Super sweet strawberry summer coming up on the Mornington Peninsula
Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm on the Mornington Peninsula is serving up a super sweet summer, with its annual Family Day in December, new twilight pick-your-own strawberry evenings in January, and its first strawberry cookbook available in time for Christmas gift giving.
Family Day, Saturday December 7
A big annual favourite, with free activities including tastings of different strawberry varieties, face painting, fairy floss and a treasure hunt. A sausage sizzle will raise money for charity, families can pick their own strawberries ($20 for two adults and two children, including 1.5kg of strawberries), and the deliciously decadent dessert café will be open 9am – 5pm.
New twilight U-pick strawberries
Thousands of visitors pick more than 40 tonnes of strawberries every year at Sunny Ridge. From January 2 - 31, strawberry picking hours will be extended on Thursday evenings, with twilight picking until 8pm and a special twilight menu available at the dessert cafe. (Normal picking hours are 9.00am – 4.30pm from November to April.) Adult u-pick: $8 including 500 gms of strawberries; child u-pick $4 including 250 gms of strawberries.
Sunny Ridge, its shop, cellar door and dessert café are open 9am - 5pm daily until the end of April, then 11am – 4pm at weekends from May to October. You can always buy fresh strawberries, as Sunny Ridge also has a strawberry farm in Queensland.
'Beyond the Berry' Cookbook
This new 90-page cookbook has around 30 succulent strawberry recipes, including two created by chef Stuart Bell from the 2-Chef's Hat Mornington Peninsula restaurant Ten Minutes by Tractor. Buy your strawberries from Sunny Ridge then try delights such as strawberry and ouzo ice cream, amaretti and strawberry tiramisu, the classic Eton Mess and ricotta and fetta tart with roasted strawberries and balsamic syrup. Costing $25.00, the book will be available from early December at Sunny Ridge and for online purchases at www.sunnyridge.com.au/ShopOnline
Discounts with Mornington Peninsula Attractions Pass
Visitors who buy a Mornington Peninsula Attractions Pass are also entitled to a 10% discount on any desserts and gourmet foods purchased in the Sunny Ridge strawberry shop or dessert cafe, including the farm-made icecreams and sorbets which have won many awards in the Royal Melbourne Show Fine Food Awards.
The pass, which delivers more than $100 of value and costs $63 for adults and $45 for children, includes offers at seven top attractions: entry plus bonuses at Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Gardens, Cape Schanck Lightstation, Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park and Peninsula Hot Springs, plus discount offers at Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm, Box Stallion Winery and Peninsula Searoad ferries between Sorrento and Queenscliff.
The Attractions Pass is transferrable, valid for three months and can be purchased online at www.emmp.net.au, at Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Gardens, Cape Schanck Lightstation, Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park, Peninsula Hot Springs and selected outlets on the Mornington Peninsula.
