Picking fruits and vegetables has become one of our favorite family activities during the summer and fall. It makes for a fun day out as well as a great learning experience working your way through the harvest, filling baskets with delicious produce at a low price.
Garsons Pick Your Own Farm in Esher, Surrey has one of the best pick your own fruit and veg farms near London. It is also the UK’s largest, with 28 fruit, vegetable and flower farms open from June to October. We visited Garsons Farm at least once during the summer to pick strawberries and again in October to pick patch pumpkins. In this post, I’ll share more about the variety of fruit and vegetables available for picking at Garsons PYO Farm and what’s in store for a visit in 2023.
Related: Pick your own farms near London
Hint. Check the Garsons PYO Farm website for the latest updates on crop availability
At Garson Farm’s Esher location, in addition to Pick Your Own Farm, you’ll find a large garden center, restaurant and farm shop. There are toilets and baby changing facilities in the Garden Centre, and a small playground near the restaurant. There are no toilet or restaurant facilities at PYO Farm.
Farm pass reservation
Farm Passes will be available to order for Garsons Pick Your Own Farm in early summer 2023 at https://www.garsons.co.uk/pyo-farm. Each individual, including children and infants, must have a farm pass, which costs £4 per adult and £1 per child. The cost of the Farm Pass(es) is deducted from your selected purchases upon leaving the farm. Remember to keep the receipt you will receive when your farm tickets are scanned at the entry kiosk.
You can tour the farm, but the crops are very spread out over the 150 acres, so I would recommend driving to the fields. When you enter a PYO farm, you will need to show your confirmation email, either on your phone or a hard copy, so that staff can scan the Farm Pass barcode.
The dirt road around the PYO farm is one-way, and for most crops there is parking and a kiosk with small bunches (which hold about 1kg of produce) or large slabs (which hold about 3kg) that you can pick up. it’s free. Compost bags are also provided for collecting vegetables.
Produce is weighed at checkout and your Farm Pass value will be deducted from the total bill, provided the produce is equal to or greater in value than the Farm Pass value. Cash is not accepted at the exit. Garsons PYO Farm Esher accepts contactless and chip and pin card payments with the exception of American Express.
Strawberry
We go fruit picking at Garsons Esher every summer and picking your own strawberries is always a highlight. Freshly picked strawberries are so delicious and absolutely worth popping out to a PYO farm to pick your own. It’s a fun experience that my kids look forward to every year.
There are several varieties of strawberries around Garsons Farm, either in the open field, in table top rows, or in an area covered with shade cloth (pictured below).
The type of crop you can pick strawberries from varies depending on which crops are ready to pick on the day of your visit. On some days, you may find several strawberry crops open for picking in the fields.
carrot
One of the reasons we enjoy Garsons Farm is the variety. In addition to the wide variety of produce to choose from, it’s a great educational experience for kids to see how different fruits and vegetables grow.
Spinach
On one of our visits in June, we picked carrots and spinach in addition to strawberries.
Green bean
July is a great time to visit when most crops have opened. On one visit, we ended up picking strawberries, cherries, raspberries, and French beans.
cherry
Raspberry
We also visited Garsons Farm in early September. Again there were a variety of crops to pick from, with raspberries and plums being our favourites.
Sweet corn
During our September visit to Garsons Pick Your Own Farm, we also picked apples, sweet corn and some sunflowers. Little T was much more interested in the puppies he found on the leaves in the cornfield.
Sunflowers
Hint. Bring scissors or flower cutters if you plan to pick sunflowers. An ideal option is a container of water to store cut flowers
Pumpkins
It is also an annual family tradition to visit the pumpkin patch at Garsons Farm in October. For the 2022 pumpkin picking season, Garsons Farm Esher has moved all the pumpkins from the fields to Pumpkin Parade, a covered area on the PYO farm to keep them safe and dry.
Take a wheelbarrow to the Pumpkin Parade entrance and choose from hundreds of pumpkins. Several decorated areas have been set up for fall and Halloween themed photo opportunities. There is also a children’s corner with decorated character pumpkins and tables for coloring activities and crossword games.
To book a Pumpkin Pass visit https://www.garsons.co.uk/pyo-farm and select a time slot. Each individual, including children and infants, must have a Pumpkin Pass, which costs £4 for adults and £1 for each child. The cost of the pass(s) will be deducted from your PYO purchases on checkout from the farm.
Dates of the Pumpkin Parade. October 2023 TBA
Related: Pumpkin Patches near London
Garsons Farm shop
Voted the best farm shop in Surrey, the Farm Shop at Garsons Esher stocks high quality produce; local and regional cheese; freshly baked bread and pastries; locally produced wines, beers and spirits; free-range beef and poultry; specialty food and artisan products in Surrey, Hampshire and beyond.
There’s also an American foods section, which is especially helpful if you’re looking for certain ingredients, favorite snacks, or special treats for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.
Garsons Esher Farm Shop is always a pleasure to visit and we always stop in after PYO Farm. Fall is especially beautiful, with pumpkin and gourd displays and a great selection of holiday gifts and holiday treats.
Garden center and restaurant
The Garden Center has a large restaurant, the Orangery Tea House, which also has outdoor seating. You can order from the menu or grab sandwiches, drinks, cakes and snacks from the cafe.
The Garden Center is huge with a wide selection of home decor, toys, garden furniture and grills, toiletries, clothing, plants and flowers. There is also a small playground right outside the restaurant.
Picking strawberries in the summer and visiting the pumpkin patch in the fall, and lots of other fruits and vegetables in between. – have become annual traditions that we look forward to. Open from June to October, with its variety of crops and a convenient location just 40 minutes from West London, Garsons Farm makes a great family day out and a fun, educational experience for children to see how different fruits and vegetables are grown. And you get a bunch of delicious produce at a low price to enjoy when you get home.
Garsons Farm Esher Surrey
Address: Winterdown Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8LS
Opening hours: Pick Your Own Farm is open from June to October. Monday to Saturday from 9 am to 6 pm; Sunday 11:00 – 17:00
Farm Pass: Book a Farm Pass and pre-select a time slot at https://www.garsons.co.uk/pyo-farm when PYO Farm opens from early summer 2023. Each individual, including children and infants, must have a Farm Pass costing £4 per adult and £1 per child. The value of the Farm Pass(es) will be deducted from your PYO purchases on exit from the farm.
Family facilities. A restaurant offering a children’s menu and packed lunch, a playground near the restaurant, toilets and baby changing facilities in the center of the park.
Parking lot. Free parking in the center of the park, including parking spaces for families with young children in disabled spaces, and in the Choose Your Own Farm area.
https://www.garsons.co.uk/pyo-farm
This post was updated on April 5, 2023 with new photos and updated information about visiting Garsons Pick Your Own in 2023.
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