Group Tour

Spring 2013 • GroupTour.com
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Photo: Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area
Park Farm Winery in Bankston, Iowa, uses grapes to produce red and white wines; educates about winemaking;
and offers self-guided vineyard tours. It is part of Silo & Smokestacks National Heritage Area.
Vineyard adventures
New Jersey is known as the Garden
State, and for good reason.
As the top U.S. state in the percentage
of farm revenue earned from agritourism,
more than 20 percent of New Jersey farms
offer agritourism, according to Rutgers
University. The New Jersey Department
of Agriculture promotes agritourism under
the Jersey Fresh banner.
Besides farmers’ markets dotting
the state, another New Jersey draw is its
more than 40 wineries — many with
group options.
Heritage Vineyards is an estate winery
and vineyards in Mullica Hill with a
tasting room, wine bar, tours and a walking
trail augmented by apple, cherry and
peach orchards and a seasonal pumpkin
patch. Since 1853, six generations of the
Heritage family have farmed fruits —
apples, peaches and grapes — on the
150-acre estate.
Cape May Winery & Vineyard has four
vineyards covering more than 150 acres
and growing 16 different grape varieties,
with group tastings and tours. Four Sisters
Winery at Matarazzo Farms in Belvidere
is a 250-acre working farm that hosts
cooking seminars, barefoot grape stomping
parties and pig roasts.
Sampling the goods
Agriculture, farming and food are keystones
to Nova Scotia’s heritage.
Places like Beaver Brook, Bridgewater,
Centreville, Grand Pré, Greenwich,
New Ross, Port Williams and Truro
share the local bounty. The Evangeline
Trail parallels the Bay of Fundy coast
in western Nova Scotia and is rife with
markets and farms.
Between the Bushes Restaurant in
Centreville is a rural eatery surrounded
by the more than 60-acre Blueberry Acres
high-bush blueberry fi elds. Between the
Bushes is big on its fi eld-to-fork program
feting Annapolis Valley producers, with
its own selections of Country Magic chutneys,
vinaigrettes, spreads and blueberry
juice. Owner Nova Agri Associates Ltd.
also operates a u-pick for Blueberry Acres.
Noggins Corner Farm in Greenwich
has a year-round farm market and a
working farm with 175 acres of orchards
of apples, peaches, pears, plums and raspberries
along the banks of the Cornwallis
River and 80 acres of crops. Operated by
the Bishop family, Noggins dates to 1780
and also offers a dairy, feed store, 3-kilometer
(2-mile) trail, geocaching, seasonal
corn maze and its heirloom apple varieties
are used by Tideview Cider.
Ross Farm Museum in New Ross is a
fully operational mid-1800s farm operating
year-round with a Country Market
on Saturday from June to October and its
Pedlar’s Shop. Group tours with reservations
and self-guided tours are available,
with a recommended visit of 1½ to 3
hours.
In Ontario’s Oxford County, agriculture
is woven throughout.
Groups can take special tours of Oxford
County farms, shops, markets and
kitchens with Simple Food with Jed’s chef
Jed Lau.
Leaping Deer Adventure Farm & Market
Country Store in Ingersoll and Snyder’s
Family Farm in Bright offer tours
and special events. Jakeman’s Maple
Photo: Matthew Gates, Ross Farm Museum
Ross Farm Museum is a 19th-century living history
agricultural museum in New Ross, Nova Scotia.
Farm in Sweaburg and Oxford Honey
& Supplies near Burgessville are focused
on namesake products. There is artisan
cheese at Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese and
Dairy Capital Cheese Shoppe Deli & Café
in Woodstock. Tour and taste at Birtch
Farms Estate & Winery in Woodstock.
The works of self-taught Canadian agricultural
artist Ross Butler, who died in
1995 at the age of 88, are on display at
Ross Butler Studio in Woodstock.