We spent a night in a platform tent at Stony Creek Farmstead in Walton, New York on a Hipcamp Field Scout assignment.
If you’re not familiar with Hipcamp, they are “committed to making getting outside fun and easy, as simple as selecting what, when and where you want your camping experience to be.” (from Hipcamp.com). They are a great resource for finding and booking campsites across the United States (unfortunately direct booking is not available for federal or state land). Lots of private land is listed and, as a Field Scout, we visit the property to tell its story via photography and provide feedback.
TIP: Try Hipcamp to discover campgrounds (or list your own land!). Use this link to sign-up and receive $10 in Hipcamp credit towards your first booking!
Our review and photos of Stony Creek Farmstead can be found on Hipcamp or here:
Kate and Dan are pro farm stay hosts. Seriously. They’ve been hosting farm stays at Stony Creek Farmstead in the Catskills for nine years.
There’s plenty of land to pitch your own tent but you’d be missing out on the unique platform tent accommodation. The platform tents have a wood floor and can sleep six people. There’s a room with a king-size bed, a cabinet bed for two, and another room with a bunk bed. The tent also includes a flush toilet and a kitchen with cold running water, a cooler, and a wood cookstove. Hot showers can be taken in the nearby shower house.
Although there’s plenty to do in the Catskills region – hiking, antiquing, and exploring small towns – you probably won’t want to leave the farm. Disconnect and enjoy the lack of electricity or get out and explore the pastures and gardens. You’ll find cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens galore. There’s even a pond for swimming on hot summer days. Kate is also an educator and this farm stay will allow you to watch the daily milking and join the Saturday farm tour.
You won’t go hungry. The farm store stocks their own meat, eggs, and vegetables as well as other products such as pancake mix, syrup, yogurt, soup, dish soap, t-shirts, yarn, and more. Don’t miss picking up the morning farm basket chock full of fresh baked bread, eggs, bacon, and vegetables; then head back to your platform tent to cook up a fantastic breakfast. And, on Saturday nights you can mingle with other guests at a wood-fired brick oven pizza night.
On our way out, we stopped at Roscoe NY Beer Co. and Prohibition Distillery (great spirits, great guys – check them out!) in downtown Roscoe, NY, Cheers!
September 11 – 12, 2017