Pick your own fruit and flowers from one of Somerset’s farms.
Thurloxton Farm
Situated off the A38 between Taunton and Bridgwater, this 25-acre farm is run by the Quick family. Pick your own strawberries have been grown on the farm since 1973. Now, from late June and throughout July, the farm is open for picking a varieties of fruit and vegetables including strawberries, gooseberries, rhubarb, raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and broad beans. Local ice cream, tea, coffees and cold drinks are also for sale to enjoy in the sun or the shade of the barn.
There is a large sunflower field available for flower picking in late summer, and a pumpkin patch for October.
thurloxton.com
Forde Abbey Fruit Gardens
About a mile away from the 900 year Forde Abbey near Chard are the fruit gardens. From mid June through to the end of July, visitors are invited to come and pick fruit that is grown onsite and naturally ripened in the sun. The varieties include strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants.
Once the season begins, the Pick Your Own is open every day, weather permitting. It is always worth double checking on the website if the weather seems a little suspect, and don’t forget to bring your own containers. Looking ahead to October, pumpkins are also available for picking.
fordeabbey.co.uk
North Perrott Fruit Farm
North Perrott Fruit Farm in Crewkerne offers a selection of apples and pears from mid-July to October.
Early ripening summer varieties of apples tend to be a little bit soft and rather sharp so, although full of flavour, they have a short shelf life and are best eaten straight off the tree. If you live locally, it would be worth picking apples on a weekly basis.
Fruit can be picked six days a week, coinciding with the normal opening hours of the farm shop. Regular visitors can also pick sweetcorn in August and pumpkins in October.
parrettbrand.co.uk
Warren’s Fruit Farm
Warren's Fruit Farm is a fifth generation, family run business. Situated in Cheddar, famed for its strawberries, the fruit is grown on the warm southerly slopes of the Mendip Hills. There are strawberries available to buy from early March through until the beginning of January the following year, but in July and August visitors are invited to come and pick their own, when the main volume of the crop is available.
The farm shop is open all year round, offering home grown seasonal vegetables from new potatoes to courgettes. Pumpkins are also available for picking in October.
facebook.com/warrensfarmshop
Yalham Hayes
Yalham Hayes is a flower farm nestled in the Blackdown Hills near Taunton. Aizel Finch began planting her flower field in 2020, and has already won awards at the Royal Bath & West Show, Taunton Flower Show and the Big South West Wedding Fair.
Aizel explains that this year’s very wet weather means that the flowers are a little behind where they would normally be. But by July available flowers to pick should include dahlias, lupins, clarkia, gypsophilla, ammi, rudbeckia, corncockle, larkspur, nigella and a few varieties of sunflowers.
Book a picking time slot first on the website.
yalhamhayes.com
Ottilies Flowers
This is a small, family run flower farm, growing beautiful, fragrant blooms in the heart of the Blackdown Hills, set up by mother and daughter, Jane and Hannah, in 2020.
From July onwards visitors can pick snapdragons, sweet peas, lavatera, ammi majus, feverfew, alliums, larkspur, acheillia, gooseneck, scabious, calendula, statice, zinnia plus grasses and foliage and, in late July, there are dahlias and asters,
There are several different experiences available from just Pick Your Own through to a session including a homemade cream tea and bubbles, served in the pretty garden gazebo. Check the website for details and book your experience.
ottiliesflowers.co.uk
