With the start of the Fall season, our family decided to check out the first day of the Fall Festival at Southern Hill Farms, about a 15 minute drive from our house in mid-Horizon West. Located on Schofield Rd in Lake County, Southern Hill Farms is very close to everyone in Horizon West. The Southern Hill Farm is locally family owned and well-known for their u-pick blueberry and peach events during the spring.
We greatly enjoyed the festival with our family, and it was finely nice to spend some time outdoors in Florida. While it was still hot on the day of our visit, the numerous open-air barns provided plenty of shade to take comfort in. We spent about two hours at the event, we enjoyed lunch with Bauer-BQ and purchased some blueberry lemonade. Both were amazing and very delicious. The staff at the event were all very friendly, and we appreciated the event accepting both cash and credit card everywhere.
Fall Festival Information
The Fall Festival features a variety of activities for families, including a Pumpkin Barn, Playground, Food Trucks, Kids Zone with inflatable’s and activities, Beer Shed, and more. While the event is geared towards families, everyone of all ages would enjoy it. The Farm recently added TVs to one of their barns and broadcasts football games during the event. Admission to the event is $10 per car, so load the family up into one car.
Location
This is IMPORTANT. Southern Hill Farm is located in Lake County where Schofield Road is an unpaved, clay road. While it is only about 2 miles on this road, it is extremely bumpy and going more than 10mph is difficult. Caution and preparation should be done for anyone who may have difficulty with this. Parking is in a large grass field and parking attendants were working to organize cars.
Pumpkin Patch
While not a true “pumpkin patch” as pumpkins are not grown at Southern Hill Farms, the Pumpkin Patch was a great place to look at a large variety of pumpkins and pick one out for decoration or carving. These pumpkins were transported from other farms in the United States to Southern Hill. Small mini pumpkins were $1, and large carving pumpkins were $14, with other varieties and sizes within that price range.
Additional tickets are required for the attractions in the Kids Zone. Tickets are $1 each or unlimited wristband for $15. Most attractions are either 2 or 4 tickets, so the unlimited wristband is the best value. Attractions available are Bounce Houses, Double Lane Slide, Face Painting, Family Swing, Petting Zoo, and Rock Wall.
On the day we visited, there were a lot of different food options available. In addition to Southern Hill Farms eateries, Twisted Places, Bauer-BQ, Peru Power, and Willy Ts Crab Shack were open during the event. Prices at the food trucks were very reasonable. We enjoyed a Pork Plate from Bauer-BQ for $9 and bottled water for $1. The prices overall were very reasonable for being a festival, and photos of menus are shown below.
Restrooms
Southern Hill Farms offers permanent, air conditioned restrooms within the event area. Around lunchtime on the first day of the event, there was a short line for the women’s restroom, but everything always seemed well maintained and clean. Important Note: Other nearby events do not have permanent restrooms and only offer port-a-potties.
The Fall Festival at Southern Hill Farms is open weekends in October 2018 from 11am to 8pm. More information on the festival can be found at https://southernhillfarms.com. Details on upcoming event days can be found at https://www.facebook.com/pg/southernhillfarms/events.
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