With the sun shining and summer finally reaching us it’s a great time to go strawberry picking in Essex. Although we’ve recently moved away from the area we’ve had some great times strawberry picking in Essex and there are probably more PYO farms than where we live now! We’ve visited a few of the ones below but the others are recommendations or fruit farms on our to-do list and frankly they all sound fantastic.
Strawberry Picking In Essex
Hilltop Farm Benfleet
This small farm in Benfleet normally runs out of strawberries quickly but it’s a great place to visit and there are loads of other PYO fruits there. You can read our review here of it as the closest place for strawberry picking in Southend.
Lathcoates Farm, Chelmsford
I haven’t been to this farm myself but I’ve been informed by friends that it’s one of the best places for strawberry picking in Essex with a farmshop and coffee house too. Lathcoates is good for other fruit picking in Essex too as in season they also have raspberries, cherries and gooseberries amongst others. Like other PYO farms the season for visiting starts around mid-June and lasts until the end of July with some fruit lasting until the end of August but it’s always best to check with each farm before you visit to make sure they still have some fruit there.
West Hyde
We visited a PYO strawberries place in St Laurence purely by chance after driving past it and after a bit of digging I think this is the place! It’s located just outside St Laurence and my kids had the best time, it was super chilled out and obviously very popular with locals, a bit of a hidden gem.
Spencers Farm Shop
Spencers Farm Shop in Wickham St Pauls has loads of PYO fruit so it’s perfect if you want to try out some other fruits as well as doing some strawberry picking. You can also pick your own vegetables including asparagus, courgettes and runner beans so it’s a great way to get kids interested in eating more veg too! As the name suggests there’s a farm shop too as well as camping and a rather lovely looking farm shop.
Have you been strawberry picking in Essex? What places would you recommend to go?
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