Fall is officially here and we are making the most of it!  My family has visited our first Pumpkin Patch/Fall Festival of the year and it was a great start!  We visited Barton Hill Farms this weekend and we got to ride a hayride, bounce on a large bounce pad, ride a bee train, and that was just the first part of our day.  Barton Hill Farms is in Bastrop, TX, right next to the Colorado River.  This is the first time we have visited a Pumpkin Patch where it was one entry fee to participate in all of the activities (well almost all of them) and I have to say I really liked it that way.  The Fall Festival is open Saturdays and Sundays (and Columbus Day) from September 25th-November 7th and you must reserve tickets online at https://bartonhillfarms.com/austin-pumpkin-patch/.  We went on opening day and reserved the first time slot at 10 a.m. and I am glad we started off early because it got hot and busy quickly.  However, there were plenty of shaded spots to sit and relax to get out of the sun as well as many places to purchase cold drinks such as frozen lemonade, sweet tea, and water.

Being that it was the first day, I did not think it would be super busy, but I noticed there were already many cars pulling into the parking lot when we arrived just before our 10 a.m. entrance time.  The event never felt overcrowded, but I can imagine as we get closer to the end of October the crowds will pick up.  One of the first things I noticed was that the activities were nice and spread out so it never felt like there were a ton of people around us.  Being that we are still in a COVID world I appreciate events that don’t make you feel like people are on top of you.  Right when we walked in my eight year old son noticed the two Texas Jumbo Jumping Pillows and ran right for them.  My two year old seemed very interested as well, but when we walked up they informed us that kids must be 3 and older to jump on the bounce pad for safety reasons. He was a bit upset, but the nice lady working at the farm had a backup plan ready for us.  She suggested we try out the bee train and even radioed over there to make sure they were ready for us so off we went.  Since our kids are 6 years apart this happens often where my husband and I each take one kid and we let them do a few activities on their own and then we meet up later for some joint family events.  The Bee Train Ride was a big hit for our two year old.  This was his first solo ride experience and he was smiling the entire time and saying “choo choo”.  The “bees” are in rows of two so I was able to sit in the bee right next to him just in case mid ride he decided he was no longer a happy camper.  The train goes through a field and lasts about seven minutes so it is a perfect ride for a little one.  If you have a baby or a child who cannot (or maybe does not want to) sit in their own “bee” then they can sit on your lap to enjoy the ride.

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After this we met up with a few friends and we all rode the Texas Hayride Trail which is a nice ten minute ride around to see some of their farm animals.  This is one of the reasons I like the one entry fee price instead of paying per ride.  If your kids really like one attraction you can ride it over and over again without paying for a ticket each time.  We definitely got our money’s worth on the Jumping Pillow because our eight year old and his friend bounced for at least 30 minutes throughout the day.  After we did the rides, we let the kids play on the many different slides and the play structure.  The slides are simple, but fun and let me tell you: they go fast.  I definitely felt it when I went down with my two year old on my lap and slid onto the ground.  The play structure was also really fun; it was built like a tree house and had a rock wall, four slides and a bouncy bridge.  We spent quite a bit of time sitting in the shade here enjoying a frozen lemonade and just letting the kids run around.  Something else that I really appreciated about this Fall Festival was there were multiple food and beverage options spread out throughout the farm.  They had a station for chicken fingers and fries, one for pizza, another for ice cream and many smaller stations for specialty drinks like frozen lemonade or sangria.  New this year they also had The Apfelwein & Biergarten for the 21 and up crowd.  Since we were there with our families we did not visit this time, but it looked like a fun spot and it overlooked the river which is neat.

Another reason I liked this Fall Festival was I felt like there was a lot for children, but also many activities that adults can enjoy as well.  As we all know when we go to events for our children, usually the activities are more geared for the little ones.  However, at Barton Hill Farms my husband and I got to do the corn maze, archery and shoot an apple cannon.  I always love archery and it was nice to be able to try it a few times without having to pay for a separate ticket each time.  Also, not to brag or anything, but I was able to get a few arrows pretty close to the center of the target so I was pretty proud of myself.  The apple cannon was also fun for our entire family.  As I mentioned earlier there are a few activities that have an extra fee and this was one of them.  It was $5 for 5 shots and $12 for 15 shots.  They give you a basket of apples and you load the machine and aim for the different targets.  Both my kids got a big laugh out of seeing the apples pretty much blast into a bunch of pieces when they hit a target.  The other activity that has a separate fee is face painting which we did not take part in, but it was definitely a popular spot based on the line.

On our way out we checked out the pumpkin patch and the flower picking area where you can purchase your pumpkins or pay to pick a vase of flowers.  We decided not to get our pumpkins yet because it is still a little early in the season, but they had a really cute setup of different pumpkins as well as many different photo opportunities. 

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We could have easily been entertained for an entire day at this festival because there was just so much to do.  A few important items to note are there were many port-a-potties available for restrooms as well as multiple hand washing stations around which I really appreciated.  They also have multiple places to purchase food and multiple shaded areas to eat.  I felt that the price for food was a little on the high side, however it was not totally unexpected and the portions were a good size. For example, we bought a personal cheese pizza for $9.99, but it was a descent size and fed both of our kids.  This was our first Pumpkin Patch/Festival of the season, and it is going to be a hard one to top.  Many families make a visit to Barton Hill Farms every fall and I have no doubt that we will be back next year.