Adam B.
Yelp
Okay ... so here's the deal. The atmosphere here gets a 5. The taste and variety of the apples and trees get a 1. That averages out to a 3. Basically, my recommendation in a nutshell is to avoid this place if you are coming for apple picking. The apples are small, sour tasting and sparse. If you want a fall family day, I would recommend you come here for their amazing cider donuts, hayless hay ride around the grounds, BBQ stand and brew barn. Many of the 4-5 star reviews mention that they skipped apple picking and just got a pumpkin or walked around the farm.
This is smack dab on the Johnny Appleseed apple trail. They have a tree that is over 100 years old and still produces apples. The thing is, most of the 'trees' here are sapling sized ... they aren't the hearty, tall apple trees that you can climb on. I guess that is good for families with small kids but it makes for a less than memorable experience when you walk amongst rows of small trees and can almost reach the top branches by standing on your tip toes.
I think with the popularity of apple picking in Massachusetts, orchards are forced to open their crops for picking too early, which means under-ripe fruit. Every single apple we picked here was too sour and way too firm. We didn't get any of that huge apples for eating, the way some orchards out in the central Massachusetts area have. Most apples were on the small side. (Through no fault of the orchard, it should be mentioned that there was a hail storm this season, so none of the apples we picked were not marked up with hail bruises ... just know that in 2019, the apples you pick here won't be picture perfect looking.)
We all had stomach issues after eating an apple from the tree at the orchard and one at home. The apples were all on the sour side. We picked a few of each variety that the orchard had available ... only 4 varieties were available the last week of September. Macs, Courtland, Maccoun and RI Green. The RI Green were similar to granny smith but were so sour and hard, you could barely eat a bite. The macs were sour and hard. The Courtland was the best apple we tried but was still a bit on the sour side.
Beyond the apples ... there is a food stand which serves hot dogs, burgers, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, grilled corn, baked beans, etc. The food here is good ... the burgers were nothing to write home about but for apple orchard food were decent. The pulled pork won't win any awards but it was fresh and decent. The star of the show was the baked beans which were among the best I've had. The French fries were dried out and bland ... they are not seasoned at all. They also have beers from a local brewery available, which were delicious.
The parking here is ample and the prices are about what you'd expect to find elsewhere in a pick your own orchard. A bag which holds about 20 lbs. of apples is $30 ... so you are paying about what you would in a store. There is a small $20 bag but the value is much better with the large bag. With the bag comes 2 tokens for the hayride. Each additional token is $4 ... which might be a deal breaker for larger families. The hayless hayride is fun ... it goes on a loop around the property and they don't pack people on. However, I don't know if it's worth $4 per person.
The farm store sells amazing apple cider donuts. You order the bag at the register and they are brought out hot and fresh. These are among the best apple cider donuts I've had ... you must eat them fresh and warm. Even cold they are good and better than 90% of the other places I've tried. The store mostly has food ... not too many novelties, etc. but I can't imagine a cuter farm store.
The crowd was manageable ... much, much less crowded with people than the orchards in Central MA (Bolton, Stowe, etc.) The crowd was a little on the trashy side (lots of bright blue hair and tattoos) and on the way out, we had a few words with a trailer park-type of woman who was mad because we took too long to take a photo on the tractor she wanted to take a photo on. But despite Walterina White's little meth-induced meltdown, most people were fairly respectful. EXCEPT for the family who let their little kid watch a Mickey Mouse video on her smart phone at full volume! Everyone on the ride shot the parents evil looks ... why you would bring a child on a hayride only to let them stare at a smartphone screen (at 4 years old!!) the whole time is beyond me. But parents like this should be dragged from the back of the tractor vs. allowed to sit in it.
Overall, this is a good day for a family who is more concerned about the experience than the product. I won't come back here to pick apples but I likely will come back to walk through the orchard, pick a pumpkin and have some BBQ. We went the last weekend of Sept. on a beautiful day, which felt more like summer than fall. It's in a beautiful part of Massachusetts, although remote.