Stanhill Farm

We went fruit picking. Yes, you can go fruit picking as an adult without children. It’s not weird at all. And it was AWESOME.
Stanhill Farm is pretty easy to find due to the PYO signs a mile in every direction, and the entrance that’s pretty clearly signposted with pictures of fruit and ‘STRAWBERRIES’ everywhere. Parking is ample too, as you essentially drive in and park in a field, so don’t worry about the getting there bit. Totally easy.
Then you just walk up to the little shack with people in it, ask for some punnets, some directions and get picking. Simple!
Stanhill Farm is pretty special because of their website. On it, they have a graph that tells you when the best time to pick certain fruits is and whether they have lots or a few based on previous picking sessions. They update it fairly regularly too so you can check before even leaving the house whether it’s worth going and what you’re going to be able to get.
We went in mid-​July and they had a LOT of strawberries. The raspberries were a bit thin on the ground but we managed to scavenge a few of those too. But the strawberries were the star. For two of us, we had a set amount we wanted to get and went totally overboard, filling two punnets with strawberries alone. My mum was pretty happy when she ended up with one, that’s for sure!
And the fruit itself? Genuinely, they’re better than the supermarket. Fresh, sweet, not sour, soft and packed full of flavour.
For two punnets of strawberries and one of raspberries, plus a small pot of vanilla ice cream, the whole thing came to just over £6. You WISH you could buy fruit that cheap from the supermarkets.
Not only is it a great activity for you to do with kids, but it’s also fun and delicious for adults too. And to top it off? They have a farm shop on site selling a range of fruit and veg, and a sausage shop with some of the best red wine, pork and garlic sausages I’ve ever eaten, 3 for £10. I’d go back for the sausages alone, they were that good. The only reason they don’t get the full 5 stars is because the strawberries have less of a shelf life than supermarket ones. Some would say this isn’t a negative, but when you have as many as we did, by the third day you’ve run out of strawberry ideas. Give it a go though!