Fall Fun - Bloomsbury Farm
Hey Everybody!
I’m coming at you with some bonus content today! I’m sharing about Bloomsbury Farm in Atkins, Iowa!
Bloomsbury Farm features a huge “Super Slide,” pumpkin picking, tire swings, a “corn palace,” a giant jumping pillow, lots of photo ops, and more! I recommend checking out their website for all the current offerings.
The farm is open seasonally with tickets available for any open date of the season. Currently they’re open Fri - Sun 10am-6pm throughout the month of Oct. 2022 for their “Harvest Festival.” They also have “Scream Acres” going on from dusk til 10pm, but I am too much of a scaredy cat to even look into those events. ;)
Currently, tickets are $15.95 plus fees online and $19.95 plus fees at the gate (as of 10/3/22). I got my tickets on sale during one of their flash sales, so it’s worth it to sign up for their email list to get in on those in the future. Babies (under 3yo) do not require a ticket.
The first time we went to Bloomsbury farm, it was for their “Baby Animal Festival” this past summer. I figured we’d go for an hour or so in the morning and then head back home for lunch. Nope! The kids LOVED this place. The weather was amazing that day, so we stayed the entire day until they closed and the kids were entertained and playing hard in the fresh air the entire time. I knew what to expect that the second time we went so we spent quite a bit of time there the second time, and we even have a third trip to the farm on the horizon!
How to Get There: As usual, I just followed my GPS. I just typed in “Bloomsbury Farm” and it popped right up, but if you need the address, it’s 3260 69th St. Atkins, IA. Be prepared for a little bit of gravel travel. It is a farm, after all.
Parking: To find the parking, keep driving all the way past the farm until you see the entrance sign to turn into the parking lot. Parking is on grass with some gravel driveways and taller grass separating the rows. They have a very large parking lot to accommodate lots of guests.
Restrooms: They have clean restrooms with multiple stalls. They are nice restrooms, not what you’d expect for a farm.
Shade: The farm is mostly all out in the open, but there are various shady areas including a few little trees, the barns and shops, and a pavilion. Be prepared for sun and wind.
Picnicability: They sell food (hot dogs, hamburgers, cheese curds). I personally find it pretty pricey for what it is, but I sure bought it anyway since it was hot food right there on sight! They also have a Dan and Debbie’s creamery ice cream stand, which is delicious, obviously. They had plenty of tables at which to dine. Some of the tables are inside, some in the shade, and some not in the shade. I’m unsure about the rules as to whether you’re allowed to pack your own lunch, but I think I remembering seeing people with food they had brought in when I was there over the summer.
Surface: It’s mostly grass and gravel. I was able to bring the stroller, but it wasn’t super fun pushing the stroller around on the bumpy terrain. A wagon might be better and I think no wheels would be ideal if you can pull it off.
Accessibility: Like I said, the terrain isn’t great for wheels but it can be done. It’s just pretty bumpy. As far as other features that would be accessible to people of diverse abilities, I can’t really think of much. I’m sure people of all ages and ability levels would love watching and maybe even feeding the animals and participating in some of the photo ops (like a giant porch swing and a giant frame to take photos in).
Pros: The kids in my life absolutely love this place. There is a ton to do and it’s fun that they change things up with the seasons so there are different attractions at different times. A couple weeks ago, we went to their Sunflower Festival and picked various sunflowers and soon we’ll go to the Harvest Festival for pumpkins! It’s great to have a place that’s a special treat and engaging for the kids all day long. Pros for mama are the awesome photo ops (seriously, so many photos!), the ability to pretty easily watch the kiddos while they’re playing, whether it’s on the jumping pillow, in the corn, on the tire swings, on the bikes/trikes, etc. Each of the spaces has pretty good sight lines.
Cons: As with most places that have lots of fun things to offer, it’s definitely a place where you either need to bring multiple adults or keep your crew wrangled up and moving together from one activity to the next to keep track of everyone. The fact that it’s not-so-easy on wheels is a struggle as well, but going to a farm you have to understand that that’s going to be the case. Really, we’re just sad it’s not open all the time! (But then it wouldn’t be so special, now would it?)
Okay, go grab your tickets for the Harvest Festival while you can! (Not an affiliate, I get nothing from this post other than just sharing the fun!) https://www.bloomsburyfarm.com/
Have you been to Bloomsbury Farm? What did you think?
