A favourite QLD family activity - Image: Queensland Strawberries FB
(PYO) at strawberry farms throughout Queensland seems to be such a high demand family activity, that I've heard certain farms have already been running out of strawberries for picking and are actually requesting guests to please defer visits for a weekend or two, allowing more luscious berries to ripen. To ensure that strawberry lovers get the opportunity of a family day out, plucking their favourite fruit directly off the plant, here are eight, in no particular order, of the best PYO strawberry farms in Queensland.
🍓 1.McMartin's Strawberry Farm and Strawberry Lane Ice Creamery
105 Sports Road, Bli Bli, QLD | (07) 5448-4912
Hours: 8.30am to 4.30pm, 7 days a week from end of May to mid-October🍓
Stanley, McMartin's beloved mascot! Image: McMartin's Strawberry Farm FB
is a small family run farm, right in the heart of the Sunshine Coast,
straw-berried next to the
Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary and the Maroochy River. This 56 acre piece of paradise has been in the same family since 1945, a family who love nothing more than keeping the costs down for a family day out. All of McMartin's ice cream is made using Maleny milk and cream and real fresh fruit.
Strawberry goodness! Image: McMartin's Strawberry Farm FB
Cafe serves Devonshire teas with delightful homemade scones, barista coffee, smoothies and even light lunches. Mum and Dad can enjoy a coffee, sitting on the deck, whilst supervising the children at play in the children's playground.
McMartin's Strawberry Farm's PYO price is market dependant (please call ahead for current prices) and kept as low as possible to enable families to afford this little luxury. It's a fantastic experience for families, children and adults, to pick the fruit straight from the field. McMartin's strawberries can also be found at various markets, including the Saturday Yandina Markets; Sunday
Fishermans Road Markets in Maroochydore and between June and October in Gympie on a Sunday.
🍓 2.Strawberry Fields
133 Laxton Road, Palmview, QLD | (07) 5494-5146
Hours: 8.00am to 4.00pm🍓
Strawberry Fields is a favoured destination on the Sunshine Coast for locals and tourists alike, providing a welcoming green space for families and friends to connect, whilst participating in a true farm experience.
Yummo! Image: Strawberry Fields FB
Located along the
old Cobb & Co route,
Strawberry Fields can be found on Laxton Road in Palmview. This immaculately maintained farm has been run by the Carmichael family since 1980 and is open to the public during the picking season, from June to November. Strawberry Fields offer educational tours for school groups as well as providing an inviting outdoor venue for children's birthday parties.
Spend the whole day at Strawberry Fields! Image: Strawberry Fields FB
The Strawberry Fields Cafe offers a variety of mouth-watering sweet and savoury delights, including their famous homemade ice-cream, choc-dipped gourmet strawberries, parfaits and pancakes.
Get back to nature with a highly sought after farm visit to Strawberry Fields; pick your own berries right from the patch and finish your family outing off with a picnic in the manicured gardens, whilst the kids explore the playground.
🍓3.Rolin Farms
124-190 Rutters Road, Elimbah, QLD | (07) 5497-4253
Hours: Farm shop is open from 8.30am to 4.30pm, 7 days a week from the end of May to October🍓
The most humungous strawberry at Rolin Farms - Image: Rolin Farms FB
are the closest strawberry farm to Brisbane and can be found just north of Caboolture, next to the Bruce Highway. PYO is available at Rolin Farms from mid-June through to October. The other must-see attraction is the largest strawberry in Queensland,
yes-sirree, Rolin Farms has the boasting rights to that too … the most humungous strawberry north of Brisbane, just begging for a selfie or three.
Rolin Farms' exotic orchids - Image: Rolin Farms FB
Besides strawberries,
Rolin Farms specialise in
exotic orchids. Viewing of the orchid nursery is strictly on an appointment only basis but visitors can purchase orchids from the fabulous selection of flowering orchids, displayed in Rolin Farms' shop.
🍓 4.Chambers Flat Strawberry Farm
912 Chambers Flat Road, Chambers Flat, QLD | (07) 5546-3652
Hours: PYO August, September and October🍓
PYO strawberries is a fun, family activity - Image: Chambers Flat Strawberry Farm FB
Just forty minutes south of Brisbane, strawberry lovers will find
Chambers Flat Strawberry Farm. From June to November, Chambers Flat Strawberry Farm is open with farm fresh strawberries and strawberry ice cream to purchase. Pick your own strawberries is available in August, September and October. The time is ripe for strawberry picking with some of the yummiest, sweetest strawberries to be found in QLD.
🍓 5.Tinaberries
15 Zinks Road, Bundaberg, QLD | (07) 4159-3001
Hours: Strawberry season: June to October 7 days a week 9.00am to 5.30pm | PYO in September only🍓
Get a real taste of fresh fruit production in the Bundaberg region - Image: Tinaberries FB
is a fabulous, fun farm experience located between Bundaberg and the spectacular coral coast. At Tinaberries visitors can buy lush, sweet strawberries during the winter strawberry production season or alternatively PYO during the spring month of September. Divinely delicious real fruit ice cream can be purchased all year round.
