Outdoor Wednesdays-Swanton Berry Farm

My family has come to love visiting a farm on Pacific Coast Highway 1 near Davenport and look forward to visiting each year we are in California. Swanton Berry Farm is located an hour and a half south of San Francisco and about 20 minutes north of Santa Cruz along one of the most beautiful scenic highways in America.

This year we are greeted by a giant strawberry in the bed of an old vintage pickup truck.

We discovered this wonderful eclectic place about 3 years ago as we were headed to Carmel during a family vacation. We spotted roadside signs that alerted us to homemade strawberry shortcake "just ahead"...now how could we resist stopping- especially with three grown (always hungry) sons in the car!

Entering through a squeaky red screen door you are greeted with old timey rhythm and blues music playing on the sound system and the most beautiful organic strawberries you've ever seen. We felt like we had entered into a time warp taking us back to a wonderful era of family farms and the wonderfulness and pride of homemade fresh and homegrown goods. I remember the farms in Alabama I was blessed to visit as child and this farms evokes great childhood memories.

You can even pick your own strawberries when in season, just follow their instructions written on the easel inside the doorway.

They make the greatest strawberry jam I've ever tasted and also have many other varieties of jams and jellies which are all organic and made right there...but our favorite is the strawberry.

This year we were a little worried about our precious farm as the Bonny Doon fires were in the nearby mountains. I even called before leaving Oklahoma on vacation to check on the farm to make sure all was well. They had a recording on the telephone reassuring they were fine and open for business. When we arrived we noticed the map of the locations the fires had been only a few weeks before...too close for comfort..but all fires were out by the time we arrived. Thank goodness for courageous firefighters!

Swanton makes the most delicious strawberry chocolate truffles I've ever tasted and of course they have chocolate covered strawberries and shortcake to die for!

We sat at the brightly colored picnic tables indoors next to the very eclectic lounge area complete with games, etch-a-sketches and interesting pictures with historical information about the area.

I love the vintage strawberry tablecloths they have mounted as art and hung in the rafters in the ceiling! Such a fun and whimsy touch!

Games are sitting out on each table and I love the bright blue color and hand painted strawberries on the corners of each picnic table.

Here is one side of the lounge where you can just hang out and relax while eating your delectable treats.

The opposite side of the room has another lounge area with big comfy couches.

This trip we even found out they have wi-fi...surprising to my three sons who then deemed this as the perfect stop on the way to Santa Cruz! Starbucks has nothing on this place!

A crowd had gathered as we prepared to leave.

The most unbelievable and sweetest fact about Swanton Berry Farm is they have the "Famous Honor Till". This is a working farm and the counter is mostly unattended and you have to add up your purchases and leave your money in the cash register drawer...even have to make your own change! There is a calculator and scratch paper available to figure up your purchase totals. How wonderful and refreshing in this day and age...counting on the honesty, integrity and of their customers! Once again something my sons had never seen!

Don't you just love it!

Here is my hubbie figuring up our grand total. We always leave with full bellies, smiling faces and arms full of jellies and whatever else we can carry.

A row of happy sunflowers outside near the parking lot makes me smile as we load up to leave for another year...




and the view across the street is stunning! If you are ever in the area, don't miss this delightful and wonderful place. It's the best -I promise! A stop at the Swanton Berry Farm has become a funky, fun family tradition for us.

Make sure you visit Susan at a Southern Daydreamer and all the wonderful outdoor posts this week! Have a wonderful Outdoor Wednesday.