Let the kids get hands-on and pick their own strawberries—or sweetcorn, or peas, or a wide range of other fruit and veg—at one of the PYO farms near London. It’s a great way to eat local, eat fresh and support local farms. Before you go, be sure to check the website for both opening hours and available pickings.
Garsons, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8LS
Claiming to be the UK’s largest PYO farm, Garson’s provides potential pickers with a helpful map, including what’s available to pick and where. Go and get your runner beans and raspberries, your broccoli and blackberries.
Crockford Bridge Farm Shop and Pick Your Own, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2BU
Close to Weybridge and open daily, this farm shop offers more than 20 different crops (although not all at the same time). In August, you can take your pick from a wide selection including strawberries, raspberries, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, French beans and sweetcorn. To top it all off, they’ve got an ice cream parlour too.
Copas Farms, Cookham, Berkshire, SL6 9EE; and Iver, Buckinghamshire, SL0 0LU
Copas Farms offers not one but two sites and is open daily except Mondays. Stock up on your strawberries, raspberries, peas in the pod and broad beans as well as many other crops; the website lists what’s currently available.
Flower Farm Shop, Godstone, Surrey, RH9 8BP
Offering PYO since 1975, this shop has extensive opening hours—seven days a week, from 9 to 6. Offerings include rhubarb, asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, Victoria plums, corn and runner beans. In addition to the fruit and veg (and, of course, flowers), you’ll also find a traditional butchers’ shop.
Grays Farm, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 3AN
Closed on Sundays but open 9 to 6 on other days, Grays Farm is open until October and can supply you with all the usual fruit and vegetable suspects as well as red and black currants, cauliflower, courgettes and beetroot.
Hewitts Farm, Orpington, Kent, BR6 9BX
Come for the black currents and beetroot, the peas and plums. By the end of August there’s corn, pumpkins and squash too.
Home Cottage Farm, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, SL0 0BB
Located just west of Uxbridge, this farm grows soft fruits and apples. In various seasons you can choose from 18 varieties of apple and pear, plus plums, raspberries, blackberries and honey. You may also spot the free-range guinea fowl, chickens and sheep that roam around the farm. Check the website for opening hours and what’s ready to be picked.
Parkside Farm, Enfield, Middlesex, EN2 8LA
Crops here include ‘table-top’ strawberries—no bending required! Other harvest includes spinach, Swiss chard, courgettes, green onions, beetroot, marrows and various berries and currants. The shop sells, among other things, ice cream, meringues and chocolate dipping sauce. Opening days and times vary, so do check the website.
Stanhill Farm, Wilmington, Kent, DA2 7HD
Open daily, Stanhill Farm offers berries, beans and more—and there’s even a maize maze. Check the website to see what’s available, including whether it’s ‘hard to find’ or ‘easy pickings’.
Happy picking!
