The Bedford Area's Best Pumpkin Patch: Layman Family Farms

Our area of Virginia includes many fun "pumpkin patch" ongoing fall festivals for kids.  Two of the best are Jeter Farm, winning the Roanoke area, and Layman Family Farms, winning the Bedford area. Region-travelling families could actually take a nice weekend and drive 460, spending time at both. This year, we took in opening weekend and teacher appreciation day at Layman Family Farms first. It was a great blast from the past:  K and J went on a date to their original corn maze at their previous site, and we have great memories over the years of our tiny kids visiting this type of attraction, like these of young E at Layman's just a few years ago.

Vast and full of little amusements, Layman Family Farms includes a variety of fun attractions for elementary-aged kids in particular, including a corn crib "sandbox," a train of "cows" pulled by a tractor, hayrides, a corn maze, a treehouse-type playground, an "underground" slide, a farm animal "zoo," a set of short zip lines, and more.  General admission gets you in--and gets you a few chances on some of the attractions that are sort of "ticketed."  These attractions include one of our kids' favorites, the jumping pillow.  Other attractions do not require any form of tickets and include E's pick, the Bee Line zip lines, and G's pick, the corn crib--but don't worry: you can purchase more tickets as needed if you like other areas more.  We smiled with pride, though, as our kids enjoyed some of the simpler things to do, including also a ball toss game that caught E's attention (no prizes, but lots of fun).

Layman Family Farms is likely the area's largest such pumpkin patch site.  Active kids can spend a long time here, especially when the site is not terribly crowded and their adults are willing to indulge them with lots of time on the jumping pillow, on the zip lines, and/or in the corn crib.  We've found less crowding early in the season (September) and later in the season (November), making it easier to spend a little more time on these attractions.  Take time to admire the views, especially from the hayride and "pumpkin patch" area.

If you go, dress to play and be comfortable--and be set to get dusty.  If you are doing photos on site as lots of families do, consider doing them first before you start serious exploring and get a little messy. Take some money for fair food available at the farm; we very much appreciated the lemonade and twisty fries.  Deal hunters should follow the Layman Family Farm Facebook page seasonally for advance purchase and season pass savings; many others can save on special admission days for educators, first responders, and others as advertised on their website.  Early season admission tends to be less expensive as well.  Layman's is home to a small gift shop-type store, and you can, of course, buy Pumpkins.  And definitely review them on TripAdvisor--they just got added!

Hidden History: Petersburg National Battlefield Park

For Labor Day weekend, we visited Petersburg National Battlefield Park, an excellent destination for families of all interest levels in the US Civil War.  We had been impressed by the park on a previous visit, and it continues to be a well-interpreted, surprising, and off-the-beaten path site.  This time, we found extremely friendly rangers, a simple-and-effective Junior Ranger badge program, and no entry fee (it was small before but has been dropped).

The history of the site is simply impressive.  Petersburg is the start of modern trench warfare (and provides a contrast to the understanding of earlier trench warfare you can obtain in nearby Yorktown, just 45 miles away "as the crow flies").  This is also one of the best sites we've found in Virginia for African-American Civil War History. Of course, no visit is complete without seeing the famed Dictator mortar, a huge cannon of sorts with about a 2-mile range, incredible for the time.  Also not to be missed?  A visit to the Crater site, now even more approachable thanks to some resurfacing of the direct path to the tunnel.  The Battle of the Crater, part of the 9-month long siege interpreted at the park, will tap your interests in military tactics, spying, infighting, and more. Our sense is it is little studied in most history classrooms, but it is one of the most interesting historic sites within driving distance of Roanoke, Virginia, period--and regular readers know that we have a good frame of reference for our rating.

While you are there, we highly recommend finding the recently-restored Poplar Grove National Cemetery.  Much smaller than Arlington, visitors can feel as if you have fully seen this site within a relatively short time.  Take time to wander and reflect, and if you read grave markers carefully, you will find soldiers from both the US Civil War and the Spanish American War, interesting placements of Confederate dead in a national cemetery, rows of US Colored Troops who died quite valiantly, and numerous unknown soldiers.  There is an interpretive leaflet available from boxes at the site that will help you understand the context of the cemetery.

If you go, start at the Visitors Center and take in the introductory film that plays on the hour and half-hour.  Get out and enjoy nature while you visit, which will also afford you a better understanding of what the area's land was like 150 years ago. Good news: It won't be hard to take a walk in the forest on a standard visit.  There are two small "hikes" we particularly recommend for families--the path to the Dictator mortar near the visitor's center that also help guests understand the features of the earthwork trenches, and the very accessible (flat) .5-mile trail into the woods at stop three on the driving trail.  Consider taking a snack lunch or picnic (there are plenty of picnic tables at driving tour stop four) so that you do not need to leave the site for a break, which may require a bit of driving.  If you are combining trips, you are also very near Richmond National Battlefield Park and will even find signs for the park on some of the routes in to Petersburg.