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October 2023 by Ashley Strahan
Visited with a toddler because the website had said it was great for all ages. It was not. I was excited for education of alpacas but figured it would be half interactive. We spent 90% of the time listening to the owner talk about everything you can read on his bio online. The website also said it would be 90 minutes but after over 2 hours my husband spoke up saying we had to leave. It was also extremely hot and sunny and to avoid my child getting burnt I kept going into the shady area for him to ask me to step out and say "this isn't a petting zoo, its educational." He knew I was bringing a baby by the text you have to send before arriving which would have been a great opportunity to explain that before paying him. The alpacas were cool and it was great Interacting with them but it takes up 5% of the tour. I felt completely drained by the time we got to interact with them. I think it's amazing to have an educational tour but to say it's for all ages is just not true. If that was the case at least have interactive parts first to avoid hungry, thirsty, tired, burnt toddlers.
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August 2023 by Jack Flick
Worst experience ever, we felt like we were in a time share presentation. The animals were dirty and aggressive. The place was more for adults other than kids. What a waste of money, it was creepy as hell. Do not go here.
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July 2023 by Jennifer Austin
This is something I have always wanted to do! Visiting from NC with friend from GA and we were there today! Small farm, great price (bring cash), loads of interesting information ! It was amazing getting to feed the ladies (called dams) and herd them back into their area. Then we were able to take selfies with a sire! Alpacas are amazing animals, and I love them! Go visit the Harvest Moon store afterwards! It was a great experience, and you should GO! #buyalpacaclothing
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June 2023 by David He
Beautiful alpacas. Owner is very knowledgeable and caring
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May 2023 by Samantha Sommers
Our family had a great time learning about Alpacas! So many really interesting facts that we never knew. We definitely will be returning.
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February 2023 by Avigail Barda
Wonderful place for kids,we were there and it was amazing Jay was teaching us very interestinginformation and a very fun one we took photos with the Alpacas and ut was an unforgettable experience!
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December 2022 by John Martin
Wonderful experience. Educational and we had a nice time interacting with the Alpacas.
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September 2022 by Margo Clark
It was a great experience. Very informative. We learned a lot about Alpacas and got to feed, pet and herd them!
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August 2022 by Debbie Batttle
This was a super fun outing. Tour guide had lots of interesting facts about Alpacas. Tour was a little long to hold the attention of my 4 grandkids?
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July 2022 by Trudy Brement
I have been wanting to take a tour on this Smith Mountain Lake Alpaca Farm for a while now and was so excited to finally experience this unique opportunity. Before I get into the reason I rated this review the way I did, I would just like to say that I did enjoy my experience with the alpacas. They were so adorable! Our tour guide was very sweet, but most of the tour seemed like a long sales pitch. First it was buying an alpaca, then it was buying his $200 alpaca pillow. Then he went on to claim the chemicals in factory pillows causes autism in children, labeling autism as a "disease". He told us that women's breastmilk gets infected from these chemicals, explaining autism can be avoided by the purchase of his pillow. As a young woman with autism I can tell you for certainty these claims are untrue, supported by absolutely no research or evidence. All of this was part of his sales pitch for his wife's "award winning alpaca pillow". After about 30 minutes of feeling disgusted and appalled while he made these claims, he asked if we knew anyone with autism. I sat there silently before my friend bumped my shoulder and I said something. He sat there shocked, not knowing he had just said all this to someone with autism. He tried to cover for himself and said he "would've never guessed I had autism" and that I "must be a really smart kid who's good in school" because I'm on the spectrum. He continued to make more false claims, explaining I may be interested in some experimental procedure to cure my autism with alpaca proteins. He said this protein could cure autism, alzheimers, and cancer. Again, none of these claims were supported by any sort of evidence. I researched all of this as soon as I got home and none of it was supported up by any research. While the alpacas are cute, I would not recommend this tour. It disgusts me that this farm attracts thousands of people every year who would hear these false claims. It is because of people like our tour guide that our society believes people with autism are "diseased", when in reality we were born this way and our minds simply just function differently.
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June 2022 by Anne
Very interesting experience. Fun to see the alpacas but not really a tour. Took us into a barn and told us about history of alpacas, then we fed alpacas right outside that barn, then took pics with one of the alpacas. Then we went back into the barn and he told us for about an hour about how awesome his wife’s alpaca pillows are, different chemicals in normal pillows but it “wasn’t a sales pitch”. Much of the overall time was spent talking about him buying and selling alpaca stuff. Didn’t feel like a tour and I feel like a kid would quickly lose interest, but the alpacas themselves were cool. Wish we had spent more time with the animals!Forgot to mention: he said that non-alpaca pillow chemicals cause autism because they go into the mother’s breastmilk. Not really what we were there to hear about.
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April 2022 by Tina Carr
First off….my 80 year old mom with dementia visited the farm with me. She was made to feel special and is still talking about how much fun she had tonight! Both owners made sure she was comfortable and felt included. Not being from the area I didn’t know what to expect. I figured it would be like a petting type zoo. It’s not. There is a presentation/lecture first. This could be shortened but it does have a lot of information. I think that could be optional when you are making your reservation. Moms with small kids or people like me with elderly parents could skip a lot of that since those with us don’t understand all the info being shared. Now the portions concerning the daily living (ie: pregnancy, life expectancy etc ) was more interesting. We did get to feed the alpacas but this wasn’t very long. We were discouraged from petting them at this point. We then moved to a pen and stood in line to get a photo made with one of the animals. This was fun but felt rushed. The owners were very sweet though and offered to take photos if you didn’t want a selfie. The price is $10 cash only so that’s not too bad. The only complaint or suggestion I have is more time getting to interact close up with the animals. And a little less about the full history, tax implications of ownership, etc. Younger kids and elderly people aren’t too interested. But again, the gentleman doing the presentation was extremely kind, funny and made everyone feel like they were important. Here are some photos we took. My momma loved it.
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April 2022 by Andy Serfass
The owner and guide (Jay?) has a wealth of knowledge and shared much of it during the couple of hours we spent on his farm. We brought our young kids (3.5 & 1.5yrs) to see the alpacas and were delighted by the wide variety of activities and our ability to be hands-on even for our young kids! First we learned about alpacas and why they are not llamas or camels :) then we got to feed the female alpacas out of a small bowl in our hands. The adults held the bowls for our small kids. But our kids loved being close to the alpacas and they were very gentle and good with the kids! Then we got one of the mail alpacas in a separate enclosure for the chance to take photos right next to the alpaca. Jay did a great job helping people to get into the best position to take a sweet but comfortable picture. Then we ended with some time in the gift shop where we unexpectedly bought some things that seemed nice. Throughout all of these activities Jay was adding insight into his care of the alpacas and vast knowledge about alpaca behavior and biology. It was an unexpected highlight of our trip!!
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March 2022 by Irene Williams
We went on a 2 hour tour and loved every minute of it! Jay is incredibly knowledgeable about the alpacas, friendly, and great with kids. We learned all about alpacas, fed them, and took pictures with them. They are all clearly well cared for and loved. It was only $10 for the entire experience which is a steal. They also sell great alpaca products at the store.
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January 2022 by Jaya Rao
It’s just ok. The alpacas are cute, and the staff is knowledgeable about alpacas, but all the interaction with the alpacas is barely ten minutes and is very manufactured or moderated by the owners. The national zoo allows for a lot more direct interaction with the animals, so this farm is more of an informational tour than an alpaca play day.There’s basically a long talking portion then a hard sell to shop at their gift shops for alpaca merchandise—both aren’t why I drove from afar to see the farm.
