A Day Trip to the Lavender Fields: 123 Farms at Highland Springs Ranch & Inn

I don’t know about you, but I’m going a little stir crazy after staying at home for the past couple months! In addition to worrying about COVID, it’s kind of hard going out with a baby AND a toddler, which is why my husband and I have stayed at home for the most part. BUT I’ve decided that we need to start getting out of the house for some fresh air and Socially Distant Day Trips sound like a good idea!

So a couple days ago my husband and I packed up the car and kids and took a day trip to the Lavender Fields at Highland Springs Ranch & Inn! It’s about a 1.5 hour drive from Los Angeles so we felt like it was totally doable with two young kids.

(Auguste Maxi Dress – available here)

Highland Springs Ranch usually holds an annual Lavender Festival – which sounds amazing! Unfortunately, this year they had to cancel it. Instead, they are letting people take a Walk Through the Lavender Fields until July 26th. You just have to buy advanced tickets online.

It’s a great trip to take during these times because it’s pretty easy to stay 6 feet apart in a field! We got tickets for 10:30am and the fields open at 10am so it wasn’t super crowded yet. I also recommend going earlier so that it’s not too hot! It wasn’t too bad when we were there. There was a nice breeze and we found some shade in the Olive Grove section (see below). They ask that you only stay 1 hour in the fields so that it doesn’t get too crowded. But we were able to get through the whole thing in about 45 minutes so you really don’t need that much time. Masks are required and everyone was wearing them in the fields unless they were taking pictures.

Once you are done in the fields you can stop by the 123 Farms Market and Cafe! I was SOOO excited to check out their Lavender Menu. I’m OBSESSED with all things lavender so this was a dream! At marketplace you can pick up lavender honey, tea, bath and body products, lavender bunches, and more! You can also shop online if you can’t make it over there. I’m assuming the market and cafe are usually indoor but because of COVID they moved everything outside.

We ordered the Lavender Beef Brisket Sandwich, Lavender Loaded Fries, Lavender Lemonade, Lavender Latte, Lavender Ice Cream, and Lavender Lemon Bar! Everything was delicious!

The only downside is you can’t stay and picnic. There aren’t any tables to eat the food either. So we ate the food in the car in the parking lot. It wasn’t the easiest but we didn’t want to wait 1.5 hours for the drive home to eat!

Overall, it was a great experience! The lavender is still bright and beautiful! We didn’t stay too long – maybe 2.5 hours? I would have loved to take more editorial style photos in the lavender fields but it was just too hard with 2 kids! I would love to go again when we are kid free! Hopefully, next year the Lavender Festival will be going on and we can get a babysitter. Fingers crossed!