Stephan L.
Yelp
Riverview Farm is one of my favorite places.
It is accessible but feels completely isolated, it can entertain kids and adults for hours (having visited dozens of times as the former and several as the latter I can back this claim), and, most importantly, the family that made it what it is are exceptional human beings.
I spent Christmas this year at my family's house outside of Hanover. I grew up in the area, but have since started my own life far enough away that I don't make it back to New England as often as I would like, and almost never during the growing season.
This year my Mom remembered how much I love the farm. She asked, and I told her that to me Riverview feels like the embodiment of New Hampshire--that I wished I had been in the area before it closed for the season. I remember the inside of the checkout barn more vividly than almost anything else from my childhood: fresh doughnuts and hot cider on the left, a deck overlooking the river out back, gourds stacked up along the walls ahead and to the right, and the smell of the dried flowers hanging from the ceiling everywhere in between.
My mom made a quick phone call, hopped in her car, and drove to Riverview Farm. Though they were closed for the holidays, the Franklins met my mom and unlocked the barn to let her look around.
On christmas morning I had dried flowers in my stocking, and now I have a little piece of Riverview Farm with me in Pennsylvania.
Though we have never formally met, Paul and Nancy's farm had a large impact on my life, and in return I can offer nothing but admiration and my sincerest endorsement to visit their farm.