Hakwon Farm, Gochang

In spring, red dirt tracks wind through endless waves of green barley; in autumn the same rolling hills turn white with buckwheat flowers. Hakwon Farm in Gongeum-myeon, Gochang, practises landscape farming, choosing crops for how beautiful they look as much as for what they earn, and its spring Green Barley Festival and autumn Buckwheat Flower Festival draw hundreds of thousands of visitors. The 22nd barley festival in 2025 welcomed 510,000 people.

A hillside cleared by a prime minister's family

The farm began in the early 1960s, when former prime minister Jin Eui-jong and his wife Lee Hak cleared around 330,000 m² (100,000 pyeong) of undeveloped hills in south-western Gochang. Its name comes from Hansaegol, the area's old name; hansae refers to the egrets and herons common here. Combining the "hak" (crane) of Lee Hak's name with "won" (field) gave Hakwon, "field of cranes".

In the 1960s the family planted paulownia and mulberry trees for silkworms, in the 1970s grew pasture for Korean beef cattle, and in the 1980s farmed watermelons and peanuts. In 1992 their son Jin Young-ho came back to farm and switched to low-labour barley and beans. Visitors began arriving to see the barley rippling across the hills, so the autumn crop became buckwheat, sunflowers and cosmos were added, and the farm turned into today's landscape-farming destination.

Fields that change with the seasons

• Green barley (mid-April to mid-May): The festival usually runs for three weeks from the third weekend of April. Together with neighbouring farms the barley covers about 1 km² (300,000 pyeong), and a "path between the barley fields" runs through the central field. In April you can also walk through canola fields.
• Sunflowers: Traditionally planted in the gap between the barley harvest in mid-June and buckwheat sowing, they have been grown to flower in autumn since 2025 because of unpredictable summer weather.
• Buckwheat (mid-September to mid/late October): Sown to peak around Chuseok, with fields planted in stages so the flowers last longer. Yellow cosmos and zinnias bloom at the same time.
• On screen: Since 2005 the farm has been used for films, dramas and adverts, including the canola-field scenes of the 2025 drama When Life Gives You Tangerines.

Tripto tips

• Opening: You can look around the farm from sunrise to sunset. The walking paths laid out inside the fields during each season are open 09:00–18:00 (last entry 17:20) and have charged a fee since autumn 2025. Bloom times and seasons shift every year, so check the notices on the farm's website.
• Rules: This is private land: drones are banned without permission, and overnight car camping is not allowed.
• Time needed: Allow 1–2 hours to stroll the field paths and take photos. Festival weekends bring heavy traffic and full car parks, so come early in the morning.
• Food: The seasonal Hakwon Farm restaurant by the central field serves barley bibimbap made with the farm's own barley, and the year-round café offers barley-sprout lattes.
• Getting there: Take an express bus from Seoul's Central City Terminal to Gochang, then a bus bound for Seonsan (7 a day) to the "Cheongboribat" stop and walk 1.1 km (about 15 minutes). By KTX or SRT, get off at Jeongeup Station and change to a Gochang bus at Jeongeup Bus Terminal. Return buses are few, so ask the driver about afternoon times when you get off.
• Nearby: Combine the farm with Gochang Eupseong Fortress and Seonunsa Temple for a full day in Gochang.