Category Archives: PYO

The sunflowers are growing well…

Despite the lack of rain … The sunflowers are growing well here on the farm – the downpours seem to have missed us although we’ve had our fair share of thunder and lightning! We have planted the sunflowers in a different field this year and they appear to love it! We expect them to be ready to pick at the beginning of August so watch this space! When can you book your ticket? Sign up to our PYO Papers Newsletter to find out as soon as the sunflowers are ready to be picked We’ll also keep you updated on all the fun filled activities we have planned!

Sunflower planting completed ✔️

We planted our sunflower patch yesterday All we can do now is hope the British weather is kind and we have a good growing season… all being well they should be ready to pick in early August. We love sunflower time! They are just so cheerful- sunset sunflowers is especially magical so keep an eye out for these sessions… sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know!

A fantastic opening weekend!

We had a great Easter weekend at the daffodils! Thank you to all those who visited us. We had visitors from far and wide – Coventry, Oxford, Birmingham to name a few! And they all had a wonderful time – our coffee van was up and running; we had forest school on the Saturday as well as block printing workshops. The sun shone and happy children went home muddy & soggy after having lots of fun in our stream! And we’re all set for another weekend doing the same… Open this weekend 10-1pm Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th. We also have a “Sunset Daffodils” session on Saturday 6-8pm. See you there!

It’s PYO Daffodil time!

Our Pick Your Own Daffodils opens on Good Friday 7th April 2023 After a very wet start Spring is on it’s way! Our daffodil patch is looking glorious and we can’t wait to share it with our visitors! We will be open over the Easter weekend and at specific times/dates throughout April. Entry tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite (see Book Now link on our homepage) There is a 10 minute walk to our daffodil patch – it is off the beaten track but that is part of it’s magic as it is the most beautiful sight when you arrive at the field and see the sea of yellow before you! There is a stream below the daffodil patch – care must be taken with young children. Picnics at the daffodils are welcome – but please take your rubbish home. Dogs on leads are also welcome. For any questions please check out our FAQ’s page. We can’t wait to greet our visitors and get our daffodil 2023 season underway!

Our Daffodil Varieties

We planted 7 different varieties of daffodil for visitors to come and pick – they all flower at different times starting in mid-March and carrying on right up until the end of April. There are usually 3 different varieties open at the same time which means there is always a lovely display of blooms. The daffodils are in rows and each row contains a mix of varieties. The most spectacular appear in mid-April and these are the multi-headed types such as Sir Winston Churchill and Primrose Beauty. Their scent is incredible.

How many daffodil bulbs did we plant?

Answer : 28,000!!! Did we plant them all by hand? Answer: Absolutely not!!! We hired a bulb planter which we attached to the back of the tractor. This had a hopper for the bulbs and as the tractor drove along the bulb planter cut a slit in the ground and a conveyor belt fed the bulbs into the trench. It was a team effort – my husband drove the tractor, my father-in-law filled the hopper and kept prodding the bulbs with a stick to keep them moving so that the hopper didn’t get jammed, and I walked along behind, kicking the turf back into place. It was tiring work particularly on the legs! It is heavy clay soil on our farm which is not the easiest to work with.

How it all began

How it all began! In September 2020 we planted our Pick Your Own daffodil patch. We chose a secluded meadow on our farm – the reason being that we needed a quiet corner of the farm where we could plant the bulbs and let them naturalise. A crop field would not do. It needed to be permanent pasture. Our sheep graze the area until the daffodils start to appear in the spring. The daffodil patch is a 10 minute walk along a grass track from the car parking field. At first we worried that this was too far to expect visitors to walk to the PYO but the feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive and the general consensus is that the beautiful scenic walk adds to the daffodil experience.