Living in the metro and dealing with its aberrations really brings stress. This is one of the reasons why I left the capital a few years ago. But since I relocated back to Luzon after working for about three years in Cebu, the need to find a place to relax is mandatory. This led me to a facility of Timberland Heights in San Mateo Rizal, the Adventure Farm.

Together with few bloggers invited by the management to experience its newest adventure trail, we spent a weekend at the farm. The experience really satisfied my checklist and provided a fun getaway from Manila. Gone are the days when everyone in the city yearns for a quick beach getaway in Batangas.

Timberland Heights in San Mateo, Rizal has the goal to promote a suburban lifestyle close to nature. The property is accessible from Quezon City and its surrounding providing cool temperatures, stunning views, and an unruffled environment away from the bustling city life.

Apart from the residential areas, the brand also develops a recreational venue on their property. This led to the birth of Adventure Farm that they’re slowly evolving into a getaway destination in Rizal.

Adventure Farm

This 6-hectare facility is a fun place for kids and persons of all ages to learn about growing crops and farm animals. In a city where traditional farming is already phased-out, the facility is a perfect hub for kids to experience planting vegetables like kale, lettuce, cabbage, and a lot more. They can also try feeding a flock of ducks, chickens, and native pigs.

During our farm tour, the in-house guide mentioned about Adventure Farm employing a new technique in organic farming, the use of probiotics. There are tons of great results of probiotic farming apart from helping the plants during their growth stage. Some even noticed that the process removes the foul odor on swine farms.

Adventure Farm has more than a dozen of facilities to try like Fish Frenzy, Butterfly Garden, Herb Terraces, Tree Troop, Veggie Valley, Crops Crescent, Citrus Groves, and Hilltop Haven. Other interesting sections are; Rain Gardens that demonstrate on how rainwaters are filtrated on layers of soil, sand, and rocks, Greenhouse which is a source of fresh greens and other veggies, Chicken Chums where kids can play and feed the chickens, and Worm World where the process of culturing earthworms to produce compost.

Adventure Playground

A recent addition to Timberland Heights’ Adventure Farm is Adventure Playground. The management actually invited us to try the adventure trail for its launching. The blogger group competed with the Timberland team in surviving the stations and challenges of the team-building facility.

Adventure Playground has ten obstacle locations: tire relay, wet station, mud station, wall climb 1 & 2, hill up 1 & 2, hill down, military crawl, and balance logs. We underestimated the trail at first, knowing that it would be the usual team-building trails. But hell no! The terrain where the trails were located made the transition from one station to another difficult. There’s a mud station but the entire trail became muddy, thanks to the rain that morning.

The race requires all members of the group to finish every station before moving on to the next one. Every station has the teams flag and the leader was mandated to pick one after every station. Adventure Playground not only tests the unity and teamwork of the group but also every member’s stamina. The Timberland team won the challenge but we enjoyed the trail! We momentarily stop for photo ops and wait and cheer for our teammates. It was a muddy yet exciting team building activity we had.

To ensure safety and fun, it is advised to wear safety gears (provided by the management), and comfortable trekking shoes or closed sandals during the activity. Bring reusable water bottles, towel, extra clothes, and bathing essentials on your stay (prepare for the mud!).

Campsite

Since Timberland Heights is tucked in a scenic area of Rizal, it’s a must to try camping. Yes, the facility allows overnight camping on one of their hills overlooking the view of Quezon City and few parts of Mandaluyong.

Before setting up the tents, a Timberland crew will do a short course on tent pitching. The process starts from surveying the area to ensure that tents will lie on a flat surface. It is also important to check the direction of the wind in putting up of tents. Tents pitched and things settled, we spent the night on a hill enjoying the view of the cityscape. Armed with a Bluetooth speaker, a smartphone, and a gallon of sago gulaman, we played stop-dance with a glass of the sweet drink as a drawback. It was a fun evening to remember.

Don’t miss the chance to sleep under the million stars and sit around a bonfire with your group. You can also gather around and roast marshmallows while sharing stories as the night fades away.

I had no expectations that weekend apart from trying out Timberland Heights’ Adventure Playground. Turned out that the weekend stay at the property offering tons of activities and facilities was full of laughter and fun, especially if you’re with a bunch of cool people.

For inquiries, concerns, and directions to take, you can contact the management directly via email adventurefarmstimberland@gmail.com or on their Facebook Page.

Adventure Playground photos courtesy of Dennis Murillo of The Dennis Murillo Photography. Some photos grabbed from Adventure Farm’s Facebook page.