Strawberries, Sunshine and Summer Fun!

Visiting our local ‘PYO strawberries’ farm turned out to be even better than I’d imagined! 

I never realised the fun that could be had at a 'Pick Your Own' farm before we went to our local 'Pick Your Own Strawberries' farm this weekend. The closest thing we'd done to it before was pumpkin-picking around Halloween (which I can totally recommend for a great family few hours and to get you in the Halloween spirit!).

But for some reason, I'd overlooked the fun of a summer's day picking our own fruit. What surprised me most actually was how excited the boys were to be doing it! I should have known after all kids love nature and the great outdoors and my boys had the most fun running around trying to find the biggest strawberries in the perfect shade of red and excitedly exclaiming"Mummy, Mummy what about this one?!" 

Not only did we enjoy the actual strawberry picking, but Lillingstone Farm where we went, has their pet animals there too - 2 sheep, 2 pygmy goats, 3 pigs and a chicken and as a family of vegetarians and animal lovers we were thrilled to see them! 

They also had outdoor games set up, including sandpits in giant tractor tyres, a swing all, a giant four in a row and even a mud kitchen and huge bales of hay that you could climb on, plus tractor rides for £2 a go. And what's more they didn't charge for entry - only for the strawberries that we picked! It was the perfect way to spend a weekend morning with my boys, we sat on the hay bales after we'd finished picking, enjoying a tasty ice cream in the sun, surrounded by the beautiful countryside and as we stay there, I thought to myself 'This is what summer is all about!'.

'I want to grow our own fruit Mummy!' my eldest said and seeing how much they'd engaged in strawberry picking made me think that that wouldn't be a bad idea! Not only for fun and for the kids, but to actually learn more about the process involved in growing our own fruit. I've since been looking up the seasons for fruit and vegetables and I made this handy guide below (feel free to save!). 

Getting to the stage of growing our fruit will be a learning journey for me that's for sure, but until then I'm definitely going to be looking at going along to some more 'Pick Your Own' farms not only for the nice family few hours together but also to support local fruit and vegetable producers! 

Below are a list of some PYO farms that I've found with good reviews on Google across the UK in case you're reading this and fancy going along to your local 'Pick Your Own'. You can also search on Google 'Pick Your Own farms near me' and it will bring up your closest ones, which is how I came across the farm we visited and loved. 

PYO FARMS  

North East 

Brocks Bushes must be pre-booked (Northumberland, NE43 7UB) 

PYO Strawberry (Darlington, DL2 3SU) 

North West 

Green Bank Farm (Lancashire, LA6 IBS UK) 

Walby Farm Park Pumpkin picking on October (Cumbria, CA6 4QL)

South West 

Shute Fruit (Devon, TQ14 9PN) 

Dan Tanners Farm Shop (Dorset, BH23 7DS) 

Lotmead Farm (Swindon, SN4 0SN) 

South East 

Lillingstone (Buckingham MK185AF) 

The Patch Pumpkin picking (Milton Keynes, MK19 6DG) 

London 

Parkside Farm (Middlesex, EN2 8LA) 

Garsons (Surrey, KT10 8LS) 

Midlands 

Red Road Nursery (Warwick, CV350DH) 

Syston Park Farm (Lincolnshire, NG32 2BZ) 

Wales 

Gower (Swansea, SA3 1BA) 

Vale (Bonvilston Vale of Glamorgan) 

Scotland 

Cairnie Fruit Farm (Fife, KY15 4QD) 

Belhaven Fruit Farm (Dunbar, EH42 1RG) 

Read more here:

Grounding Walks and Magic at Stonehenge

It's an Eventful Summer, Make It Memorable