Hernando area family-run property brings year-round excitement
Tucked away in the North Mississippi community of Love, just outside of the town of Hernando and a few minutes south of Memphis, Tennessee, Cedar Hill Farm is a 120-acre family-owned and operated business/farm which provides a plethora of fun and excitement for visitors every month of the year.
Surrounded by cedar tree-lined fences and woods, Cedar Hill Farm was first opened to the public as a recreation destination in 1996 by Mike and Martha Foster. Today, the operation is run by son, Robert Foster, who is the Owner and President along with his wife, Heather, who took the business over in 2005. Another son, David, joined in 2006.
“My uncle and grandfather ran cattle here before my parents started the business as it is today,” says Foster. “Cedar Hill Farm is essentially what is called an ‘Agri-Tourism’ business and we are one of the best know such operations in the South as well as one of the oldest. We have guests come here every day of every year just to get away and enjoy themselves on the farm. We offer a number of activities, like hayrides, train and tractor rides, and berry picking as just two examples, and then have big holiday and seasonal events like our big Easter Egg Hunt in April, the Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maize and ‘Haunted Farm’ events in the fall and the Choose & Cut Christmas Tree Fields events in the winter time. Most of our visitors come from within an hour and a half radius but we’ve guests come from just about every state in the country, especially on the weekends.”
Cedar Hill Farm also has a full service restaurant on the premises called The Barn, which is open on Friday and Saturday nights, which features farm-to-table meals and the facility also offers companies, school and church groups, family reunions — any type of gathering — the opportunity to hold a customized picnic. “That’s a big part of our business and we have offer bigger gatherings of people a wide variety of activities as well as great food made right in our very own Country Kitchen,” says Foster.
“We’re open year round, but do the bulk of our business during the seasonal events we host,” adds Foster. “And, since we are an actual farm, we have a petting zoo on site for the children, hold ‘chicken shows’ and have playgrounds, a pavilion and also a gift shop that’s always open and sells jams, jellies, eggs and other things we grow here.”
Cedar Hill Farm has also made a name for itself as a unique setting for rehearsal dinner and private dinner parties any time of the year, says Foster. “Field trips make up about twenty percent of our business and the rest is the public coming in as regulars or hosting their events. We also get a number of schools book visits here for educational purposes for their students,” he says. But the experience is nothing like going to class he added.
“We offer a relaxing, fun atmosphere and it’s really beautiful here,” says Foster of what makes Cedar Hill Farm such a major and different place to come. “But, on top of the that, we get a lot of schools book visits here for educational purposes for their students, as well.”
Foster says the Christmas tree area of the farm is made up of about ten of its acres, with berry, pumpkin and corn maize taking up the rest of the acreage. “This fall we’re also going to be offering seventy-five fire pit fields on our property that are private and available to rent and they’re going fast,” says Foster. “In fact, we’re close to selling out.” To meet the demand of the visitors to Cedar Hill Farm, Foster says the parking lot alone takes up almost fifteen acres.
“We’ve got around eight full time employees, with other another twenty or so who work at the restaurant on the weekends,” says Foster about Cedar Hill Farm’s staff. “But, during our seasonal visitation peaks, we’ll have over 200 employees working for us.”
Foster says his parents are still involved in the operation of the farm and that the entire family is looking forward to celebrating their thirty year anniversary next year. “At some point, we’ll plan something commemorative but, right now, it’s all hands on deck as we prepare for our huge fall season,” he says. “We actually start planning for the fall and Christmas seasons every January just to get ready. It takes about nine months to have everything just right.”
“I personally love seeing the smiles on everybody’s faces when they’re here,” says Foster, when asked what his favorite part of running Cedar Hill Farm has been over the years. “Especially, during the fall. And, since we’ve been around so long, for many families a visit here has become a generational tradition. It’s a special place. When I was growing up here, it was mainly just hard farm work. But, since we opened our doors to the public and made Cedar Hill Farm such a special, one-of-a-kind destination, it’s become fun for me!”