Redberry Farm more than just strawberries

Redberry Farm in George is so much more than just the strawberry farm I had until now taken it for!

Not having had kids myself I am now in the luxury position to spend time with other people’s kids when I feel like it.  My friends’ kids, my sister’s kids, and their kids.  I get to choose how I want to spend time with these kids (although mostly the kids get to choose how they want to spend time with me), and most importantly: I get to let the kid that’s hiding inside me, out for the day!

So I was all too happy to join my friend and her daughter on this particular Saturday in March.  I hadn’t seen my friend for a while, she hadn’t seen her daughter – who goes to boarding school – for a while and so it made perfect sense to spend the day together.  The Redberry Farm, only a few kilometres from George Airport as well as Fancourt, (known for its superb golf courses, hotel and estate living), is a working strawberry farm, and one of the major attractions throughout strawberry season is that you can go and pick your own strawberries.  Other things to do in the almost ‘village like’ set up on the farm are the mini trainrides on the farm, and the hooting of the train can be heard in regular intervals as the train chugged across the fields and around the farm.  We went into one of the quaint farm stalls and got our tickets for the maze.  Quite an amazing maze, I may add!

The maze itself is grown out of hedges.  Hedges so high you can not look over them.  The hedges were in most parts not that thick that we couldn’t look through them though, so we didn’t get claustrophobic.  Upon entrance into the maze we were given a card, and the aim of the maze is to find the seven different stations hiding in the maze.  At each station there is an info board with info pertaining the strawberry industry.  I must admit, we were focused on the goal of getting our card stamped at the different stations.  Each station had a different stamp, so the challenge was to find all different stations.  With all three of us not the best orienteers at the best of times, you can imagine how we got lost.  We tried different tactics, followed other visitors, navigated the ‘tunnel of doom’, took the ‘exit’ and climbed the raised platform to see if we could where the different platforms were hiding.

In the end, we found 6 out of 7 stations, before we concurred and found our way out.  So we did not get bragging rights, but we did have a great afternoon out!

We then found ourselves a bite to eat at one of the handful of different restaurant options, and soon moved to the wine tasting room next door.  In the mean time in the one little venue one of the children celebrated her birthday, while at another venue a soon-to-be mom had her baby shower.  A corporate conference group had just finished their last meeting for the day and we just sat and watched the world pass by.

My friend doesn’t really like strawberries, so we didn’t go strawberry picking.  I’ll have to find another friend to go back to do just that.  And go ride a pony, go on a go-cart, or just hug a bunny.    I will just let the child in me out yet again!

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Redberry Farm is open from Monday to Saturday, from 09h00 to 16h00.  Redberry Farm is closed on Sundays, Christmas Day and Good Friday.

For more information: www.redberryfarm.co.za

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