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There are not many places confident enough to rename themselves after their own industry. Taylorville became Groveland in 1922 because the groves were what the town was, and the city still describes itself as the one with country charm. Before the citrus it was longleaf pine, cut and worked by people who arrived to do exactly that. This has always been a place that made its living from what grows here.
That inheritance is easier to name than to show a child. Groves are private, fenced and worked by machinery now. The Green Swamp sits nearby and is magnificent and largely impassable. A Groveland child can absorb the whole story of this town without ever having put a hand on an animal that a farm actually keeps.
That is what we are for, fifty-five minutes east. Cattle grazing across the pasture; alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits pressed up to the rail for the optional feed sold at the gate or online. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride out through the trees and a playground under old oaks. Entry is $18 for anyone 2 and older, free below, and covers the lot. It is agriculture with the gate left open.
Green Meadows dates from 1988, set up by Coni and Bob Keyes on shaded ground over in Kissimmee. For the best part of thirty years it was where children right across Central Florida met their first cow, whether they turned up with a class, for somebody’s birthday, or because a parent wanted them out in the air. Then it shut, and seven years elapsed with nothing standing in for it.
The farm runs again at Lancaster Ranch Park, supported by the City of Kissimmee, and the reopening preserved the original rather than rethinking it. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits are all kept within touching distance. The wagon ride is out on the pasture as usual. The old oaks still take the edge off. Wider ground now, and the same intent laid across it.
Find us at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, around forty-two miles and roughly fifty-five minutes east of Groveland, usually via SR-50 and US-27 or down through Clermont to the 192 corridor. A fair stretch of the route still runs through country that looks like the reason this town changed its name.
The day matters at this range. Gates open Wednesday to Friday, 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM, with Monday and Tuesday shut. Final admission is at 1:00 PM Wednesday through Friday with 2:00 PM on weekends. From Groveland the midweek window leaves three hours after nearly an hour’s drive, so weekends work considerably better. Wednesday does carry Grandparents Day, one grandparent free alongside each paid general admission.
Put a picnic together before leaving. There is no cafe here, only vending machines, and after that journey nobody wants to go hunting for lunch. Shaded picnic tables are held for exactly this. Bring generous water, hats, sunscreen and closed shoes rather than sandals, as the visit takes place entirely outdoors across pasture.
Then set off east. Buy online in advance or pay on arrival; general admission requires no reservation. Entry is $18 per person from age 2, free below, with every major credit card accepted and no cash taken. Parties of 10 to 19 pay $15 apiece and 20 or more pay $12 apiece with a reservation, which also brings one free admission per 20 paid. At this distance the annual pass merits some thought. Animal feed is optional, picked up at the gate or included when you book online.
Plan Your Visit
The Pumpkin Zone opens each fall and turns into the fullest stretch of our calendar. Worth naming what it is not: not a pumpkin patch, and not a crop of ours. Every paying guest chooses a pumpkin from the Zone and takes it home included with the ticket, nothing extra charged. It stays open every day we are open across the season instead of a narrow weekend window. The Candy Hunt lands on 2 weekends around Halloween.
Birthday parties demand very little from you. Agree the date and time, pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Tents cost $450 and hold up to 25 guests, anyone further at $15 apiece, with four running daily across Saturday and Sunday and tables already positioned. Every guest has the freedom of the entire farm, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground manage the entertaining while you organize nothing. Decorating and catering fall to you. Worth telling your guests: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the celebration is outdoors throughout.
Group bookings make good sense from Groveland, and we host a fair number from Lake County schools and churches. Pricing sits at $15 a head for 10 to 19 guests and $12 a head from 20 upward on a reservation, with one admission free per 20 paid. Easter Egg Hunts land in spring with further seasonal events across the year, everything published to our Special Events page and released first through Facebook and Instagram. Paying ahead moves a sizeable party through the entrance far quicker.
We are at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, around forty-two miles and roughly fifty-five minutes east of Groveland. SR-50 across to US-27, or down through Clermont to the 192 corridor, are the 2 usual routes.
That is a real drive and worth planning around, particularly midweek when the gates shut at 1:00 PM. A weekend gives four hours at this end instead of three, which the distance genuinely calls for. Check your maps app before departing, since both routes shift with the time of day.
Entry is $18 per person for everybody 2 and over, with under-2s admitted free. One ticket covers the entire property, animals, wagon ride and playground alike, with nothing added at the gate and parking included. Bring a card with you, because cash is not taken here at all.
Groups pay less each: $15 apiece from 10 to 19 guests, $12 apiece from 20 upward when reserved, carrying one free admission per 20 paid. There is an annual pass covering unlimited visits across a year from purchase, which at this range starts making sense on the third trip. Animal feed is optional — buy it at the gate or include it when you book online.
Not here. Green Meadows is a petting farm rather than a pumpkin patch, and nothing is grown on our land. Each fall we open the Pumpkin Zone, and a pumpkin from it goes home with every paying guest, free with admission.
Groveland thought enough of its own growing to rename itself for it in 1922. We would not borrow that — what we do is the hands-on end of a farm day, animals to feed and a pumpkin to carry out. The Zone runs on every open day rather than a chosen few, and our Halloween Candy Hunt takes place on 2 weekends around Halloween. The dates go on the Special Events page and are announced first on Facebook and Instagram.
Very much so, and from Groveland it is the sensible way to come. Group pricing starts at ten: $15 a head between 10 and 19 guests, $12 a head from 20 upward on a reservation, and one free admission for every 20 paid. Lake County schools and congregations make up a good share of our group visits.
Reserve in advance and settle up beforehand where possible, as it clears a large party through the entrance markedly faster. There is open ground here rather than a set route, so a big group disperses naturally and finds its own rhythm, while the shaded picnic areas give everybody somewhere proper to sit and eat together.
Lunch above all, at this distance. We run no cafe, only vending machines, and after nearly an hour on the road that is not a welcome discovery. We keep shaded tables for it, and a meal outdoors with cattle grazing past the fence makes the journey feel shorter. Bring a good deal more water than you would expect to need, summer especially.
Otherwise dress everyone for a farm rather than an outing: closed shoes, hats and sunscreen. Old oaks shade nearly the whole property, keeping it cooler than the forecast suggests, though Florida has never taken direction. If the sky looks unconvincing before you leave Groveland, call (407) 994-2775 first rather than gambling the drive on it.
2 to 3 hours suits most visits, which fits a weekend window comfortably. The opening stretch nearly always goes on feeding the animals, then the wagon ride, then the playground, with lunch fitted in at one of the shaded tables. Nothing runs to a clock, so you leave when your children have had their fill rather than when a schedule dictates.
From Groveland it pays to arrive at opening. Mornings are cooler, the animals are livelier and the paddocks are emptier early on. Reaching us at 10:00 AM on a Saturday leaves four hours available if you want them, which sits far better against this drive than a compressed midweek visit.
Know Before You Go
Other Services we provide in Groveland