Continued from last post here. An overview of the entire itinerary can be found here.
After eating curry for lunch at Yuiga Doxon, we started our sightseeing trip through Furano and Biei. Furano is known for its picturesque rural landscapes and its flower fields, especially its lavender fields in the summer. The neighboring town of Biei is also known for its beautiful rural landscape of rolling hills and vast fields. As these two areas are close to each other, we were able to drive to the various attractions of both areas relatively easy.
Although we planned to visit a couple of farms and fields, more rain was in the forecasts and so we had to limit our visit to just the main attractions. Additionally, we were still early in the summer season, so the flowers were not too impressive. The first areas we arrived at on our drive was Tomitas Melon House and Farm Tomitas which are owned by the same family and right next to each other. It is located in Nakafurano town.
Tomita Melon House was actually the first stop. The attraction here is the Furano Melon which is less famous than the Yubari King melon, but priced at $30-$60 (US dollars) a melon, it was still an expensive treat. Of interesting note is that while the Yubari King melon is a cross-bred between a local Japanese species with a European species, the Furano melons are from the rupiah red melon vareity. I have had the Yubari King melon before, and the Furano melon has a firmer texture, but both are very tasty.
From the main building you can get whole melons, slices of melon, soft serve ice cream, and melon smoothie. We got the melon soft serve ice cream served in half of a melon. The melon was sweet, fragrant, and juicy and the melon soft serve ice cream is smooth, soft, light, and creamy from the Hokkaido milk. We also tried the melon smoothie, which is a blend of fresh melons with ice.
The dessert and pastry cafe was in the back and you can order a variety of baked goods.
We ordered the melon castella and fresh-baked melon bun. The castella is sponge cake that is almost like a pound cake, but less dense. This melon version was very moist, smooth, bouncy, and has that great Furano melon taste.
The fresh melon bun was warm and had a crispy cookie like texture crust that surrounds a soft, melon flavored cake bun, and an intense melon flavored warm cream filling. They must have used the juice in the dough of the bun as you can taste the flagrant, melon taste with every bite of the bun.
As we walked through the grounds of the Melon House, we noticed there was a corn stand located at the right end of the place.
We couldn’t resist and ordered three to share. They were perfectly cooked, and it was some of the best corn I ever ate as they had big, plump, juicy kernels that were amazingly sweet. They were still hot and after all the ice cream, smoothie, and cold weather, it was a delicious and warm treat that should not be missed if you are in the area.
After the farm we stopped by the Lavender fields of Farm Tomita. This is probably the most famous of the flower fields and is usually on every itinerary for Furano. As mentioned earlier, it was still early in the season so the flowers were not in full bloom.
A closer up view of the lavender flowers that were just starting to bloom, the flowers were a paler purple. Once in full bloom, you can imagine the views would be much more exciting.
Other types of flowers are also in the garden grounds, but like the lavender plants, it would take another month before they matured and become like a bright rainbow on the garden grounds.
Various gift shops selling various lavender products were in the middle courtyard of the flower garden as well as food stalls. This one in particular was selling various lavender desserts. I have not had many food that are flavored with lavender, and I prepared myself mentally with dessert flavored like soap, but was pleasantly surprised by how good most of the desserts were. The lavender taste was noticeably floral yet was refreshing in taste. Almost like a mint taste.
Pictured above is a lavender calpis jelly and lavender pudding. The calpis is a lactic acid drink that is slightly tart and paired well with the lavender. It was refreshing. The lavender pudding, made with hokkaido milk was rich and creamy.
Lavender swiss roll, lavender snowmelt cheese cake, and lavender cream puff were a trio of baked desserts we shared. The swiss roll had a light and moist cake that surrounds a semi-sweet lavender cream filling. The cream puff had a light whipped cream lavender filling mixed with custard cream. The cheese cake was very rich yet, fluffy and with a light touch of lavender. These all turned out pretty good as they were not too sweet and we were once again surprised at how we enjoyed the refreshing lavender flavor in these desserts.
Despite the rain, we can not leave without eating a lavender soft serve. The milk in Hokkaido just turn out the best dairy products. The richness of the ice cream stands up well with the lavender flavor. Another must try if you are in the area.
After Farm Tomita, the rain continued so we decided to skip seeing the other flower fields and farms in the area. Instead, we headed over to the Miyama-toge art park which is has a trick art museum. It is about a 20 minute drive from Farm Tomita, located in Kamifurano.
The admission was 1300yen for adults, 1000yen for jr high/high schoolers, and 700yen for children, so it was a little pricey. Although small, there was over a hundred different trick arts. It was not crowded and so we didn’t have to wait to take pictures.
I was pleasantly surprised by how the whole family really enjoyed themselves there. In particular the younger two wanted to take pictures with every exhibit or display.
My younger son was always mischievous and curious, so posing in this picture came naturally to him.
One final picture, not taken at the right angle for the trick art, but a good highlight of how much the two younger ones enjoyed themselves.
Continued in next post.