Bunkhouse Trailers

The player up and down California's San Joaquin Valley may be tedious, but consider a stopover on the way to Visalia. September Sycamores Ranch offers a sort of bed-and-breakfast experience on a real farm.

Agri-tourism is what they call - a combination of tourism with agricultural land in California and vast orchards offer townspeople point of view about how an orange, for example, gets the tree to your dining table. With its location just outside of Visalia, Seven Sycamores is a good place to break this long road between the cities of Northern and Southern California.

Bob McKellar is the host of Seven sycamores and something visionary in the field of agro-tourism. A few years ago when he was only 75 years, McKellar decided it was time to find ways to market some of its orange crop outside packing shed usual channels tend to eat the profits of a producer. He joined a national organization and found that in some places, farmers had begun to "CSA - community supported agriculture programs - which touch on some intermediate and fruit for the consumer is entitled . Today, McKellar sells much of its harvest by packing hundreds of baskets of fruit delivered regularly to local customers.

Then McKellar reminds producers in other parts of the country that host weddings on their property and in its first year, 30 weddings booked on its picturesque grounds.

The piece de resistance is that McKellar now offers visitors overnight in an authentic farm - a sort of bed and breakfast, except that McKellar experience life on the road and not in the house, and the small Breakfast comes in the form of fresh produce to cook guests themselves. If the farm of three rooms is too large, you can opt for an economy dormitory nearby businesses. Both come with hens and chickens roam the grounds, and the roosters wake guests offer at no extra cost.

McKellar mother lived in the house for many decades until 2002 when she died. There are photos of family still in the house, which makes it feel like a home, not a vacation rental. A guest book used to complain about all the family photos, but McKellar did not intend to take the photos down. We thought they just added to the charm of our stay.

The rooms are comfortable, even for a large family. A large living area and porch at the former provide comfortable spots to relax, while the kitchen has everything you need to cook your own meals-style farmhouse. As part of your stay, the Seven Sycamores will ask you what you want for breakfast and then you have your fridge stocked for your arrival.

McKellar family history is everywhere you look on the ground. One example would be the observation tower - a replica of the real thing that has been used to monitor Japanese bombers if they attempted to attack by LA flight over the San Joaquin Valley. McKellar family and neighbors took turns alternately watch two hours for two full years.

If this is not enough for you, consider that McKellar is also a guide cap and personally escort guests around its 200 acres of orange trees, where visitors can learn the differences between the navel and Valencia oranges, the best way planting, watering, harvesting and darn near enough information that customers could start growing oranges on their own.

Still not content, McKellar began hosting what he calls a Spring Farm Festival, which opens the area to local families to come out and play carnival games, including a maze-like in his orange where families may find their way along the lane rope through a giant puzzle and collect evidence on how they completed the maze. If you've ever watched Survivor is a game that is as complex as a reward challenges that TV show.