Agritourism is a combination of agricultural production and ordinary tourism that gives people the chance to visit farms and other agricultural companies, experience country living and rural ways of life and contribute to everyday farm work. Agritourism is not the same as rural tourism, but is an important branch of it. Whereas rural tourism can involve almost all of the tourism farms operating in a region, agritourism services can only be offered by companies whose main area of operations is the preparation of agricultural and fishery products.
Agritourism aims to offer small and medium-sized agricultural producers the chance to earn extra income by providing a tourism service. Alongside their main activities, this service can be accommodation or catering, but also active pursuits connected to the nature of a specific agricultural sector. For example, a farm can run its own produce store, offer visitors the chance to pick their own fruit or vegetables, provide educational programmes, hire out seminar rooms, open a farm restaurant, organise excursions on grazing lands, allow visitors to watch while the cows are milked, offer tastings of their products, run handicrafts workshops and much more.
In order to clearly distinguish Estonia’s agritourism companies, the Central Union of Estonian Farmers created a label for the sector (along with classifications of services) in May 2018.
Farms whose operations meet the following conditions can apply for the label:
Ours is a small family farm with a modest number of goats, our main herd numbering just 30-40. We aim to offer pure products of the highest quality. Our range includes milk, yoghurt and cheese. Occasionally we also offer fresh goat meat as well as sausages and smoked meat.
High in energy, goat’s milk has a variety of benefits: it can be of help in the case of allergies and skin problems; it can improve your health generally, strengthening the body and boosting immunity; it can have a rejuvenating effect; and it normalises the microflora in your digestive tract.
Our farm has not been awarded an ecolabel, but we do raise our animals according to organic principles. All of our products are subject to laboratory analysis and the quality of our milk is regularly tested. Our company is a recognised producer. We use repellent on all of our goats, so there is no need for concern regarding ticks.
Silver Goat Farm is on land that once belonged to Hõbeda Manor in Kadrina municipality in Lääne-Viru County. Hõbeda (meaning ‘silver’) was a farming manor in the 19th century, which in addition to its main building had two sheds, two barns, a dairy, an icehouse and a smithy. All that remains today is one of the sheds, the dairy and the icehouse.
Silver Goat Farm is a family company which started raising goats in spring 2015. We restored the shed and bought 12 local-breed Swedish kids. Most of our first summer was spent doting on and walking the young goats. That autumn we bought a billy goat, and by spring 2016 the results were there for all to see: kids galore! This meant we had to work fast to erect a cheese kitchen and aging room. The rest of the year was about learning through trial and error, leading to the launch of our goat’s cheeses and ice creams in 2017. At the moment we have 31 milking goats and produce around 300 kg of cheese a month.
Here on our farm you can talk to the goats, pat them and generally fall in love with them, plus take them for walks. We can also tell you about the history of the manor, give you a peek at our cheese kitchen and of course let you taste what we make. In summer you can also treat the goats to some tasty branches.
In 2019 we are planning to launch goat therapy and aerobics as well.
Groups are welcome on our farm – we speak Estonian, Russian, English and Finnish.
Everyone’s welcome to visit Küti-Uuetoa bird farm!
More than 90 different types of birds can be found in our gardens, from chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys to quails, peacocks and pheasants. For example, we have 25 different breeds of chicken in 60 different colours.
You can also find out about the day-to-day lives of our bees.
At our farm store we sell our own produce and handicrafts and you can buy a wide range of meat and eggs from our birds. We also offer handicraft classes, including felting, ribbon embroidery and soap-making from our own goose fat.
Catering is available on site.
Bring your family or get an even bigger group together!
Opening hours:
10:00-18:00 Tuesday-Friday from 1 May-15 September. Other times on agreement.
Advance bookings required from 16 September-30 April (when only our pheasants, peacocks, geese and ducks can be seen).
Mesitop is a honey-making company based in the village of Tagamõisa in Viljandi County. Its main activities are the production of honey and other bee-related produce, the rearing of queen bees and the manufacturing of apiculture equipment.
Its bees are kept in collecting areas well away from human activity in a pristine natural setting, mainly surrounded by bogs and fens.
About the company
Mesitop started out as a single apiary in Noarootsi in Lääne County in spring 2006. It has since transferred its operations to the village of Väike-Kõpu in Viljandi County.
It aims to offer honey-lovers both honey and other bee-related produce collected from a pristine natural environment and to provide apiarists with high-quality equipment.
Products and services
The company’s principal areas of activity are making honey and selling apiary equipment. It is also involved in rearing queen bees and both designing and manufacturing apiary equipment.
We are located in the village of Soodevahe in Rae municipality in Harju County. Our farm takes its name from the village.
We manage our farm and also organise events. We have taken part in Open Farm Day twice now.
We keep beef cattle as well as bees and breed both fish and crayfish in our ponds.
Our farm life is characterised by bee-keeping, cattle-rearing, our fish ponds, winter swimming, the seminars we host and the summer café we run.
Members of the Central Union of Estonian Farm Owners whose primary area of activity is agriculture, apiculture or fishery and who wish to offer a tourism service alongside their main operations can sign up to get involved in agritourism.
Farm producers who already use the ‘Real Farm Food’ trademark can sign up free of charge. A symbolic membership fee applies to everyone else.
Central Union of Estonian Farm Owners