Hill Ridge Farms: Big Entertainment in a Small Town

Smack in the middle of pretty much nowhere, a mile or so from tiny Youngsville, NC you can find a gem of a family entertainment facility:  Hill Ridge Farms.  All through the year the farm is a place to find farm animals, antiques, old-fashioned toys and a country store that sells foods that take parents and grandparents down memory lane. There’s even an onsite food vendor, The Chuck Wagon Grill.

For family visits, Hill Ridge Farms also has a picnic ground, panning for gems, and antique farm equipment on display.  They even advertise that families can book birthday parties on the farm

Hill Ridge Farms is also a great place for school field trips.  They provide several play areas, including train and hayrides, a maze and other playground pieces for kids to play in and on, a giant slide and educational exhibits.

Each year in October, Hill Ridge Farms goes all out and celebrates the onset of fall with its Fall Harvest and Pumpkin Festival.  This is a major event attended by hundreds of visitors.  The cost varies depending on what you want to do, but for only $10.00 per person, a family can have a daylong adventure full of fun and education. If you take a hayride, your family can get a free pumpkin from the beautiful, huge pumpkin patch right there on the grounds.

I attended the 2010 Fall Harvest and Pumpkin festival October 2 and was awed by the crowd, the exhibits, the play areas, and the assorted food vendors. The event was fully staffed, which made parking and movement from one event to another very easy. The festival celebrates fall by showcasing and selling fall mums, and it celebrates pumpkins by giving them away. Hill Ridge Farms seems a magnificent find, worth the admission fee regardless of when you visit.

To get to Hill Ridge Farms, travel from Raleigh via US 1N to a right onto Holden Rd at the Youngsville exit.  Travel 4 miles. The farm will be on the left.