Sweet Berry Farms
If you’re looking for something fun to do with the family one of these beautiful fall weekends in Austin, there are lots of farms/pumpkin patches around town that are great options. This past weekend we took the kids to Sweet Berry Farms, in Marble Falls. The farm is opened to the public from September 23rd to November 5th for “The Harvest of Fall Fun.” It is a bit of a drive from central Austin, about an hour and a half, but once you get there there’s lots of fun for the kiddos.
Unlike some other farms, you have to buy tickets for each individual ride/attraction, rather than paying a single entrance fee. It’s cash or check only, but they have ATMs conveniently stationed near the ticket booths. Here is a link to some coupons for half off tickets. Children under 2 are free for most of the attractions.
Our first stop was the Candy Corn Kid Maze. The kids loved exploring around in there. Most of the paths lead to the same place so it was pretty easy navigate and not lose sight of your kids or your group.
Next up was the Berry Bounce. Always a favorite. They had two at Sweet Berry organized by age which was nice – big kids to the left, little ones to the right. All the kids love bouncing up and down, chasing each other around and seeing who could go the highest.
Sweet Berry also has goats that the kids can feed which is unique feature. They have a large pen with a crazy two story goat jungle gym. The kids were very impressed with goats’ ability to climb around in there. They sell small containers of feed at the ticket booths. It’s always a thrill for the little ones when the animals eat from their hand.
The farm is on both sides of the highway and after feeding the goats we went through the tunnel under the highway (which the kids loved - ECHO!!! ECHO!!!) to take a hayride. They have three tractors pulling trailers so the wait was minimal. In fact, although the farm was busy that afternoon, we never had to wait in too long of a line for anything which was nice. The hayride was about 15-20 minutes and they had lots of silly scarecrow installations that the kids enjoyed (a scarecrow wedding, scarecrows zip lining, a wild west saloon…etc.)
Finally, we went to the garden and picked a bouquet of flowers. Our daughter really loved this part. They give you a pair of scissors and a cute, water proof bag and for $3.00 you get a great little bouquet. They said that if you keep changing out the water they will last a couple of weeks at home. So far, so good. :)
Other attractions include, face-painting, sand art, pumpkin painting, scarecrow stuffing, the Sweet Berry Express Barrel Train and the ‘Texas’ Maze (which is a corn maze for older kids and adults). And their homemade strawberry popsicles are a must-have.
All in all it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Best of all the kids were exhausted when we got home and everyone slept well that night!
