Turkey Hill Experience

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Turkey Hill Dairy. All opinions are my own.

We’re big Turkey Hill fans in our house. Tommy drinks about a gallon of tea a day, I love the lemonades, and who doesn’t love some Turkey Hill ice cream?!?

The Turkey Hill Experience opened in 2011. The building that they used was constructed in 1899 and was known as the Ashley & Bailey Silk Mill.  After being empty for more than 25 years, Turkey Hill bought the building in 2009 and began renovations. The Turkey Hill Experience includes 26,000 square feet of family-friendly exhibits and activities.

Our day started out pretty early. Nanny (my mother-in-law) met us at our house about 9am, we then dropped off Owen at Mommom’s (my mom), and headed on our way. The Turkey Hill Experience is about an hour and 15 minutes from where we live in Cecil County, MD.

I knew we had arrived when I saw the water tower on Rt 30 with the Turkey Hill Experience Logo! We got off the highway and made the circle around to a rather sketchy looking old building (remember I said it was from 1899?) with the bright Turkey Hill Experience logo in the front. The giant cow and ice cream container aren’t always there, they travel everywhere!

 

When you walk inside, you walk right into the gift shop and lobby area. You can buy your tickets at the desk to the right.  

	The Experience	The Experience & Taste Lab
Adult (ages 18-61)	$9.95	$14.50
Junior (ages 5-17)	$7.95	$12.50
Senior (ages 62+)	$8.95	$13.50
Children (ages 4 & under)	Free	$4.55

Admission is required to visit the main exhibit area and the Taste Lab. The Taste Lab sells out often (especially on the weekends), so it is recommended to buy your tickets online to ensure you’re spot in the Taste Lab!

To enter The Turkey Hill Experience, you head upstairs to learn some history of Turkey Hill Dairy and the area in general. Oh and the inside doesn’t look sketchy at all (as you can see). Tommy and I were talking about how beautiful the inside of the building is and how awesome it is that Turkey Hill used a building that was already in place. As you continue to the interactive exhibits, you’ll be greeted by cows you can milk and a truck you can “drive”.

Of course, Charlie loved driving the milk truck and milking the cows. I found it rather comical to watch him try to milk the cows! Since this is the first thing you come to, it kind of bottle necks here, so it was a good chance to work on some of our skills: patience, waiting our turn, and letting someone else take their turn.

Your ticket will have a special code on it you’ll use throughout the exhibits to make your own flavor ice cream, design your packaging, and create your commercial. Here’s mine:

And yes, I completely missed my R in Strawberry. Word to the wise: double check yourself! I really do know how to spell STRAWBERRY.

The activities throughout The Turkey Hill Experience are good for any age level.

Tommy enjoyed playing playing a few games with Charlie (and by himself), he pushed his sleeve up for round 2- it was game on. There’s even a ball pit! What kiddo doesn’t love a ball pit?

Included in your Experience ticket is your ability to sample endless amounts of teas and ice cream! We sampled some ice cream, teas, and my mother-in-law found a new yummy treat: Turkey Hill’s new iced coffee!

After playing around for about an hour, it was time for our date with the Taste Lab! Everyone washed their hands then waited patiently for instructions on how to make our own ice cream creation. For a little boy (or anyone) it’s really hard to sit in front of all of these flavorings and add-ins without touching!

Everyone starts out with plain white ice cream. You can then add flavoring to your ice cream if you’d like. After that’s all stirred together comes the inclusions: cookies, nuts, fruits, sprinkles, etc. The entire side wall is full of them! Once it’s all combined, your creation goes into the freezer to harden it up a bit while you learn a little more about how Turkey Hill ice cream is made. I was surprised how nicely Charlie sat waiting for his ice cream to be returned to him, but I think he was rather worn out after playing so hard before the Taste Lab.

We took what seems like a million pictures, but I’m not going to share them all with you (though it’s been hard picking what to share). We had a fantastic time and I know we’ll be returning. My mother-in-law already said she’d love to take the other grandchildren there (aging from 4 to 11 year olds), knowing that they would all enjoy it. If you’re in the area (or planning to visit) of MD, DE, or PA, this is definitely worth a visit!

You can connect with Turkey Hill and The Experience at their website, Facebook, and Twitter.

And thanks to Turkey Hill Dairy, one Mom’s Messy Miracles reader will win a family 4 pack of tickets to The Turkey Hill Experience with the Taste Lab!

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