A flat $15 buys more than 35 attractions and a free pumpkin for each child, which makes this the best value-per-dollar ticketed farm in the northern Piedmont - and the $45 season pass pays for itself on the third visit.
$15 for ages 3-64, $10 for ages 65+, free for ages 2 and under, $13 each for groups of 12 or more, and a $45 season pass. U-pick pumpkins, apples and sunflowers, gem mining, face painting, animal stuffing, food and merchandise all cost extra.
Rough cost for a family of four: about $60.00 in admission alone at the posted starting rate, before pumpkins, food, parking or any add-on listed above. Most families end up well north of that once they are through the gate.
The Farm at Dobson is priced like a farm and stocked like an attraction. Fifteen dollars is the whole gate for anyone between 3 and 64, and that covers more than 35 things: a corn maze, an apple cannon, bounce houses, a John Deere tractor playground, an accessible playground, a low ropes course, mini excavators, a construction zone, a bubble station, a Spookley puppet show, farm animals and a swing pergola. Each child also takes a free pumpkin home from the pumpkin barn. For comparison, the same $15 at many ticketed farms buys entry and a wristband upsell.
That is the honest headline. Two adults and two school-age children pay $60 at the gate and can spend seven hours behind it on a Saturday without paying again, provided nobody wants gem mining, face painting or animal stuffing - those are the three paid extras aimed most directly at children, along with the u-pick fields.
Forty-five dollars. Three visits and it has paid for itself; a fourth and it is cheaper than anything else in the county. Across a season that runs from September 12 to November 8 with three-day weekends through all of October, a family within half an hour of Dobson has plenty of chances to use it. If you are driving two hours from Charlotte you will go once and the pass is irrelevant, but for Surry, Yadkin, Wilkes and Stokes county families this is the correct purchase and it is not a close call.
The group rate is the other underused lever: 12 or more people pay $13 each. That is not a coach-party threshold, it is two families or one extended family. Coordinating with another household saves $2 a head and costs nothing but a text message.
The schedule is worth reading carefully because it changes by month. September is weekends. November is weekends. Only October adds Friday, and the October Friday session is 4:30pm to 9pm - evening only. That is the single most likely scheduling mistake here, and it is also the best-kept part of the calendar. A Friday evening in mid-October gets you the same 35 attractions with a fraction of the Saturday crowd, and a corn maze in the dark is a better corn maze.
Bring layers. The foothills cool off hard after sunset in October, and the Saturday close is also 9pm.
The farm publishes an accessible playground but no wider accessibility statement, and it advertises pet-friendly areas without saying which areas. Both are worth a call to 336-817-5208 if either is load-bearing for your day. Nothing is published about the parking surface either; assume grass, and assume it is soft if a storm has come through in the previous few days. Late September and early October is hurricane-remnant season in North Carolina and the northern Piedmont gets its share of the rain.
Finally, note what admission does not stretch to. Apples here are a paid u-pick extra, not the main event. If picking apples is the reason for the trip, the Henderson County orchards two hours west are a better fit and this is a fall festival that happens to have apple trees.
The 2026 season runs September 12 through November 8. Weekends only in September and November; Friday, Saturday and Sunday in October. The October Friday session, 4:30pm to 9pm, is the one worth knowing about - it is the only evening-only slot, it is the only weekday of any kind, and it is by far the quietest way in. Saturdays run 10am to 9pm, an eleven-hour day, and Sundays close earlier at 7pm.
Four hours minimum for a family working through the attraction list, and a full day is defensible on a Saturday given the 10am to 9pm window. If you are only doing the corn maze and the pumpkin barn, two hours.
Nine weekends of operation with a Charlotte and Triad catchment two hours out and Mount Airy tourism next door. Saturday afternoons in mid-October are the pressure point. Friday evenings in October and the September 12-13 opening weekend are the two clear escape valves.
Not published. Assume field or gravel parking, and assume it holds water - late September and early October storms reach the northern Piedmont most years and a soft field is the standard failure mode of a fall farm visit.
The farm lists an accessible playground among its attractions, which is more than most fall farms publish. It does not publish a broader accessibility statement covering paths, the corn maze or restrooms, so call 336-817-5208 if wheels or mobility limits are a factor.
You want a mountain-orchard day with apple picking as the main event. Dobson is Surry County foothills country, and while u-pick apples are available they are a paid extra rather than the point. Skip the September and November dates too if evening opening matters to you - Friday nights are October only.
Dobson is 15 minutes from Mount Airy and sits in the Yadkin Valley wine country, so an afternoon farm visit pairs naturally with a winery stop for the adults or the Mount Airy main street for everyone. If you are driving up from the Triad, the farm is the anchor and everything else fits around it.
$15 for ages 3 to 64, $10 for ages 65 and over, free for ages 2 and under, and $13 each for groups of 12 or more. A season pass is $45.
September 12 to November 8, 2026. Weekends only in September and November; Friday through Sunday in October. Saturday 10am to 9pm, Sunday 10am to 7pm, and October Fridays 4:30pm to 9pm.
U-pick pumpkins, apples and sunflowers, gem mining, face painting, animal stuffing, food and merchandise. Everything else on the 35-plus attraction list, including the corn maze, apple cannon, low ropes course, mini excavators and the playgrounds, is covered by admission - as is a free pumpkin from the pumpkin barn for each child.
The farm advertises pet-friendly areas, which is unusual for a ticketed fall farm in the region. It does not publish which specific areas allow dogs, so confirm on 336-817-5208 before bringing one.
September 12 – November 8, 2026. Weekends September and November; Friday-Sunday in October. Hours: September: Saturday 10:00am-9:00pm, Sunday 10:00am-7:00pm. October: Friday 4:30pm-9:00pm, Saturday 10:00am-9:00pm, Sunday 10:00am-7:00pm. November: Saturday 10:00am-9:00pm, Sunday 10:00am-7:00pm..
Admission starts at $15 per person. $15 for ages 3-64, $10 for ages 65+, free for ages 2 and under, $13 each for groups of 12 or more, and a $45 season pass. U-pick pumpkins, apples and sunflowers, gem mining, face painting, animal stuffing, food and merchandise all cost extra.
769 Bray Ford Road, Dobson, NC 27017, in Surry County. It is one of 4 patches we track in Piedmont Triad.
We track 4 patches in Piedmont Triad. At $15 a head this one sits right on the regional median of $15, undercutting 1 of the 3 paid patches we track here.
Its season runs about 58 days against a regional average of 55, so it is broadly in line with the rest of the region.
What sets it apart locally: it has farm animals, which most Piedmont Triad patches on our list do not.
Map pin is set to the town centre. Navigate to the street address above, not the pin.
letsgotothefarm.com
Checked August 2026.