rebuilding them yourself, to trade hobbyist shop time for money. It was a little surprising to see the brand name on a slush machine, but even more surprisingly it looks like Home Depot sells this exact model.

Toppings include jimmies, M&Ms, and multiple kinds of gummy bears.

The hard icecream is Richardson's, which is dense and creamy and mostly means you don't need translations for things like Moose Tracks.

The ice cream itself

I went with a large, half "Death by Chocolate" and half "Campfire Smores" (with chocolate jimmies, shown.)

Without the jimmies you can see a fairly dark chocolate - it tasted very dark, and had fudge swirl and solid bits inside. As a chocolate fan it would have been a great choice all by itself.

By the time I got to the "Campfire S'mores" layer, I realized that getting an entire four-scoop large was perhaps a mistake and ended up bringing most of the S'mores half home, freezing it and having it the next afternoon. It held up surprisingly well. It's a very sweet flavor, I think caramel sauce as well as chocolate? and it is specifically a marshmallow ice cream flavor. The graham crackers were good for texture but didn't make it any less sweet. If that's what you're looking for it certainly delivers!

Next Visit

I'll probably be back in the area to do photography along the Merrimack River, and will try their "Creamsicle" frappe (Vanilla ice cream, orange sherbet, milk and whipped cream) though the Cannoli ice cream also caught my eye.

The signs

They had a lot of neon signage, but it was interesting that the local signs were clear about being "Heritage Farms" (plural) even though the google listing says "Heritage Farm." A minor detail but google streetview shows the plural spelling back to 2012, and the sign visibly unchanged (but not actually legible) back to 2008.

One of the amazing painted signs said "You can't make everyone Happy - you're not Ice Cream" and maybe I should use that as a banner for this site :-)

I was out running errands and discovered that Mad Willie's was nearby and had winter hours. The storefront is right on that little chunk of Route 30 that splits off of Route 9 and then merges back; there's a relatively small parking lot shared with a couple of buildings, but on a Wednesday afternoon there wasn't much going on so there was plenty of available space. There are a few tables out front, which you wouldn't expect for early February, but it was very sunny and just above freezing, so it was actually a fine place to sit and at least start on some ice cream (fulfilling my role as a stereotypical ice-cream-obsessed New Englander.)

There's also indoor seating - a window bench and a couple of tables. There were a couple of people there, at what would otherwise be a completely dead time, which is encouraging as far as them having enough business to stay open.

They have a broad menu - aside from Proper Ice Cream, they have an extensive Frozen Yogurt list, Soft Serve (I didn't notice at the time but they have both Cinnamon and Ginger listed as Soft Serve flavors), Richie's Slush, Smoothies, Frappes, Floats, Milk Shakes and Sundaes. Toppings include Butter Finger and Heath Bar; I didn't see Sprinkles or Jimmies on the menu but they probably have them.

The large cup there is 4½" across (115mm) which is large even by New England standards! They also have a range of cones, and it looks like the Italian Ice servings follow the same set of scales.

First Visit

I started with Death By Chocolate - rich chocolate flavor, shading towards dark but not overwhelmingly so; had big chocolate chunks as well. Since it was so sunny out, I sat at the outdoor picnic bench and soaked up the sun (and the chocolate...)

I actually took the rest home and finished the Maple Walnut later in the afternoon. Big walnut chunks and a pronounced maple flavor in a creamy ice cream - exactly what Maple Walnut is supposed to be.

Next Visit

Green Monster, Butter Pecan, and German Chocolate Cake all stood out as future choices; they also have Maine Black Bear which I need to try one of these days. They also have about twice as many Frozen Yogurt flavors as ice cream flavors, including Grapenut and Cotton Candy Krunch.

I had to look up what a "Cry Baby Slush" was - turns out that's Sour Apple. Not for me, but an interesting novelty if you're into that...

Breakers Ice Cream in Woburn (no web presence) is on Winn Street, a couple of blocks north of Woburn Common. While it has a 4 windows and a set of well-lit benches with umbrellas along a large parking lot, it's not actually that visible from the street - it's tucked in behind Mike's Place Pizzeria and has a relatively small street sign. Since it's after Labor Day, they were notably one of the few places in the Burlington area that were actually still open¹ after 9pm (they were actually serving people right up to 9:30.)

They might have indoor seating, I couldn't tell if it was that or that Mike's Place extends around behind them (a disadvantage of late night ice cream runs, even the well lit places aren't all that conducive to wandering around, though google maps shows that the extensive parking continues around the back of the building too.)

First Visit

I went with "Death By Chocolate" (which had a proper dark chocolate flavor to it, as well as mixed in brownies and other chocolate.) Followed it with "Green Monster" which is a traditional mint with stuff in it; not all the way up to "grasshopper" level, but plenty of mint and plenty of chocolate.

Next visit I might try "Maine Black Bear" (raspberry) or Totally Turtle, though if their machines are up a chocolate dip cone is just as likely.

The menu lists soft serve and dip cones; they also have frappes and slush.

Cabot's in Newton (you can see I-90 and the commuter rail out the window; there is street parking with an app, but fortunately the meters actually still take real money.)

Cabot's is a lunch and ice cream place with tables and counter seating, and a lengthy food menu as well as a bunch of ice cream options including frappes and ice cream sodas, and many toppings.