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Every family in Lake Wales knows Bok Tower Gardens. It sits on Iron Mountain, among the highest ground on the Florida peninsula, and it was built deliberately as a place of stillness — carillon bells, formal gardens, benches, hush. Taking children there is a lovely thing to do and it comes with a running commentary of gentle instructions. Lower your voice. Stay on the path. Do not touch that.
Children need that sort of place. They also need the exact reverse, and the reverse is harder to find. Somewhere nobody minds noise. Somewhere running is expected rather than tolerated. Somewhere the whole point is putting your hands on things.
We are that, forty-five minutes north. Goats which will go straight for whatever you are holding. Cattle grazing at the far end of the pasture, alpacas and donkeys drifting across when it suits them, pigs, chickens and rabbits besides. A Tractor-Drawn Wagon Ride out through the trees and a playground beneath old oaks. Entry is $18 for anyone 2 and older, free under that, and it takes in the lot. Nobody will ask your children to keep their voices down.
Green Meadows opened in 1988 under shade trees in Kissimmee, set up by Coni and Bob Keyes. For getting on for thirty years it was where the children of this region first stood beside a cow, whether they turned up with a school group, for a cousin’s party, or because somebody at home needed the house empty for an afternoon. Then the gates shut for seven years.
We are running again at Lancaster Ranch Park, with the City of Kissimmee’s help, and the reopening changed remarkably little. Cattle, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits stay close enough to touch and feed. The wagon ride continues its circuit of the pasture. The oaks go on doing the cooling. There is more space than before and the same intention laid across it.
Find us at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, some thirty-five miles and about forty-five minutes north of Lake Wales, generally up US-27 and across to the 192 corridor. You come down off the Ridge and out into ranch country, which sets up the morning nicely.
Settle on the day to begin with. We open Wednesday to Friday, 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM, closing Monday and Tuesday. Last admission is 1:00 PM Wednesday to Friday and 2:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. Weekday mornings run quietest, which the very youngest appreciate, though from Lake Wales the weekend hours leave a more forgiving margin. Wednesdays carry Grandparents Day, one grandparent free with each paid general admission, right through the year.
Carry your own lunch. No cafe operates on the property, only vending machines, so assemble a picnic and plenty of water and claim one of the shaded tables kept aside for it. Hats, sunscreen and closed shoes throughout. None of the ground is difficult, but this is a farm rather than a park and it behaves like one.
Then head north. Tickets go online in advance or over the counter when you arrive. Entry sits at $18 per person from 2 years upward, free below, and we handle all major credit cards while taking no cash at all. Parties of 10 to 19 pay $15 apiece and 20 or more pay $12 apiece with a reservation, carrying one free admission per 20 paid. Enquire about the annual pass should this look like becoming a fixture. The feed is an optional extra, available at the gate or added to your tickets online.
Plan Your Visit
Each fall the Pumpkin Zone opens and the farm hits its busiest weeks. Note for the invitations: this is not a pumpkin patch, and we grow nothing here. What the Zone does is give every paying guest a pumpkin to choose and take home, free with the ticket. It stays open every day we are open across the whole season rather than on a narrow weekend window. The Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends either side of Halloween.
Birthday parties call for almost nothing from you. Fix the date and time, pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. Tents go at $450 taking up to 25 guests, further guests at $15 apiece, four per day across Saturday and Sunday with tables standing ready. Everyone invited roams the whole farm, so the animals, the wagon ride and the playground carry the entertaining while you arrange none of it. Decorations and food remain your department. To note on the invitation: pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online, and the celebration runs outdoors start to finish.
Either side of that the calendar turns over. Easter Egg Hunts appear in spring, lesser seasonal events surface through the year, and the whole lot is posted to our Special Events page and released first via Facebook and Instagram. School field trips and larger parties are thoroughly welcome on the rates above, and paying beforehand carries everybody through the entrance and out to the paddocks a good deal sooner.
We sit at Lancaster Ranch Park, 1881 Jack Calhoun Drive, Kissimmee, FL 34741, some thirty-five miles and about forty-five minutes north of Lake Wales. Most families take US-27 up and cut across to the 192 corridor.
That is far enough to warrant planning rather than a spur-of-the-moment decision, particularly midweek when the gates shut at 1:00 PM. A weekend hands you an additional hour at this end. Do consult your maps app before departing, as US-27 shifts character considerably with the hour.
Entry runs $18 per person for everybody aged 2 and above, children under 2 free. That one ticket opens the whole farm, meaning every animal, the wagon ride and the playground, with nothing further charged inside and no parking fee. Carry a card, as no cash is accepted.
Bigger parties pay less apiece: $15 each from 10 to 19 guests, $12 each from 20 upward when reserved, plus one free admission per 20 paid. An annual pass runs a full year of unlimited visits from purchase, which suits families who find themselves returning. Animal feed is an optional few dollars at the gate, or added to your tickets online and worth every cent.
Not here. This is a petting farm and not a pumpkin patch, and we grow nothing on the property. The Pumpkin Zone is our fall version, and a pumpkin from it goes home with every paying guest, free with admission.
Lake Wales already has the quiet outing covered up at the tower. This is the loud one — goats, a wagon ride and a pumpkin under each arm on the way out. The Zone is open every day we are open instead of a handful of weekends, and the Halloween Candy Hunt runs on 2 weekends around Halloween. The dates go on our Special Events page and go out first on Facebook and Instagram.
Gladly. Set your date and time, then pay in full, and your tent is reserved for your celebration. It goes at $450 covering up to 25 guests, further guests at $15 apiece, with four standing ready each day on Saturdays and Sundays, tables laid out.
As guests roam the entire farm, the entertaining resolves before you arrange anything whatsoever. The animals, the wagon ride and the playground split the work. Tents come undecorated, so the styling and the food are entirely yours. Do flag to guests that pony rides and lettuce for the animals are optional extras, bought at the gate or added to your tickets online. Weekend tents disappear early through autumn.
A picnic, chiefly. There is no cafe, only vending machines, and it does catch visitors unawares. Shaded picnic tables stand ready for precisely that, and eating in the open with cattle beyond the rail makes a fine half hour. Carry ample water too, particularly across the warmer months.
Beyond that, dress everybody for a farm rather than a day out: closed shoes, hats, sunscreen. Mature oaks shade most of our ground so it stays cooler than expected, though Florida keeps its own schedule. If the sky looks unconvincing before you leave Lake Wales, call (407) 994-2775 and we will tell you honestly.
They do better than most parents anticipate. The animals hold everyone for the first stretch, then older children gravitate toward the wagon ride and the playground, and there is sufficient ground to cover that nobody feels hemmed in. Feeding a goat turns out to be entertaining well past the age at which children claim to be too old for it.
Grown-ups fare reasonably too, which cannot be said of every place built for children. Shade, tables, and nothing whatsoever to keep pace with. Bring grandparents on a Wednesday and one comes in free alongside each paid admission, which makes a three-generation morning straightforward from Lake Wales.
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