Hanover's first farm tour stars Highland cows and alpacas
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One of the Highland cows at Thistledew. Photo: Courtesy of Kristie Bradley Photography
Hanover County is throwing its first-ever farm-hopping party on Saturday, with Highland cows, alpacas and 11 farms opening their gates to visitors.
Why it matters: Some have never opened to the public, making this a rare chance to meet the animals, farmers and local growers behind the county's agricultural scene.
The big picture: The free Fields & Farms Tour started as a rural leadership project and grew into a countywide effort to spotlight Hanover farms, Hanover Economic Development's Ann Glave tells Axios.
- The hope is to make it an annual tradition, with more joining next year.
How it works: Visitors can map out their own adventure from 10am-3pm. Organizers suggest choosing up to 4 farms.
Among the highlights:
🐮 Meeting Highland cows at Thistledew Fold, alpacas at Meadowgate Alpacas or ponies at Randolph-Macon Equestrian Center — all animal-centric farms.
🚜 Climbing atop modern farming equipment at Creamfield, a large row-crop farm that's been around for more than 100 years.
🍽️ Catching Stella's chef Loretta Lane at Woodside Farms, a vegetable and flower farm, for a 1pm chef tasting experience.
Fun fact: Organizers printed 2,000 copies of a special farm tour newspaper, which is available online, with stories of the families behind them all.
- Glave says it's the only one of its kind among Virginia farm tours.
- The paper also groups the farms by theme (like animal encounters or flowers) and locations.
The bottom line: Country roads, take me home.