I love fresh cut Christmas trees and am nostalgic about going out to the field to pick our own. However, in years past I have been disappointed by the “cut your own” trees in nearby tree farms because they don’t grow Fraser Firs and I am decidedly a Fraser Fir kind of gal. The reason they aren’t grown close to DC is because Fraser Firs require more altitude to grow properly — most close-in tree farms will have a variety of pine and maybe some spruce or other variety of fir.
Since we would be traveling along I-81 on our return from Grandma & Grandpa’s after Thanksgiving; I decided to see if I could locate a tree farm somewhere closer to the mountains that might have a better selection. After googling for a while, I settled on a place called Skylark Farms.
Skylark Christmas Tree Farm
24981 Blue Ridge Parkway
Vesuvius, VA 24483
(434) 242-1395
info@skylarkva.com
www.skylarkva.com
Located along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Nelson County, in central Virginia, it made a nice detour along our drive home. I picked Skylark when I read they grown nothing but Fraser Firs and have over 15,000 trees!
When we got there, I was not disappointed. We found row after row of beautiful looking trees.
They have several fields of trees, all located along their main road, making it easy to walk from the car to select your tree.
It didn’t take long to find our perfect tree, in fact there were many beautiful choices.
Our six year old was excited to help Daddy cut it down, using the provided saws.
It’s a very low frills operation. No shaker machine (Mike did his own shaking).
And a self-service netting machine.
But it’s a lovely, low key environment. Another group of families had gathered together for a picnic lunch and had fun tossing a ball around. My kids (and hubs) had a blast playing hide-n-seek, wrestling, and just running around like crazy.
All the trees were $40, unless you wanted a super big one. There were also some tagged trees that were available for less.
Payment was cash or check only.
It was a nice bonus that the farm is dog-friendly as well. We had a great time and would recommend the place to anyone. The only downside is that it is about 2 hours and 45 minutes from Arlington, and there is no bathroom facility on site.
But we had a lovely time and I am glad to renew our cut-your-own tree tradition.
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I too was dissapointed in years past with the lack of Frasier Fir trees to be cut, and only found out last year why they are hard to find around here… thanks for reminding me about this, since I surely would have forgotten 😉
Hartland Orchard in Markham, VA is a closer option (~1 hr) — unfortunately they have a much more limited selection of Fraser Firs and usually sell out of the good ones by the end of Thanksgiving weekend. We went there a couple of years ago and loved it as well.
http://themeanestmomma.com/2009/12/12/my-new-favorite-tree-farm/
I am thrilled to have found your blog on this subject today on the way to the local nursery to buy our Christmas tree. After years of struggling to find a type of tree we loved, we have settled on the Frasier Fir — only to realize that Virginia tree farms do not have good selections for Frasier Firs. We actually sat in the parking lot today of our favorite nursery with our family of 5 and decided we are going to go to Skylark early on Saturday morning instead of getting a precut tree today as planned — because of your blog! I just wanted to let you know what a blessing this site was — thanks!!!
Thanks for your kind words, Cherie!
We had a great time at the tree farm, I hope you do too! Cutting your own tree down is a wonderful tradition.