Brown Cow Creamery — Restaurant in Damascus

We go fruit picking at a number of different farms almost every week since PYO becomes available in the Summer. Rock Hill Orchard consistently offers one of the best fruit picking experiences for our family.

When it comes to peaches, the picking there is unrivaled - every single time we've been there the rows and rows of trees have been spilling with beautiful, ripe peaches and nectarines. There has been no need to scatter about looking for good specimens to fill the boxes or bags. We often could have easily filled the containers with fruits from just one tree! Bountiful is the word that comes to mind when we go peach and nectarine picking at Rock Hill Orchard. In terms of the fruit, there's just something about the peaches and nectarines at Rock Hill Orchard that boast exceptional taste and quality compared to others that we've sampled. They mentioned on their site that peaches seem to thrive on their soil, and we can absolutely attest to that.

The peaches and nectarines alone are totally worth the hour's drive it takes us to get there every week. However, apart from fruit picking, we never fail to get the A2A2 Guernsey milk when we're there. It's quite spoiled us for other milk. And of course, the ice cream is amazing too.

Update 10/09: This farm is fast becoming our happy place. We love picking apples here! Each time we've visited there have been anywhere from at least seven to over ten varieties of apples available for picking. The apples taste great! Today's visit was special as they had some carnival rides and attractions at the farm and our little one had so much fun. She went on all the rides she's tall enough for, some multiple times. She also got the opportunity to see a cow getting milked by the robotic milker. We had some delicious apple cider donuts and their famous ginger ice cream (can see why people love it). Next up: pumpkin patch and corn maize. Can't wait to check out the...

We went in the last days of July and were hungrily searching for delicious peaches.

Oh boy, did we hit the jackpot here at Rock Hill. They were bursting off the branches here and many had already fallen from the lack of pickers (ahem, that means you).

They were big, juicy, and ready to please (the peaches) and we filled them up in the F-R-E-E baskets that they offered. We'd been to another very well known orchard where the goal was all about nickel & diming their customer (fee per person, not per car to enter and charging for every container).

They were also giving a tour of their facilities and we did a 20 minute stop at the milking station. It's impressive how they've implemented technology into the farm and how well the process works. Definitely worthy of a visit if they're offering this tour. It's also free!

Afterwards, we stopped by their creamery and just about died and went to MOO heaven. Just about the best ice cream you can have.

Be warned, we showed up five minutes after they'd open coming down from the orchard and it was already packed and the line was 10 deep. Get there early and make that dental appointment early cuz your sweet tooth is gonna...

The ice cream itself was decent, but nothing special. When we arrived, there were five flavors available to purchase. We could see another five to seven flavors sitting on a counter, however when we asked about them, we were told they were too cold to scoop. About ten minutes after we purchased our ice cream, those additional flavors were suddenly available to purchase. The additional flavors were more creative than the chocolate, vanilla and strawberry that were three of the five original flavors available. I also find it curious that an ice cream shop doesn’t allow samples.

In addition, the staff that was working was not only not friendly but also bordering on flat out rude. The responses to questions asked were curt and abrasive and it didn’t seem that she wanted to be there at all.

Finally, there is a no pets sign in front of the door, but pets are not allowed anywhere on the property. This includes the large grassy area and a gravel lot.

All I was left with was wanting ice cream from a different, better place.

I believe they are under new ownership so maybe there are some kinks...