No Place Like Home: Avila Valley Barn

Posted: Mar 10, 2011 3:35 PM by Jeanette Trompeter
Updated: Mar 15, 2011 5:19 PM

Summertime is a great time to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables. And we are fortunate on the central coast to have access to a full bounty of them. And you don't have to wait for a farmer's market to find a collection of the best.

We pay a visit to the Avila Valley Barn in this week's No Place Like Home.

If you've traveled Avila Beach Drive at all over the years, you may have noticed a lot of folks stopping here. There's good reason for that.

The freshly harvested fare sold at the Avila Valley Barn makes it one of the best fruit and vegetable stands on the central coast. But you'll find so much more here than great produce.

It's part petting zoo, part ice cream parlor, candy shop, and general store...where you can find all things sweet that come from this Valley. "We use our own Olallieberries, our own apricots and peaches, everything goes into our jams." says owner Debbie Smith. "Our apples and our apple butters, our ice cream is used with a lot of our fresh ingredients, and now we're starting deli sandwiches."

And while you're welcome to just make a quick stop to pick up a few things on the way home, the idea behind the Barn is to bring you as close to the roots of the fruits as possible. It's why so many choose to pick their own. "In the spring we have berry picking, come summer we have peach picking. We're going to start apple picking shortly. We have pumpkin picking." says Smith. "They can feed the goats and they can take the hayrides, and what you pick is what you pay for."

The Barn has 90 acres to harvest from, so you even if you choose to buy what's already been picked for you, rest assured your still getting the fruits of central coast labors. "Because we're local, and I think we need to buy local!" Smith says with excitement.

It's a place to be proud of. Where kids can be kids...and create memories that will last even longer than their fascination with the latest video game. Smith has gotten to know a lot of kids over the years. "They came 15 years, 20 years ago for hayrides, and now they're bringing their kids back. We really see a resurgence of families and people wanting to be in touch with farm."

It's Americana. Quite frankly it's a place you can just sit and relax for awhile and it will make your heart smile.

It opens in March and closes in Christmas. But in the months in-between, you can find plenty of proof here, there's no place like home.