This Virginia ice cream stop comes with a very short supply chain.
The milk starts on the same working farm where the creamery turns it into scoops and other dairy treats, which makes dessert feel a lot closer to the source.
You can keep the visit simple or stay longer for the farm store and scheduled tours. Either way, the countryside changes the pace before you even reach the counter.
The farm sits about an hour south of Richmond, making it an easy day-trip option without turning the whole outing into a production.
I’d come for the ice cream and stay long enough to see where the story actually starts.
The Family Has Been Farming This Land For Generations
The land behind Richlands has been connected to the Jones family since the mid-1700s, long before the property became known for dairy farming. The farm originally centered on homestead life, then shifted toward dairy in the middle of the twentieth century.
The dairy operation took shape in the 1950s, when the family moved back to the property and began converting more of the farm toward milk production.
Today, multiple generations remain involved in the business, and the farm manages roughly 800 acres of owned and rented land.
Much of that acreage supports the herd. Corn and rye grass are grown for feed, linking the fields directly to the daily work of caring for the cows.
That history gives you more to look at than a modern creamery building. The place still functions as an agricultural operation, with fields, barns, cows, and dairy equipment all part of the same property.
If you come mainly for ice cream, it is easy to miss how much farm work sits behind the counter. Give yourself a little extra time to look around before heading back to the road.
The Creamery Turns Farm Milk Into Ice Cream
The creamery is the easiest place to start if dessert is the main reason for the drive. Richlands processes milk from its own dairy and uses it for products sold through the creamery, including bottled milk and ice cream.
The operation also produces butter and other dairy products, giving the shop more range than a simple scoop counter. That means you can stop for dessert and still leave with something practical for the refrigerator.
Ice cream is produced on the farm. Instead of building the trip around one particular flavor, choose from what is available when you arrive. A scoop works for a quick stop, while packaged dairy products make it easy to bring something home.
The farm connection is what makes the stop different from a standard ice cream shop. The milk comes from the dairy operation on the property before becoming part of the creamery’s products.
For a first visit, ice cream is the obvious choice, but bottled milk and butter give you another way to take a piece of the farm home. A cooler in the car can make that decision much easier on a warm Virginia afternoon.
Scheduled Tours Show How The Dairy Works
Richlands offers scheduled farm tours for families, school groups, homeschool groups, and organizations interested in seeing a working dairy up close.
The focus goes beyond meeting cows. Tours explain the milking process and the path milk takes from the farm toward the products sold at the creamery.
That makes a tour a different experience from simply stopping by for food. You can see parts of the operation that connect the barn side of the property with the finished milk and ice cream.
The farm continues to offer tours in 2026, and the experience is designed for groups that want a closer look at modern dairy work. Planning ahead matters because tours are scheduled rather than something you automatically join whenever you arrive.
For children, the visit gives everyday dairy products a physical starting point. For adults, the equipment, feed system, herd care, and processing side can be just as interesting.
If your day has room for only one longer activity, choose between a tour and a more relaxed creamery visit. The tour adds structure, while a simple stop leaves more freedom to eat, shop, and move on.
The Cows Stay At The Center Of The Operation
Everything in the creamery starts with the herd. Richlands is still an active dairy, and the cows remain central to the business rather than serving only as part of the visitor experience.
The family grows feed for the herd and manages the everyday work that comes with milking, feeding, cleaning, and caring for dairy cattle. That routine continues whether visitors are on the property or not.
Tours can bring you closer to the process, including the milking areas and the route milk follows through the operation. The farm has also built its visitor experience around showing how modern dairy farming works rather than keeping that side hidden behind the creamery.
That makes the visit especially useful for children who have never seen a working dairy. A carton of milk or a scoop of ice cream looks different once you have seen where the milk begins.
Keep expectations practical. This is a working farm, not a petting attraction where every animal is available for touching. The cows have a daily routine, the staff has farm work to do, and visitor access follows the operation’s schedule.
The connection between herd and creamery is still easy to understand, even if your visit is brief.
The Kitchen And Farm Store Add More Than Dessert
Ice cream may be the easiest reason to stop, but the creamery building also includes a made-to-order kitchen and farm store. That gives you the option to turn a dessert run into a meal or pick up food for later.
The store gives shoppers another place to find Richlands dairy products along with other available goods. A stop can be useful even when nobody in the car wants the same thing.
The kitchen works well when you arrive hungry enough for more than a cone. Food selections can change, so let the menu in front of you decide what lunch or an early dinner looks like.
A farm store also makes the return trip easier. Milk, butter, ice cream, and other available products can go straight into a cooler for the drive home.
If you are traveling with children, food can help break up the visit between farm activities. Adults can shop while younger visitors take a pause, then everyone can decide whether there is time for more of the property.
This is one place where a cooler in the car is genuinely useful. It gives you more freedom to buy dairy products without making the creamery the final stop of the day.
Fall Adds A Corn Maze And Pumpkin Patch
October changes the farm’s rhythm. Richlands plants a pumpkin patch and a four-acre corn maze for its fall festival, adding seasonal activities to the working dairy and creamery.
The fall side of the farm gives families a reason to stay longer than a normal food stop. You can work a maze into the day, pick out a pumpkin, then head toward the creamery when everyone is ready for a break.
Seasonal programming can vary, so check the farm’s event schedule before building an entire weekend visit around one activity. The pumpkin patch and corn maze are established parts of the October festival, while other details can shift from year to year.
The creamery is at 460 Cox Road, Blackstone, VA 23824, on the Route 460 corridor in Dinwiddie County. That location keeps the farm practical for a day trip from Richmond without requiring an overnight stay.
Fall can also be a good time to combine several parts of the property. A maze feels different from a dairy tour, and both feel different from sitting down with ice cream afterward.
If October is your target, give the seasonal activities enough time instead of treating them as a quick extra before closing.
Plan Around The Current Creamery Schedule
The creamery currently operates Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday are closed.
Those hours make any open day workable for an afternoon visit. Arriving earlier gives you more room for the farm store, a meal from the kitchen, and whatever else is happening on the property that day.
Scheduled tours follow their own arrangements, so creamery hours do not automatically mean a tour is available. If seeing the dairy operation matters, arrange that part before the trip.
The property sits about an hour south of Richmond, which makes timing fairly simple for central Virginia travelers. Leave enough room for the drive, a food stop, and whichever farm activity matters most.
A short visit can be ice cream and a few items from the store. A longer one can include a scheduled tour or seasonal fall activities when they are running.
Either way, the farm gives you a direct look at how dairy products connect to the land, herd, and people producing them.
By the time you leave, the ice cream is only one part of the day. The fields, cows, creamery, and family operation give the stop its full shape.