Al Ru Farm Spring Picnic, Sampson Flat, South Australia

Al Ru Farm Lilly Garden.

When my partner, Enigma, pitched going on a picnic where you paid for a food hamper to be provided, I thought we were just going to a very nice, well manicured park.

Al Ru Farm (named after the owners Alan and Ruth Irving) is an actual private farm but, at the center, is ten acres of well maintained gardens, a large barn converted into a function/reception room, and three bed and breakfast homes.

Located between the Barossa Valley and the Adelaide hills, at Sampson Flat, it provides a relaxing rural/garden experience without having to travel too far from suburbia. Typically the gardens and function rooms have been used as an ideal setting for weddings but the farm holds other events throughout the year, such as their Spring Picnic (held in November - which you have to book in order to receive your food hamper).

Overview of the main building and Garden Bar area on the day of the Spring Picnic.

More of a picnic box than a hamper but
still very nice and more than enough for two.

BYO picnic blanket or sit at one of the tables in the garden bar (as we did) where wine, coffee, soft drink, and ice-cream cones could also be purchased. I enjoyed a coffee with our hamper, and Enigma and I both enjoyed some quality chocolate ice-cream.

The gardens themselves have plenty of paths to explore leading to quiet corners and themed garden areas. While we ate in the garden bar where a band was playing 'ragtime' tunes, we could've easily retreated to some where with fewer people.

That said the garden never felt over crowded. Clearly the organizers know the venue's capacity so that there's still a good sized number of attendees without anyone really getting in the way of each other.

Not sure what this garden was called so I'm guessing maybe, the Sun Garden?

Exploring the gardens was fun walk. Definitely plenty of places to take photos for your social media (or blogs). I think we spent maybe around an hour casually exploring the gardens, and taking photos, before we felt we'd seen most of it.

On the way out we stopped to take a picture of the low flying plane. There's no explanation I could see as to why this is in the farm's front field but there is a picture of Alan in front of a similar but much newer plane on their website so... maybe?

Low flying plane (on a pole) in the front field.

Watch out for low flying planes coming up the driveway!

Al Ru Farm isn't generally open to the public to just drop by but you can arrange a garden tour visit through their website or by booking for one of their events - be notified of upcoming events through their email newsletter.

Definitely worth a visit if you're a garden lover, but also just a nice setting for a picnic lunch.

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