What you’ll find at Pick Your Own at Rectory Farms, Nr Oxford.
My daughter chose to go Strawberry picking as her good behaviour treat this week, all well & good but our local Pick Your Own is no longer open & the closest ones have run out of strawberries! However as her little brother had broken out in chicken pox this week and involuntarily house bound us all, she really needed to get out and let loose, which is why myself & Isla drove 45 minutes to Rectory Farms PYO near Oxford this sunny Sunday morning.
There is plenty of parking on site and everything is extremely well sign posted – except the loo, but it was easy enough to find thanks to the friendly and helpful staff. We picked up a tray with some punnets & headed to the fields.
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A few of the early rows were flooded but most of them were well bedded with straw. We’d arrived before 11 & if you want the place to yourself then this is the time to get there – we were the only ones in our field! Isla loved seeing how the strawberries grow & learning what the different colours meant about the readiness to eat. I’d read on another website to wear long sleeves & trousers and this was great advise as Isla knelt, sat and rolled on the straw & rummaged through the leaves for the reddest juiciest strawberries. We soon filled up the punnet (& ate a few in the process), fuelling us on to head out along the field to see what else we could find. There were a lot of raspberries & blackberries (although I’d recommend a thick long sleeves top & perhaps even gardening gloves if you’re interested in the latter as the brambles were very unwieldy & even I didn’t manage to pick many) as well as some red & black currants. There were a lot of families there & plenty of people had buggies which they could push round the edge of the fields & in between some of the vines (but not down the actual rows of strawberries). Those that didn’t have buggies to rest their punnets on could get trolleys to put the trays on if they were planning to pick a lot, we weren’t picking that much and I was baby free so I could easily carry what we picked.
After well over an hour of fruit picking we headed back to the cafe where a kids lunch consisting of a sandwich, cheddars, satsuma, raisins & water was a value for money £4 & the salted caramel brownie to die for! Although you could also take your own packed lunch (making this extremely cheap day out even cheaper) & still use the large picnic area.
Once we’d eaten Isla ran around the picnic area playing in the small sandpit, bouncy castle & inflatable slide. It was a nice sunny day & the place had filled up, but there was just a lovely relaxed & happy atmosphere (although maybe I’m biased as it has been such a long time since I have been on a day out with just Isla & not had to worry about a baby/ toddler at the same time). Before we left we decided to take a tractor ride around the fields, this is the only attraction you have to pay for, but it was a thrifty 40p each for a 5-10 minute ride, which although not exciting was thoroughly enjoyed by all the children. On the way out we paid for the fruit we’d picked & it’s definitely cheaper than the supermarket & much tastier too.
On the way home we stopped for some double cream & meringues so that once home we could make Eton Mess, a second activity that kept Isla occupied for another half an hour or so and all of us very satisfied with our after dinner treats! A perfect way to round off a lovely day at Pick Your Own at Rectory Farms.
Thanks to Suzanne for this lovely guest post!
Karen Beddow founded Mini Travellers in 2014 while doing what she loves most...going on holiday!
Mini Travellers is for parents looking for holiday ideas, destination reviews, days out and things to do with the kids. We also have family travel tips, activity ideas and all other things family holiday related. Take a look at some of our latest reviews for holidays and day trips in the UK.