Ricardoes Tomatoes and Strawberries

A favourite with locals and tourists, Port Macquarie’s Ricardoes Tomatoes and Strawberries is a fun place to pick your own fresh produce. Located only 20 minutes from the Port Macquarie CBD on the New South Wales mid-north coast, it’s a must-see place for visitors.

A large car park caters to the many visitors. On arrival you are greeted by koala painted in strawberry leaves, flowers and fruit. These koalas are a feature around Port Macquarie, being places outside many businesses and decorated to reflect their location.

After saying hello to the koala, we went inside to get a bucket and scissors and a few instructions including which greenhouse to go to. It was then off to collect our strawberries. At the end you pay before leaving for the weight of the strawberry’s that you have picked.

Ricardoes grow their tomatoes and strawberries hydroponically in greenhouses. Only certain ones are open to the public at a time because the others are either undergoing maintenance or not ready to harvest.

We spent some time picking strawberries, making sure to pick ripe ones. Signs tell you that the best ones are at the back, because most people go to the front rows of plants first. Once our buckets were full, we returned to the entrance to pay for them.

Café and Shop

Inside the main building, a display room has other products for sale, and we bought some strawberry jam. A café also sold Devonshire tea, so we finished off the morning with coffee, and scones with jam and cream.

This was a fun morning out, with strawberries to eat on the way home.

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.