Tinaberries is a family-run farm and guests are warmly welcomed to get a real taste of fresh fruit production in the Bundaberg region. Please remember PYO is only in September.
🍓 6.Ashbern Farms
2 West Road, Stanthorpe, QLD (off New England Highway) | (07) 4681-0124
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 9.00am to 4.30pm | Closed public holidays🍓
Red Rhapsody strawberries at Ashbern Farms - Image: Ashbern Farms FB
This is
straw-some!
Ashbern Farms grow organic summer strawberries in Queensland's coldest town, Stanthorpe. So, when all the other strawberry farms have been depleted for the PYO season, Ashbern is the farm to bookmark for a visit between October and May, to pick your own berries from the patches and to taste the freshness of strawberry growing in a colder region.
Locals and tourists are all welcome at Ashbern Farm! Image: Ashbern Farm FB
Just five minutes from Stanthorpe, locals and tourists are all welcome to visit
Ashbern Farms, whether it's to PYO or to purchase freshly pre-packed strawberries from the farm shop. Ashbern Farms Stanthorpe offers a fabulous variety of yummy treats, including homemade ice cream, scones, waffles, pavlova, chocolate-dipped strawberries, strawberry parfait, milkshakes, smoothies and even coffees.
🍓 7.Cooloola Berries
856 Tagigan Road, Wolvi, Gympie, QLD | (07) 5486-7512 or mobile 0400 331 216
Hours: Open 7 days | 8.00am to 5.00pm all year🍓
Experience a true farmgate to plate when visiting the award winning agri-tourism family-owned farm, Cooloola Berries in Gympie. The world of berry farming at Cooloola Berries spans three generations, offering visitors an all year round sunshine adventure.
Farmgate to plate! Image: Cooloola Berries FB
Strawberry picking is available every year between June to November and blueberry picking is available from December to January.
The
Cooloola Berries Cafe offers everything delectable to eat, from a hearty farmer's breakfast to lighter meals, including burgers, hot chips with aioli, pancakes, waffles, cakes, tarts, scones with jam and cream, tea and coffee, milkshakes, iced coffee as well as other cold beverages.
See the menu here.
Temptation platters! Image: Cooloola Berries FB
For sharing, nothing quite beats a platter of local cheese; a ploughman's plate or a temptation of chocolate tapas and melted chocolate with fresh fruit and goodies for dipping.
Cooloola Berries have their very own licensed bar area serving up icy cold beers and wine, plus their very own not-to-be-missed strawberry and blueberry cider.
Not-to-be-missed Cooloola Berries' cider - Image: Cooloola Berries FB
Every Sunday, Cooloola Berries hosts
Paella in the Park, where guests are spoilt with yummy foods, live entertainment and a fabulously laid-back ambience. It literally is your 'one-stop' for fantastic outdoor family fun!
In addition, Cooloola Berries offer an enticing venue for a country wedding, providing a unique backdrop of paddocks, gardens, fields and woodlands, for an intimate party or reception, comfortably seating up to 80 guests.
Blueberry picking is available from December to January ... Image: Cooloola Berries FB
This is what
Matt Golinski, Chef and Regional Food Ambassador has to say about the Cooloola Berries farm:
'Hundreds of people flock to the farm each week to drink strawberry cider, eat strawberry inspired desserts and ice-creams, and just enjoy relaxing in a beautiful setting. Cooloola Berries is en route to Rainbow Beach and Tin Can Bay so it's a great place to stop in for a bite if your heading out for a day trip that way.'
🍓 8.SSS Strawberries
11 Rosedale Road, Oakwood, North Bundaberg, QLD | (07) 5641-2209
Hours: 7 days a week from 7.00am to 5.00pm, weekends and holidays included🍓
Seven Successful Siblings or Sweet Strawberry Season - Image: SSS Strawberries FB
or
Sweet Strawberry Season, take your pick as to what the SSS acronym refers to. The Dang family are celebrating more than ten years in the strawberry farm business, having built their business up, initially starting with seven siblings and 200,000 strawberry plants, to now employing one hundred staff and 2.2 million plants!
PYO commences at
SSS Strawberries from August to the end of November and also during the July school holidays. So, if you're planning a trip to Bundaberg, make sure you pop in to
SSS Strawberries for a family fun day out, picking your own berries - no advance booking required.
Please note any pickers over the age of six is required to purchase a punnet in order to enter the strawberry patches; children age five and under need to be accompanied by an adult.
So much nutritional goodness! Image: QLD Strawberries FB
An excellent source of vitamin C
An excellent source of folate
Low in energy with only 165kj (40 calories) per 150grams
Keep your heart happy and your immune system fighting fit … together with a dose of Vitamin D sunshine … and we have all the
straw-some ingredients for healthy, wholesome, outdoor fun at
Queensland's best PYO strawberry farms.
