Follow This Timed Parent Itinerary for 8 Farm Day Trips from Toronto
Follow This Timed Parent Itinerary for 8 Farm Day Trips from Toronto
The best farm day trips from Toronto fall into three types: pick your own orchards, animal and play farms, and festival style farms with seasonal events. For fruit picking, Downey’s Strawberry & Apple Farm and Albion Orchards are 45 to 60 minutes out. For animals and play, Chudleigh’s Farm and Riverdale Farm both work: one 40 minutes away, one inside the city. For a fall festival feel, Springridge Farm delivers in about an hour.
TL;DR:
- Many farms offer similar drive times of around 45 minutes from Toronto, with Albion Orchards, Dixie Orchards, and Downey’s all within that range.
- Seasonal harvest windows vary, with strawberries from late June to early July and apples from late August through October, requiring last-minute farm checks.
- Farm activities differ: some farms focus on picking and markets, while others offer extensive play areas and seasonal events, so match choices to your family’s interests.
- Prepare for muddy fields and uneven terrain with boots and Strollers with large wheels, as many farm trails are dirt or grass paths.
- Call or check social media before visiting to confirm crop availability and avoid busy times, especially when lots fill up by 11 a.m. on weekends.
Table of Contents
- Best farm day trips from Toronto: 8 family-friendly picks
- How to pick the right farm for your family
- A complete timed day plan from Richmond Hill
- Seasonal windows and how to check picking conditions
- Practical visit tips: parking, stroller notes and safety
- How a live day planner keeps your farm trip on track
- What a fall Saturday at Springridge actually taught me
- Turn this plan into a live itinerary
- Sources
- FAQ
Best farm day trips from Toronto: 8 family-friendly picks
Every farm on this list gets picked for a reason: short drive, real activities for kids, and no surprise closures on a Tuesday in October. Below are the practical facts you need before you load the car, not marketing copy about “unforgettable” fields.
Riverdale Farm
This one is inside Toronto, at 201 Winchester Street in Cabbagetown. No highway driving required, no drive time to calculate. It is free to enter, open year round, and the trail is flat gravel and paved paths, so a stroller rolls through with no trouble. There is no picking here. It is a working city farm with barns, chickens, sheep, and a pond loop that takes about 40 minutes at toddler pace. Parking is street parking only, which fills up fast on weekends, so transit or a nearby lot is the smarter call. Washrooms are on site near the barns.
Pro Tip: Riverdale Farm has no picking and no big market, so treat it as a short morning stop before or after something bigger, not the whole day.
Chudleigh’s Farm
Located in Milton, roughly 45 minutes from downtown Toronto and closer to 35 minutes from Richmond Hill. Chudleigh’s runs apple picking from September through October and adds a play area, mini golf, and a bakery famous for apple blossom pastries. The lot is gravel and can turn soft after rain, so stroller wheels do better on the paved sections near the market. Admission to the grounds is free, but activities like the maze and play zone are pay per person. Washrooms are on site. Arrive before 10:00 a.m. on weekends; the parking lot can fill by mid morning during peak apple season.
Springridge Farm
In Milton as well, about 50 minutes from downtown and 40 from Richmond Hill. Springridge leans into the fall festival feel with a corn maze, wagon rides, a bakery, and photo-worthy pumpkin displays from mid-September through Thanksgiving weekend. Trails are packed dirt and gravel, manageable with a jogging stroller but bumpy with a standard one. Admission covers grounds access; individual activities like the maze cost extra per person. Parking is a large gravel lot that handles crowds reasonably well, but Saturdays after 11:00 a.m. get tight.
Downey’s Strawberry & Apple Farm
At 13682 Heart Lake Road in Caledon, about 50 minutes from downtown Toronto. Downey’s runs strawberry picking in June and apple picking from late August through October, and the farm lists more than 40 on-site activities including wagon rides, a bakery, and a large market building. The market floor is flat and stroller friendly; the picking fields themselves are dirt rows that get muddy after rain, so bring boots. Washrooms are inside the market. Pricing is pay per pound for produce plus separate tickets for extras like the corn maze.
Albion Orchards
In Caledon, about 50 minutes from downtown and 40 from Richmond Hill. Albion is a straightforward pick your own apple operation with clear pricing: 10 pound bags run around the usual seasonal price, and busy weekend dates can add a small per-person admission fee on top. The orchard rows are grass and dirt, uneven enough that a stroller works better left at the wagon stop than pushed through the trees. Bring cash as a backup; card readers at farm stands can lag on a busy Saturday. Open through the fall apple season.
