Korea Day Tour: Strawberry Picking in Pocheon Valley

My friend Leah and I took a day trip to the Pocheon Art Valley in Gyeongggi-do, South Korea, which is about 40 minutes away from Seoul. However, most tours that go there have two or three stops and the one we got had a quick stopover at a strawberry farm.

In the video I shared below, you will see what took place during our small side trip to go strawberry picking.

We were joined by another pair as we took a van from Myeongdong in Seoul to head to the farm. Once we arrived, we were treated to a quick breakfast of hot tea and freshly made waffles topped with strawberry and apple jam. The jams were made from the fruits harvested from the farm, and I really enjoyed the fresh taste that was not overly sweet.

After eating, we were each given a plastic container and told that we can bring home all the strawberries that we can fit inside as long as we can still close the lid. Furthermore, we can taste up to five strawberries while in the greenhouse.

That got me really excited because I love strawberries! We headed to the greenhouse and one of the staff showed us how to properly pick the fruits without damaging the plants. Unfortunately, we are only allowed to pick from one particular row with ripe fruits. The rows were tight, and since the other pair was ahead of us, we had no choice but to wait for them as they picked off the ripe fruits from the plants.

Unripe Strawberries

As we moved along the aisle, I soon realized that we would be left only with unripe strawberries because the other were walking ahead of us. Leah and I then decided to overtake the other couple and start from the other end of the row where there were still a lot of ripe fruits. The staff didn’t look too happy but hey, we needed to get to the best berries! haha

Finally able to pick the best berries

Soon, we had our boxes filled to the brim. The trick is to arrange them neatly so that you can fit as many strawberries inside as possible. The extra large and irregularly shaped ones were the ones that we ate on the spot. I must say, these are the sweetest and juiciest strawberries that I have ever had!

Just look at those big, juicy berries!

I like the ones I have tried in Japan and China as well, but these tasted extra sweet maybe because they came right off the plant. However, the “picking” experience itself was nothing to write home about. The upside is being able to bring home a 500g box of strawberries (each) that we enjoyed for the rest of the week!

Fruits of our labor!