November Sunflowers and Strawberry Picking

Sunflower picking at Glenbernie Family Farms,
Gingham dress from Ally Fashion (sz 8), Hello Sunshine hat

Last weekend we visited a couple of farms near the Blue Mountains northwest of Sydney. Some of you might remember my blog post a week ago here sharing information on where to go for strawberry picking which is currently in season around October/November. We found out that Bilpin Fruit Bowl for fruit picking and Glenbernie Family Farms for sunflowers were down the same Bells Line of Road so decided to visit these two places on the same trip. 

We purchased tickets online ahead of time from their respective websites but it looks like you can also buy tickets at the gate on the day. We wanted to beat the sun and the crowds as well as have the best pick of the day so bought tickets for the 9am - 10am session for sunflowers and 10am - 12 noon session for strawberries. It's a 20 minute drive between Glenbernie Farm and Bilpin Fruit Bowl, but we figured it would be fine to get to the second location around 10:30am with 1.5 hours being ample time left for strawberry picking. 

1. Glenbernie Family Farms - 610 Bells Line of Road, Kurmond, NSW. Website here. Adults $10 entry fee, kids $5 and free for 2 yo and under. 

Sunflowers in full bloom at Glenbernie Family Farms

We left Sydney bright and early around 7:30am on a Sunday and it was a smooth drive. We arrived ahead of time but had to wait til the owner let our group in at 9am on the dot. We took some photos from the other side of the fence along the main road while waiting. The owner took us to a different field to what we could see from the main road so don't be disappointed if you see wilted flowers from the side of road as there are other patches in bloom deeper down on the farm. There was a petrol station with toilets across the road but no other shops or cafes in case you were thinking of grabbing breakfast nearby, though there are other shops in other towns along the way.

Outfit of the day: Ally Fashion gingham dress and straw hat, Target girls denim jacket, Windsor Smith sandals, Loewe small raffia bag, straw hat

There were about five other groups of two or three people during our session so it didn't feel crowded and we were all able to stretch out across the field, though had to be mindful of others being in the background of photos. It was so cute seeing the sunflowers all facing the sun in the same direction! The fields at the farm were slightly smaller than I had imagined, or what Instagram photos of sunflower fields might have you believe. There were plenty of flowers, but it didn't feel like it was a vast expanse where you could be submerged in never ending fields as far as your eye can see but there were certainly plenty of flowers in full bloom and overall a very pretty sight. 

It's best to bring your own scissors or cutters, bucket and some water if you're wanting to take flowers home as the farm doesn't supply extras for visitors. Flower cuttings are $4 each and they also have other varieties of flowers available too. I took one sunflower home as a souvenir and put it in some water in our coffee KeepCup in the car for the journey home because I forgot to bring a bucket.

There is absolutely no shade in the middle of the field, so be sure to have plenty of sun protection such as sunscreen, wide brimmed hat, long sleeves and sunglasses. There was a couple there doing family portraits with a photographer which is a wonderful idea! I'm sure the photos would have turned out lovely with the sunflowers in the background.

 

We absolutely enjoyed this place and the hour ended all too shortly. As we were leaving around 10am to head to strawberry picking, we noticed bigger groups coming in so we were glad we had come early.

My sunflower sitting in water in a KeepCup in the car because I forgot to bring a bucket

2. Bilpin Fruit Bowl - 2093 Bells Line of Road, Bilpin, NSW. Entry fee for $20 per adult, $10 per child and free for under 3 years. Website here.

Bilpin Fruit Bowl for strawberry picking in October/November, apples and stone fruits during other times of the year

Next up, we went to Bilpin Fruit Bowl for strawberry picking. This was 20 minutes drive down Bells Line of Road from Glenbernie Farm. Bilpin Fruit Bowl was a much bigger farm with a variety of produce. During other months of the year, you can also pick apples and stone fruits like peaches and nectarines. Today we were strawberry picking and they also had lettuce and bokchoy that you could pick to take home for $2.50 each.  

The strawberries are grown under a hot house, which looks like a big tented area  with rows of strawberries grown at table height, which is handy so that you don't need to bend your back to look for strawberries. 

It was fun scavenging for the biggest reddest berries to snip and eat. We found the smaller deep red ones were a lot sweeter though I always like to pick the biggest prettiest looking strawberries that often turned out more tart. There are buckets at the end of each row where you can throw your strawberry leaves and stems so that you don't litter the floor. 

It did get quite warm in the hot house (as expected!) and there was partial sun cover. The floor was very clean and no concerns about getting muddy feet. 

The farm provides scissors as well as punnet boxes for you at the entrance which makes it handy. One punnet fits approximately 500 gram, and take home strawberries are $20 per kg. But you can eat as many strawberries as you like while there!

Cut your own strawberries, scissors and punnets provided by the farm

Take home punnet of strawberries $20 per kg

We ended up not staying til 12 noon as we had pretty much eaten as many strawberries as we could stomach and it started to get hot towards middle of the day. We stopped for lunch across the road from Bilpin Fruit Bowl where the food menu was entirely vegetarian and I tried plant based chicken burger for the first time. 

On our drive back to Sydney, we spotted a pack of alpacas on the side of the road and pulled over to take some photos because they were all too darn cute.

Quick snap with alpacas (lamas) resting on the side of the road. How cute is that pom pom tail!

There was a sign nearby that suggests that you can do an alpaca farmstay here, which is also sounds absolutely delightful and I might research this a bit more for future road trips. 

Madison's Mountain Retreat for alpaca farmstay, website here

For my outing, I wore this blue gingham midi dress from Ally Fashion that my readers helped me pick on my Instagram poll. The sky blue checked colour is so pretty and the perfect outfit for spring activities. It's described as a midi dress but on my 150 cm height it really is more of a maxi length. It covers my ankles but luckily does not reach the ground, otherwise I would have had to constantly hitch it up while out on the farms. I've shared details about this dress as well as two other spring dresses I got recently from Ally Fashion in this blog post. I've been wearing this Target girls denim jacket that I got last year with almost every single one of my outfits this Spring. Surprisingly I fit a girls size 10, which gives it a cropped length and shorter sleeves which was exactly what I was looking for. 

Gingham dress from Ally Fashion $39.95 (wearing one size up in size 8), Target girls denim jacket $29.95 size 10, Windsor Smith leather sandals (exact same here), Myer Miss Shop straw bag (old)

I had trouble finding this dress on the website this week even though I only purchased this two weeks ago, but there are many similar gingham style dresses on SHEIN here, as well as other styles and colours on Amazon here, here and here.

This week I've enjoyed having this cheerful company on my desk at home and a great reminder of our lovely day trip. 

Great start to the day at home with cup of coffee, cheerful sunflower and planning my day

Lastly, I just wanted to add a tribute to The Boy for taking me on this mini road trip. This was actually for my birthday celebration, as I wanted to do something a little different to the usual "dinner-at-a-nice-place". In recent years, we've started picking activities to do for birthdays instead of traditional presents. He also always makes me a home made birthday card this year to match the theme, which is  just so sweet of him: 

This year's birthday card

Hope you've enjoyed this post and found the information helpful! If you've been fruit picking near Sydney or near your city, please feel free to share your recommendations. You can also DM me on my Instagram account @choco_petitestyle and check out regular outfit posts and stories also.

Happy and safe travels everyone!

xx
Choco