Free entry, free parking and a large corn maze in northern Dutchess County — genuinely low-risk, as long as you notice how short the opening hours are.
The farm advertises free parking and entry; you pay only for what you pick and buy. No per-pound or per-bag pumpkin price was published.
Free to walk in. Your spend here is whatever you choose — pumpkins, food, and any paid activities. That makes it a low-risk stop if you are not sure how long the kids will last.
The appeal here is straightforward. Entry is free, parking is free, and you pay for the apples and pumpkins you carry out. Against a Hudson Valley average that increasingly runs to $17-a-head gates and wristband tiers, that is a meaningful difference — and it removes the single most stressful part of taking a small child to a farm, which is having paid $80 before finding out whether they are in the mood.
The constraint is time, not money. Four hours on a Friday and six at the weekend is a short operating day, and the 4pm close in particular catches out people who treat a farm visit as an afternoon activity. Tivoli is at the northern end of Dutchess County; if you are driving up from the mid-Hudson or the city, the schedule effectively forces a morning trip.
What is on offer is pick-your-own apples and pumpkins, a corn maze and hayrides. A regional guide describes the maze as nine acres with a pirate ship theme, which would make it a substantial walk — but that guide is undated and maze designs are recut every year, so treat the theme as decoration and the acreage as unconfirmed. It is also worth asking whether the maze runs on the day you visit; farms with short hours often run the maze on a narrower schedule than the stand.
The apples are not an afterthought either. Northern Dutchess is orchard country, and the practical value of a farm like this is doing both crops in one stop rather than paying two gates.
Friday 10:00am-2:00pm, Saturday and Sunday 10:00am-4:00pm, plus Labor Day Monday. Those are unusually short days, and the Friday one is only four hours. Arrive within the first hour or you are picking a thinned field with an eye on the clock. The farm had not published fall opening or closing dates when we last checked.
An hour to two. With picking, a maze and a hayride and no attraction park, that is the honest range — and the hours would not support much more anyway.
Free, and advertised as such. No surface is stated, so assume grass or gravel and assume it is soft after rain.
You are looking for rides, play structures or a full afternoon out. Four activities and a four-hour Friday is the whole proposition.
Entry and parking are both free. You pay only for what you pick and buy. No pumpkin price was published on the pages we read.
Friday 10:00am-2:00pm and Saturday and Sunday 10:00am-4:00pm at the time we checked, plus Labor Day Monday. The farm had not published fall opening or closing dates, so confirm the schedule for October before driving out.
2026 dates had not been published when we last checked. In past seasons it has run: Friday, Saturday and Sunday at time of reading, plus Labor Day Monday. Check with the farm before driving out.
Admission is free. The farm advertises free parking and entry; you pay only for what you pick and buy. No per-pound or per-bag pumpkin price was published.
15 Scism Road, Tivoli, NY 12583, in Dutchess County. It is one of 10 patches we track in Hudson Valley.
We track 10 patches in Hudson Valley, 2 of which are free to walk into. Entry here costs nothing, which puts it in the minority even in a region with several free options.
One caveat worth repeating: this farm had not published its 2026 dates when we last checked, while 2 of the 10 patches we track in Hudson Valley had. Treat any date you see elsewhere as last year's until the farm confirms it.
There is 1 other patch we track in Dutchess County. All Hudson Valley patches →
meadorchards.com
Checked August 2026.