U-pick farm Nationaal Fruitpark Ochten

Nationaal Fruitpark Ochten is a recreational park located at Bonegraafseweg 59 in Ochten, Netherlands. It combines a fruit-themed park with a playground, petting zoo, museum, cycling route, and recreational spaces. The park is situated in the Betuwe region, an area known for fruit cultivation, and offers visitors a chance to engage with nature and agricultural heritage.

Self-picking opportunities are available from the farm or garden. The produce you can pick includes various fruits, with the specific selection and picking season varying by crop throughout the year.

The park is open daily from 09:00 to 21:00, seven days a week. The facility is wheelchair accessible, with both a wheelchair-accessible entrance and parking. Payment options include debit cards, contactless mobile payments, and credit cards. The business is operational year-round.

What visitors say

This self-picking farm and garden complex is widely regarded as a beautiful, versatile, and enjoyable destination, often recommended for families, couples, and even business events. Visitors frequently praise its serene, natural setting amidst extensive fruit orchards, offering pleasant walks and educational insights into fruit varieties, especially during blooming or harvest seasons when guests can pick their own fruit.

Key attractions include a well-designed 18-hole mini-golf course nestled among the fruit trees and various farm animals (such as donkeys, pigs, alpacas, and geese), which delight children and often provide interactive feeding experiences. The property also features a playground and a barefoot path, though some note the latter is predominantly stony and could be more engaging. An observation tower offers views, though some find it a bit wobbly or in need of maintenance.

The on-site hotel is highlighted for its clean, beautiful, and spacious rooms, with amenities like whirlpools and large comfortable beds contributing to a relaxing stay. Staff across the complex are consistently lauded for their exceptional friendliness, hospitality, personal attention, and excellent service, making guests feel welcome and at home.

Dining experiences, whether in the restaurant or on the large, pleasant outdoor terrace, receive high marks for delicious and quality food, ranging from extensive breakfasts with homemade jam to superb dinners and enjoyable lunches. The restaurant is noted for its beautiful ambiance and suitability for groups and various events.

However, some areas for improvement have been mentioned. Certain park facilities, including playground equipment, benches, and the observation tower, appear to be aging and could benefit from renovation and better upkeep. A few visitors found the €5 entrance fee for the park (which often includes a drink) a bit steep for the extent of activities offered, particularly if not engaging in mini-golf. Isolated negative feedback also touched on slow service at the terrace, a perceived lack of child-friendliness in the restaurant’s rigid lunch schedule, and a few disappointing hotel experiences regarding cleanliness or breakfast quality (e.g., lack of local products, packaged items). Overall, the positive experiences of friendly staff, beautiful surroundings, and enjoyable activities largely outweigh these criticisms, with many guests expressing a desire to return.

Facilities in this u-pick farm

Pluktuin IJzendoorn

6.6 km — gelderland

Pluktuin IJzendoorn is a pick-your-own garden and plant nursery located in the Betuwe region of the Netherlands, between Echteld and IJzendoorn. The garden is designed with a park-like, circular layout, featuring wide, accessible paths that guide visitors through a colorful landscape of shrubs, perennials, grasses, and a diverse selection of annual summer flowers. Starting July 1st, visitors can self-pick these flowers. A bouquet of 20 stems costs €12.50, with the option to have the flowers professionally arranged and wrapped for €15.00. A special “plukarrangement” (picking arrangement) is available for €22.50 per person (for groups up to 10), which includes coffee or tea with a seasonal treat, access to the picking garden, and use of the binding studio. Children are welcome to pick flowers, taste fruit from the fruit trees, and play in the sandbox or with the brocante play kitchen. The farm also operates as a nursery, offering over a thousand varieties of plants—including native plants, perennials, roses, shrubs, and kitchen and medicinal herbs—all grown without pesticides. A cozy terrace on site serves coffee, tea, and organic juices.

Pluktuin de Bosrand

8.5 km — gelderland

Pluktuin de Bosrand is a sustainable pick-your-own farm located on the Wageningse Eng, offering visitors a chance to harvest their own flowers, fruit, and tea herbs. The farm combines agriculture with a tea garden and event space, creating a destination for both harvesting and relaxation. Visitors can pick a wide variety of fruit throughout the season, which runs from late May to the beginning of November. The fruit selection includes raspberries, blackberries (thornless), grapes, plums, apples, pears, red currants, black currants, blueberries, gooseberries, Japanese wineberries, kiwi berries, chokeberries, rhubarb, and pumpkins. In addition to fruit, the farm offers a large selection of seasonal flowers including peonies, dahlias, cosmos, zinnias, heleniums, and sunflowers, as well as edible flowers and over 20 varieties of mint for tea. The farm does not have strawberries or cherries.

Kwekerij & Pluktuin Bloemrijk

8.6 km — gelderland

Kwekerij & Pluktuin Bloemrijk is a certified organic flower nursery and pick-your-own garden located in Wageningen, Netherlands. Since 2007, the farm has been dedicated to cultivating cut flowers using completely natural methods, working without chemical pesticides or synthetic fertilizers to support biodiversity and a healthy environment. The farm grows hundreds of varieties of seasonal, biological flowers. Visitors can come to the flower garden to pick their own flowers and craft a personal bouquet. The self-picking season runs from mid-June through September. On regular open days, guests can simply drop in to pick without an appointment. Children are also welcome, with special workshops designed for ages seven and up during the summer months. Groups of eight or more persons can arrange a visit on other weekdays.

Stadsakker Wageningen

8.8 km — gelderland

Stadsakker Wageningen is a self-harvest vegetable garden located on the Wageningse Eng. It originated from the initiative De Nieuwe Ronde, which started in 1998, and has since grown into three independently operating locations. The farm offers members the opportunity to harvest fresh vegetables directly from the fields. Members can self-pick a wide variety of produce including aalbes, aardbei, aardpeer, andijvie, bieslook, biet, boerenkool, courgette, kapucijners, knoflook, knolselderij, knolvenkel, komkommer, koolrabi, maïs, Nieuw-Zeelandse spinazie, paksoi, palmkool, pastinaak, patisson, peultjes, pompoen, prei, raapsteel, rabarber, radijs, sjalot, sla, snijbiet, snijboon, sperzieboon, spinazie, spitskool, spruitjes, tuinbonen, ui, winterpostelein, wortel, zomerpostelein, and zuring. The growing season runs from approximately the end of April through January. During the spring and autumn the selection is more limited, while in the summer the variety is much broader. The farm is open for self-harvesting seven days a week, 24 hours a day throughout the season.