Thursday, September 4, 2014

Charleton Fruit Farm, Montrose, Scotland

During our trip to Scotland last month, I managed to find a few Pick-Your-Own fruit farms near Aberdeen. We took a leisurely drive (about 50 minutes) to Charleton Fruit Farm at Montrose. It was raining when we left, but we kept our fingers crossed and luckily for us, when we arrived at the farm, it stopped raining and we were greeted with fine weather albeit a little muddy (but that's what wellies are for).


Brambles... beautiful sight!

Passed by Stonehaven to get to Montrose


Upon arrival, we headed to the shop to get baskets/containers and the staff kindly pointed out the zones where we can pick fruits from. They have a wide range of fruits available here, including strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, brambles, gooseberries, currants, plums and apples. We have picked strawberries before in KL but not any of the other fruits, so the kids were super excited!

We first arrived at the plots with blueberry plants; blueberries are Baby D's favorite fruit. It was definitely a wonderful experience for our kids getting to see/touch a blueberry plant and picking fruits from it :) You could see them beaming with smiles.


Blueberry plant


Picking his first blueberry...


The strawberries are grown under a tunnel. Initially we were told that there were no strawberries available for picking, but we were so happy when we saw loads of plump juicy ones ready for picking. Before long, the kids have already filled a whole container, so it was time to move on to the next plot.


Daddy telling kids- pick the red and juicy ones :)


Strawberry flower




I got a box full of strawberries! Looking mighty pleased with himself

Scotland is known to grow some of the best raspberries in the world (we always buy loads from the supermarket) so we definitely must pick some here to bring home with us. Raspberries are really fun to pick, you have to slip them off the central white seed. And lovely to eat too!



Chloe picking raspberries 


There were apples too, but we didn't pick any - just taking photos! :)



As well as plums


Ooooo and lots and lots of bramble (aka blackberry)- one of my favorites! Very prickly so be careful when you pick them. I think they look so pretty.


Blackberry flower


The red ones are really really tart... u got to pick the black ripe ones.





Once you have finished picking your fruits, simply bring them back to the shop to be weighed. They're really reasonably priced - blueberries £4.00/kg, brambles & raspberries £3.30/kg and strawberries £3.00/kg. I think we paid less than £3 for all the fruits that we picked (almost 600g of strawberries). I was also impressed that the fruits kept really well, we had them in the fridge for about a week and they were still super fresh. Most importantly, we had a really wonderful time picking the fruits.


There is a large play area for kids and a super huge sand pit, unfortunately most of the toys/slides were wet due to the rainfall earlier so we didn't get to play much.



HUGE trampoline


Instead we went to the coffee shop and had hot chocolates to warm ourselves up. The kids shared a bacon butty while we had the warm asparagus soup with roll as well as a big breakfast. :)


Yummy hot chocolate


Cosy coffee shop with friendly staff


Big breakfast


Asparagus soup

They also have ready-picked fruits and vegetables (marrow, courgettes) as well as their famous strawberry tarts for sale in the shop.






Verdict: A great place for a fun family day out! :) Highly recommended.


Opening times: According to their website, fruit picking is available from March to December. March 24th - June: 10am - 4pm; July - August: 9am - 5pm; September/October/December: 10am - 4.30pm.

Price: Total bill at coffee shop £18.00.

Location: Charleton Fruit Farm, Hillside, Montrose, Angus, DD10 9EW (1 Mile North of Montrose on the A92).

Tel : +44 (0)1674 830226

Website: http://www.charleton-farm.co.uk/

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6 comments:

  1. Lovely place! I'm practically drooling over the berries, apples and plums!

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  2. That took my breath away - your second pic.

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  3. baby d looks like he's having a very swell time reaching out for the strawberries high up and getting a full box of berries! nicely done! and baby c definitely was enjoying the trampoline and hot choc too :D

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  4. Wow! I love all those berries. Hope I can go there someday :)

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  5. I loves berries, the berries here is much cheaper and fresher. :)

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