Dixie Orchards
Located in Mississauga, which the farm itself describes as a bit over 50 kilometres from downtown Toronto, putting the real drive time around 45 minutes depending on traffic. Dixie offers pick your own apples and pumpkins, a corn maze, and a porch market with baked goods. It is one of the closer full pick your own experiences to the west end of the city, which matters if you are starting from Mississauga or the airport corridor rather than downtown. Parking is gravel and free.
Forsythe Family Farms
In Uxbridge, about an hour from downtown Toronto and closer to 45 minutes from Richmond Hill, making it the better pick if you are starting from the north end of the GTA. Forsythe combines pick your own fields with a Farm’n’Fun area, where a single admission covers a playground, trails, farm animals, and weekend wagon rides. The farm’s own advice is worth repeating here: crop availability shifts fast, so call before you drive out, especially late in a picking season.
Clovermead Adventure Farm
Near Lambton Shores, further out than the others on this list, at roughly two hours from downtown Toronto. It is not a quick day trip, but it earns a spot for families willing to make a full day of it, since it combines a bee and honey education centre with animal encounters and play structures rarely found closer to the city. Treat this one as a weekend getaway option rather than a Tuesday-after-school stop.
How to pick the right farm for your family
Match the farm to your actual constraints before you match it to the prettiest Instagram photo.
- Check your kids’ ages first. Toddlers do best at flat, short-loop farms like Riverdale Farm or the market building at Downey’s. Kids six and up handle uneven orchard rows and corn mazes without much fuss.
- Decide picking versus playing. If your goal is a bag of apples for Sunday baking, go straight to a pick your own operation like Albion Orchards or Dixie Orchards. If your goal is tiring out the kids, pick a farm with a dedicated play area like Chudleigh’s or Forsythe.
- Match drive time to nap schedules. Anything over 45 minutes each way eats into the day fast with a toddler who naps at 1:00 p.m.
- Confirm food options. Some farms have full bakeries and markets; others expect you to bring your own lunch.
- Check washroom locations before you commit to a full loop. Not every farm has facilities near the back fields.
Before you leave the driveway, check three things: crop availability for that week, whether the lot has filled based on the farm’s social media that morning, and what time the farm expects its busiest rush. A red flag worth avoiding: any farm with no phone number or website update in the current season listed. That usually means picking conditions are unpredictable and nobody has posted about it.
A complete timed day plan from Richmond Hill
This is one full day, timed, that you can follow without opening another tab.
7:45 a.m. Leave Richmond Hill. Highway 404 south to Highway 401 west, then north on Highway 407 toward Milton. Expect 45 to 55 minutes depending on the merge onto the 401.
8:40 a.m. Arrive at Chudleigh’s Farm in Milton. Parking lot is gravel, still empty at this hour. Grab pastries at the bakery for breakfast and let the kids hit the play area before it gets busy. Budget 90 minutes.
10:15 a.m. Drive 12 minutes to Springridge Farm, also in Milton. Park in the main gravel lot, still manageable before 11:00 a.m. Do the corn maze and wagon ride, then let the kids run the pumpkin patch for photos. Budget two hours.
12:30 p.m. Eat lunch at the Springridge bakery counter or pack a picnic at the farm’s outdoor tables, since both farms are close enough together that backtracking for food elsewhere wastes time.
1:15 p.m. Drive 20 minutes to Downey’s Strawberry & Apple Farm in Caledon for apple picking in the market’s dirt rows. Bring boots; the ground gets soft after any rain in the past 24 hours. Budget 90 minutes for picking plus market browsing.
3:00 p.m. Head home. Expect 55 to 65 minutes back to Richmond Hill with typical Saturday traffic on the 401.
One honest caveat: Springridge’s main lot regularly fills by 11:00 a.m. on October Saturdays. If you hit a full lot, do not circle looking for a spot. Drive the extra five minutes to the overflow field, which the staff will point you toward, or flip the order and do Springridge first at 8:40 instead of Chudleigh’s.
Seasonal windows and how to check picking conditions
Ontario’s picking calendar runs on a predictable rhythm, but the exact week shifts every year with the weather. Strawberries run late June into early July. Apples run from late August through October, with peak variety selection in September. Pumpkins and corn mazes take over from mid September through Thanksgiving weekend in October.
