The Olive Grove Brooksville Review |

Did you know that there is an olive grove in Brooksville, about an hour north of Tampa?

The Olive Grove offers glamping, workshops, parties, and events. They also have a shop with their products farm shop.

I visited The Olive Grove and participated in one of their private tour and workshop events. The grove is beautiful and calm and seems like a relaxing place to glamp.

If you want to know more about The Olive Grove, what it looks like, what events are held there, what to expect at a workshop, or what is available on its grounds, keep reading.

The Olive Grove Information

The Olive Grove is located at 15016 Rester Drive in Brooksville, Florida.

It is open seasonally, from Friday to Sunday, from 10 am until 5 pm. The season is from September to March. You can contact them for openings during the off-season.

Tours and Workshops

The Olive Grove hosts a variety of workshops throughout the season. Workshops can be signed up for individually, but if you are interested in taking more than one, they offer memberships for more affordable pricing.

Workshops typically range from $35 to $85 each. Members can attend for free.

Private Tour + Workshop

If you have a group of 10+, you can book a private tour and workshop at The Olive Grove. This is what we did.

The event is $45 per person, with kids under 5 attending for free.

This includes a short class on olives and olive oil, a tasting, making products out of olive oil, lunch, and a workshop.

As we arrived, we were greeted and welcomed to the grove. Those who needed it were shown the bathrooms, and we were all offered bottles of water. Then, we met up at the tree for a short lesson about olives.

Our group included kids ages 10 to 16. The younger ones played on the swing while the lesson took place.

Tasting

After learning more about olive trees, we walked over to a group of tables and sat down for our tasting. We were offered olive leaf tea and sangria.

We each got a pamphlet with information about processing olives into oil and tasting notes that we could fill out to remember what we enjoyed.

Each time we tried a new olive oil, it came with delicious sourdough bread. First, we tried a Meyer lemon-infused arbequina.

Next, we tried a white truffle-infused oil.

We also tried balsamic vinegar, including a cranberry balsamic vinegar and a bourbon balsamic vinegrette.

My notes mention koroneiki and mission grown in California, but I have no idea what that is regarding.

After we tried the oils and vinegars, we learned how to brine olives, and we could brine our own olives with Himalayan salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, and vinegar.

Some people, like my son, ate their olives immediately, while others took them home to properly brine. Only one of the olives was raw and needed to be kept in the brine for a few weeks.

Unfortunately, my family went back to Australia before we could try the raw olive.

Workshop

After we brined olives, we chose to make a hand & foot scrub or a face scrub. They both have olive oil and honey in them, but the face scrub has sugar while the hand scrub has salt.

The staff pours the proper amount of ingredients into each pot, and then you stir them together.

Then, you get to make an infused olive oil to take home. You can decide what to put in it. Our choices were chili, salt, garlic, pepper, oregano, and rosemary. The herbs are only available if they have dried herbs.

When it is finished, they add a cute decoration of rosemary and olive leaves to the bottle.

After making our products, we were taken to the shop. This is where the olive press is, though it is not being used at the time of year we visited, in September.

There are a variety of products in the shop, and you can purchase what you want. They are not pushy; you don’t need to purchase anything.

As I was about to fly back to Australia, I did not purchase anything as I would not have been able to take it back with me.

Both my mom and my friend bought a bottle of the Meyer lemon olive oil, which I hear (from my friend) is delicious on Brussels sprouts.

You can purchase olive oil, soaps, olives to brine, and olive trees from the Olive Grove.

Lunch

After visiting the shop, it was time for lunch. It is advertised as a light lunch, but you can eat as much as you want.

On our visit, we were offered a cheese platter, pasta salad with veggies, chicken salad, olive tapenade, rolls, and crackers.

Workshop Part 2

As soon as lunch ended, we started our craft, making clay lamps.

As they have to be fired in the kiln, someone needs to go back to collect them in a few weeks.

I struggled with the clay, but we all had fun regardless. I felt like the workshop was definitely worth the money.

If you want, you can add another craft to the workshop. Options include:

mosaic garden stones or flower pots
dream catchers
canvas painting
painting feng shui flower pots
gem panning and jewelry making
soap making
sea glass Christmas tree
laundry soap making
living wreaths
bonsai or fairy garden olive trees

Parties and Events

The Olive Grove hosts events, including concerts, and you are welcome to host your events there as well.

They are set up for weddings, birthday parties, and other occasions.

Camping and Glamping

At the back corner of The Olive Grove, there are 2 permanent tents set up along with tables, chairs, and firepits.

They are near the toilet block. Each bathroom includes a shower.

On the other side of the bathrooms is a camp kitchen. The camp kitchen has a toaster oven, coffee pot, sink, burners, pots, and everything you need to cook a meal outside.

When we were there, an RV was set up on the side of the camp kitchen. There is plenty of room for tents as well.

An above-ground pool is located near the tables that we used during the workshop.

I do not see anything about camping on their website, but they do have a listing on Airbnb.

The Olive Grove Wrap-Up

I hadn’t heard of The Olive Grove until my last visit to Florida, but I am glad that we found it. The private workshop was fun for all ages. We had kids ages 10-16, as well as the moms, and my mom.

I suggest wearing closed-toed shoes. They suggest wearing play clothes for the workshop, and that is best.

If you are looking for a fun day out or a relaxing weekend away, check out The Olive Grove.

The Olive Grove Brooksville Review

The Olive Grove Information