Stroll through elegant gardens complementing a stately country house, then explore surrounding fields, pastures, and woodlands that echo the property’s agricultural past.

Turning off of MA-128 and arriving at this 90-acre country retreat means stepping from one world to another, and for good reason. In 1902, Dr. Arthur Tracy Cabot retained noted architect Charles Platt to design the home, a majestic destination with elegant gardens, carriage rides, and all the amenities of turn-of-the-20th-century living in the Neponset River Valley. Cabot’s niece, Eleanor Cabot Bradley, and her husband, Ralph Bradley, later acquired the estate, preserving the genteel traditions of the property while adding ponds, a sunken camellia garden, and an art studio alongside the formal gardens.

In the gardens adjacent to the main house, an Italianate, latticed-walled garden forms a centerpiece of Platt’s vision, evincing restrained formality supported and contrasted by exuberant plantings of rhododendron, azalea, and dogwood. Some 500 tulips and 500 lilies bloom throughout the spring and summer, complementing the fragrant roses and perennials growing in the Formal Garden. The grounds also provide a gorgeous backdrop to wedding ceremonies, held on weekends from May through October.

There is a fee for hiking the trails at the Bradley Estate.

Trace three miles of woodland cart paths and trails lacing the outlying parts of the estate, comprising more than 60 acres of woods and wetlands, and catch a glimpse of the small, vibrant farm operating on 15 acres beyond.

The AllTrails website has a description and map of a hike at the Bradley Estate.