None of that is fixed to the calendar date. A cold spring pushes strawberries back a week; a dry September can mean apples get picked out early at a small orchard. That is why pick your own guidance consistently advises calling the farm or checking its website the morning of your visit, since conditions can change overnight with weather or how many people picked the day before.
Pack for the season, not just the forecast:
- Layers, since farm mornings run cooler than the drive suggests
- Closed-toe boots for muddy orchard rows
- Sunscreen even in October, especially in open pumpkin fields
- Hand wipes or sanitizer for after animal contact and before snacks
- Small bills and coins, since some farm stands run cash only during peak season
Practical visit tips: parking, stroller notes and safety
Most farm trails are gravel, dirt, or grass, not pavement, so a standard stroller struggles past the market building at nearly every farm on this list. A jogging stroller with bigger wheels handles the rows far better.
Arrive before 10:00 a.m. on weekends. Every farm on this list gets noticeably busier after 11:00 a.m. in peak season, and lots that felt spacious at 9:00 fill by noon. Bring a mix of cash and card since farm stands vary on what they accept, and card readers sometimes lag when a line forms.
If your visit includes animal barns, wash hands immediately after contact and before eating, a basic but easy to skip step with excited kids. Check with staff about any nut or allergen content in bakery items before letting kids sample.
Pro Tip: *Screenshot this list before you leave: boots, wipes, cash, sunscreen, layers.
How a live day planner keeps your farm trip on track
Weather changes fast in fall, and a farm that looked perfect on Tuesday can be a mud pit by Saturday. The DayHop planner adjusts your day plan around weather and lets you filter for family-friendly stops, so you are not rebuilding your itinerary from scratch if rain moves your picking window. For more seasonal ideas, DayHop’s guide to apple picking near Toronto and its roundup of corn mazes and pumpkin patches near Toronto both pair well with the itinerary above, written by Mugendi.
What a fall Saturday at Springridge actually taught me
Most farm guides make every stop sound equally charming. It is not true. Springridge’s corn maze is worth the drive; its pumpkin patch on a packed Saturday afternoon is mostly a photo line. The one thing worth repeating: that main lot fills by 11:00 a.m. in October, and the fix is simple. Go early, or go to the overflow field without hesitation.
— Mugendi
Turn this plan into a live itinerary
You have the timed plan above. What you do not have is a way to adjust it when the Springridge lot is full or the Saturday forecast turns to rain halfway through your drive. That is the gap DayHop closes: instead of a static list of farms, DayHop builds your day around real-time weather and lets you swap a stop with one tap if plans change on the road.
If you are planning from Richmond Hill specifically, the Richmond Hill Nature Guide is a $20 one-off guide built around local drive times and logistics like the ones in this article. For broader planning, DayHop Pro runs $5 a month and adds multi-day planning and more saved itineraries. Start building your own version of this farm day plan at Dayhop and get a day plan that adjusts the morning of your trip, not the week before.
Sources
- PickYourOwn harvest calendar and guidance
- Albion Orchards — apple picking page
- Downey’s Strawberry & Apple Farm — official site
- Dixie Orchards — official site
FAQ
What are some good day-trip destinations from Toronto?
Farm day trips work well for families because they combine short drives, usually 30 to 60 minutes, with hands-on activities like picking and animal barns. Beyond farms, small towns like Elora, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Port Perry round out a broader list of day trips from Toronto.
What are some good farms to visit in Ontario?
Riverdale Farm, Chudleigh’s Farm, Springridge Farm, Downey’s Strawberry & Apple Farm, Albion Orchards, Dixie Orchards, Forsythe Family Farms, and Clovermead Adventure Farm each cover a different need, from free city farms to full pick your own orchards.
What are some fun farms outside of Toronto?
Chudleigh’s Farm and Springridge Farm in Milton, both about 45 to 55 minutes from downtown, combine play areas with seasonal picking and are among the most reliable picks for a fun, active day out.
What are six beautiful small towns near Toronto?
Elora, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Port Perry, Unionville, Kleinburg, and Creemore all sit within a two-hour drive and pair naturally with a farm stop on the way, similar to the fall festival stops covered in DayHop’s guide to fall fairs near Toronto.
Do I need to book farm visits in advance?
Most pick your own farms operate first-come, first-served with no booking required, but calling ahead to confirm crop availability the morning of your visit avoids a wasted drive.
Is DayHop free to use for planning a farm trip?
DayHop’s core planning tools are free to use, with a $5 per month Pro plan for multi-day planning and additional saved itineraries.
Recommended
Plan my day →