Shelburne Farms Vermont
Visiting Shelburne Farms in Vermont is a great experience for families and friends alike.
A few days before heading to Vermont, I was looking up some last minute ideas on Pinterest, and saw a photo of a beautiful building. I was shocked and intrigued to discover that it was indeed a farm – Shelburne Farms. After seeing all of the fun activities to participate in on their property, I decided it was a perfect place to spend some time. Luckily enough, it was only 7 minutes from our hotel. It’s nice when these things work out!
We arrived at the farm around 10:30am and just caught the next tractor heading up to the Children’s Farmyard. We wanted to make it there for the cow milking which started at 11. After the bumpy ride up the trail to the farm, we still had some time to kill before the milking demonstration began so we checked out some other animals. We went into an enclosed patch of land where there were chickens and rabbits. I tried to get closer to the chickens, but they weren’t exactly interested in getting cozy with me. My friend was particularly excited to spend time with the rabbits.
Finally 11 rolled around, and it was time for milking! The demonstration is done more for the children’s benefit (obviously, we are in the ‘Children’s Farmyard’) but it was done really well and was very informative. Then the children got to milk the cow, then it was time for us adults. I was the last one to go, but it was worth the wait! It was a lot easier than I had anticipated, and even though everyone else’s turn seemed so long from the sidelines, it goes by so quickly when you’re in the moment. Any time I tell someone I milked a cow now, they laugh. It was a really cool experience and I’m glad I chose to try it.
After the cow milking experience we went into the chicken coop and got to look for eggs. A child right before us found one, but we weren’t so lucky. It was fun watching the chickens though. They seemed to pay no attention to us though, and carried about their normal day.
Around this time, I could see my friend was starting to lose interest so we slowly headed back to the tractor. I think he could tell I was bummed to take off so early, so he suggested we check out the cheese making area before we hopped on.
As I’m sure you know, cheese doesn’t have the most beautiful smell, so the whole area smelt a little unappetizing as expected. When you get in, there are different rooms where the cheese is being processed at different stages of its creation and you can watch the magic happen from behind a glass wall. They must be used to having people watch them as they paid no mind to us, but I think it would freak me out! On another wall you could read about the different cheese making stages, and by reading that you get an idea of what they’re doing which was neat.
Then it was time to hop back on the tractor and get back to where we began. They have a gift shop that I insisted we investigate before we took off. They have a cheese tasting area, so I figured that would be a good way to end since we had just seen how it was made. Their cheese is probably the best I have ever tasted! I’m not kidding. I proceeded to Google if I could bring it back with me over the boarder, but it sounded like it could become a hassle so decided against it. We didn’t want any glitches at 4am the next morning, but I would go again just to try their cheese! My favourite was the smoked cheese, and also they had two cheese dips out, and one with red peppers was to die for! So delicious!
Unfortunately our time here was short, and I would have liked to see more of their land and animals. I would definitely visit again, and I suggest you do too! To learn more about what they have to offer, visit their site here.
This post was written in 2015 for my past blog, but wanted to share it with you here!
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