"With the number of farms and the travel time between the East and West sides of the County, we suggest visiting between 3 to 4 farms."
That line comes from the FAQ for the Hanover Fields & Farms Tour. It's the most useful planning detail for the county's first tour, which runs Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The tour is free and self-guided. Most activities need no ticket or reservation, and any stop that does require one will say so on its schedule. Eleven farms are taking part. At three or four stops in five hours, you'll see roughly a third of the tour, so where you start matters.
If you start near Shady Grove Road, the closest stops are the working operations: field equipment, conservation practice, plant production and a community-supported farm market. Most of the animal visits that will fill photo feeds that weekend are farther north and west, in Montpelier, Beaverdam and Ashland. Either route makes a good Saturday. They just show you two different kinds of Hanover farming.
Eleven farms, two ends of the county
Here's where each stop is and what its tour-day profile promises.
| Stop | Location | What's on offer October 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Creamfield Farm | 10572 Summer Hill Rd., Mechanicsville | Farm equipment up close, precision-agriculture and conservation demos, the Kirby family |
| Hanover Market CSA | 8800 Whitewater Farm Rd., Mechanicsville | Vendors, farm equipment, hands-on education, crafts, fall activities, playground, 1 p.m. culinary demo |
| Woodside Farms of VA | 10455 Cedar Ln., Glen Allen | Market, gardens and orchard, sustainable-farming information, chef tasting in The Barn |
| Agriberry Farm | 6289 River Rd., Hanover | Berry field tours, paid raspberry picking, farm marketplace |
| Hanover Farms | 13262 Spring Rd., Rockville | Propagation, cutting fields, perennial and annual crops, commercial-scale plant production |
| Lewis Ginter Nature Reserve | Hanover County; no address given in the tour profile | Plant collection, native woodlands, a meadow, children's plant scavenger hunt |
| VCE Horticultural Learning Center | 13015 Taylor Complex Lane, Ashland | Demonstration gardens, arboretum tree walk, Master Gardeners, fall bulb sale |
| RMC Equestrian Center | 12214 Ashcake Rd., Ashland | Barn and horse visits, guided tours, pony rides, riding demonstration, food trucks |
| The Freckled Flower Farm | 18065 Mountain Rd., Montpelier | Paid pick-your-own bouquets, vendors, food trucks, farm animals |
| Thistledew Fold | 16464 Pleasant Mill Rd., Montpelier | Highland cattle, miniature donkeys, ducks and chickens, treat feeding, family photos |
| Meadowgate Alpacas | 16305 Coatesville Rd., Beaverdam | Alpacas, fiber and spinning demos, vendor tent, veterinarian Q&A |
Only two of the eleven have Mechanicsville addresses. Creamfield Farm and Hanover Market CSA both list 23116, the same ZIP code as Shady Grove Park at 8390 Shady Grove Rd. Woodside in Glen Allen and Agriberry on River Rd. round out a four-stop day that doesn't send you up to the county's northern edge.
The stops closest to home show how farms run
The organizers describe Hanover agriculture as everything from Highland cows, alpacas and thoroughbred horses to flower and plant growers and cornfields. The eastern stops cover the less photogenic half of that list, and that's what makes them worth the time.
Creamfield Farm, Summer Hill Road
Creamfield's tour-day profile centers on equipment and methods: farm machinery up close, demonstrations of precision agriculture and conservation, and a chance to meet the Kirby family. If you've driven past Mechanicsville fields and wondered what goes into them each season, this stop explains it. It's also a good first stop on a day built around how local farms work.
Hanover Market CSA, Whitewater Farm Road
This is the stop most likely to take up a whole morning. The profile lists vendors, farm equipment, hands-on education, crafts, fall activities and a playground. A culinary demonstration starts at 1 p.m., and breakfast and lunch are sold separately. That makes it the natural place to eat if you're on the eastern route. Plan to arrive there around midday instead of first thing.
Woodside Farms and Agriberry
Woodside Farms in Glen Allen offers its market, gardens and orchard, information on sustainable farming, and a chef tasting in The Barn. Agriberry, at 6289 River Rd., opens its berry fields for touring, offers paid raspberry picking and keeps its farm marketplace open for berries and local products. With both on the route, you'll go home with a bag of food along with the photos.
What costs money on a free day
Admission is free, and most activities don't need a reservation. A few things carry their own charge, so bring a card or some cash:
- Raspberry picking at Agriberry. Paid pick-your-own in the berry fields.
- Bouquet picking at The Freckled Flower Farm. Pick-your-own flowers for a fee.
- Breakfast and lunch at Hanover Market CSA. Sold separately from the free activities.
- Farm marketplaces and vendor tents. These appear at several stops, including Agriberry, Woodside, Meadowgate and the Horticultural Learning Center's fall bulb sale.
The FAQ says individual farms will note any required reservation on their activity schedules, so check the stop pages on hanoverfarmtour.com before you leave.
Where the animals are, and how far you'll drive for them
The animal-heavy stops are mostly in the northern and western parts of the county. In Montpelier, Thistledew Fold offers Highland cattle, miniature donkeys, ducks and chickens, along with treat feeding and family photos. The Freckled Flower Farm, also in Montpelier, pairs its bouquet picking with farm animals, food trucks and vendors. In Beaverdam, Meadowgate Alpacas has scheduled alpaca sessions, fiber-spinning demonstrations, a vendor tent and a veterinarian Q&A. RMC Equestrian Center on Ashcake Road in Ashland is the closest of the animal stops and has the most going on, with barn visits, guided tours, pony rides, a riding demonstration, children's activities and food trucks.
If kids in your car are asking for alpacas and Highland cows, those stops are worth the drive. Use the FAQ's three-to-four-stop advice and spend the day up there instead of trying to cover both ends of the county. The tour's official hours end at 3 p.m., so plan the farthest stop early.
Why some of these gates open only once
The tour site says some farms open to the public only once a year for this event. That's what makes October 10 different from any other weekend farm visit. The event itself is new. It started as a Community Impact Project for the 2025 Virginia Rural Leadership Institute and grew into a planning team that talked with local farmers and gathered best practices from four other counties. Surveys pointed to fall 2026 for the first tour, with a goal of 10 to 12 farms.
The planning committee includes representatives from Breemar Flower Farm, DEIC, Farmview Creamery, Freckled Flower Farm, the Hanover-Caroline Soil & Water Conservation District, Hanover County Economic Development, Hanover County Tourism, Meadowgate Alpacas, SCORE, Thistledew Fold Farm and the Virginia Tech Extension office. Organizers call it an annual event they plan to grow each year. If you start east this year, you'll have the western stops to try next fall.
Back on the Turnpike
The farm tour celebrates the people behind long-running local operations, and Mechanicsville marked one of those milestones ten days before it. WTVR reported that Hsun "Sonny" Lee planned to retire from Peking on September 30, after more than three decades there. Customers know him as "Mr. Lee" or "Sonny." He's been with Peking Mechanicsville since it opened in 1994. He started as a waiter and bought a stake in the franchise that year. The restaurant is at 7100 Mechanicsville Turnpike. The WTVR story covers his retirement and doesn't say the restaurant is closing.
There's a newer spot for dessert on the way home. Nothing Bundt Cakes opened at 7225 Bell Creek Road in July. Its hours are 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. It's open until 7 on Saturdays, so you'll have plenty of time after the farms close at 3.
At Cowan Realty, we pay attention to weekends like this one because they show what Hanover is like day to day. If you visit Creamfield or Hanover Market CSA on October 10 and come home curious about the land and homes around Mechanicsville, Renee is happy to talk it through with you. Work with Us.
