I have gathered some great family friendly places to visit this fall with the kiddos near Charlotte NC.
I am forever telling my clients who are new to the Charlotte area about family friendly places to visit. It occurred to me that I had not shared online with you guys. If your roots are deep in the Carolina soil you might know these places and if you do please share below some of your favorite Saturday places to visit and get outside with the children.
Windy Hill Apple Orchard
In 1978 the Gusmer family was gifted a wooden apple cider press for Christmas. Fritz and Catherine were searching for something he could do that would involve the entire family and allow him to stay close to home. The quest for a true apple cider doughnut finally gave them the solution. They could grow apples, press cider and make the doughnuts they’d been craving. Windy Hill Orchard and Cider Mill was born.
Today they offer a wide variety of baked apple products, cider and hard cider flights. On the weekends you can apple pick (schedule online), hay ride and listen to local musicians while the chickens strut around the farm yard. Its a great experience for the entire family and the drive over is gorgeous with the leaves changing color.
I especially love the wassail. Its an amazing warm you up holiday drink.
Black’s Peaches is the perfect Saturday Outing.
Three hundred years in the making! The black family has worked to help build the York community and provide local fresh produce all year long. They are local to my portrait studio and I shop there often. Its a bustling place all year long but the fall is super fun. They have large farm equipment that they have turned into a jungle gym, hay rides, petting zoo, pumpkin picking and corn maze. Its right beside Windy Hill Orchard (mentioned above) so you can stop by Black’s let the kids play and scoot over to Windy Hill for a hard cider flight while the littles nap in the stroller.
What I love best about Blacks is their fresh weekly baskets. They also offer field trips 🙂
The Dairy Barn
Nestled amid beautiful lakes and hardwood forests, the Anne Springs Close Greenway is a natural preserve more than twice the size of Central Park. Minutes south of Charlotte in Fort Mill, SC, its 2,100 acres serve as a natural buffer from urban development and provide a wide-open space for countless activities – from hiking, biking and horseback riding to picnics, kayaking, outdoor bday parties and more.
The shallow creek is a great for kid play and a swinging bridge all in our backyard. I just noticed they are currently doing sunset yoga and the Charlotte Symphony Oct 25th at the outdoor amphitheater.
For more friendly places to visit in the Charlotte NC area check out this jewel of an article we were featured in with Redfin.
