About an hour’s drive from Springfield, in Bluemont, Virginia, you’ll find a 400-acre oasis located at the base of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains that offers the whole family a chance to experience the farm life and all of its benefits. This is Great Country Farms!

What to Expect at Great Country Farms

Great Country Farms is a popular destination, especially on Fall weekends when everyone is craving the atmosphere of Autumn all around — as well as apple and pumpkin picking season. Admission includes access to the Apple Orchard, Corn Maze, Pumpkin Patch, and Play Area. Visitors are also invited to pick their own produce, which sells (separately) by the pound.

Families enjoy picnicking around the farm’s shady spots as well as buying lunches and Henway Hard Cider from the on-site Roosteraunt Concession Stand and famed cider donuts from Great Country Farms’ Knead It Bakery.

While the apple orchards are pretty much plucked for the 2020 season, Great Country Farms’ pumpkin patch is open for your family to pick the perfect pumpkin.  And great gourd do they have a lot of options to choose from! 

It’s even fun after the season to watch people return to smash their jack-o-lantern at Great Country Farm’s Pumpkin Chunkin’ or give their pumpkin a send-off on the farm’s zip line, where — after smushed — the delicacy may later be fed to the cows and pigs.

But if picking produce isn’t part of the family festivities, there is still much to do at Great Country Farms. 

The Family Fun Area, a 12 acre playground, is open for the youngest in the family to burn off some energy with rope swings, tractor tires, six giant tube slides, and other places to climb, swing, and tumble.

Large green grassy areas invite frisbee throwing and other yard games. There is also a huge orange Pumpkin Jumping Pillow (for children 12 and under) that offers the best bounces. Maybe challenge your pals to some friendly competition at the rustic Cow Pie Putt Putt course, which has 18 holes for you to attempt that elusive hole-in-one.

In addition to testing your skills and agility on the mini-golf course, you may want to check out Great Country Farms’ unique farm attraction, a Farm Ninja Course! The younger set will particularly love seeing how quickly they can complete the obstacle course. And parents will love watching all of the action, too!

If puzzles are your pleasure, don’t miss Great Country Farms’ corn maze. (Shhh! You don’t even have to wait for Autumn for this one; the farm actually has mazes year-round.) And while the kids generally have the run of the maze during the day, sometimes special Adults-Only night events happen so the 21+ crowd can meander the maze in the moonlight. 

If you’re looking to spend a longer day at the farm, perhaps consider starting your morning at a popular fishing hole. Bring your fishing gear and try to hook one at Great Country Farms’ catch-and-release Fishing Pond.

To be sure, meeting barnyard animals is one of the best parts of farm life! Everyone in the family will love meeting Big Mama and Elmer the Pot Bellied Pig and getting up close and personal with chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, goats, and the randy Roosters. 

Wagon Rides are not currently available due to the ongoing health emergency, but there is a Cow Train! Children under 3 years will ride with an adult, while all others will choose their cattle car and follow the leader on a motorized “train.” (Rides $2.)

Visitors can even learn a lesson about geology — fossils, the rock cycle and minerals — by hunting for treasure, like arrowheads, gems, fossils, or other rockin’ rocks, at Great Country Farms’ Gem Mining Sluice. Find hidden treasures inside a simple bag of sand by sifting it in the rushing sluice. (Price Range: $6-$28.)

And even four-legged family members are invited to join in the fun! Dogs must be kept on a leash, however, and are not permitted in the U-pick fields for health and safety reasons. 

As you can see, there is much to do at Great Country Farms! Visit the farm, enjoy the outdoors, pick some produce, and create some family memories — just like Elizabeth and Kevin recently did with their daughters. 

Great Country Farms is open Falls weekdays from 9 am – 5 pm and weekends an hour later, closing at 6 pm. Advance tickets are currently required to assist in crowd maintenance and safety precautions. You can also buy a Season Pass and visit as often as you like without paying admission for each visit.