6 Great Orchards to Go Apple Picking This Fall

Find out where to pick your own farm-fresh apples and enjoy fun seasonal activities

Smiling women carrying basket full of ripe harvested apples in their farm

Apple picking is a perennial fall activity for family fun and health benefits.

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Jaimie Seaton,

AARP

Published October 07, 2024

If one apple a day can keep the doctor away, imagine what picking a whole bushel or basket can do! Growing up in New England, I was fortunate to go apple picking every fall and I still do. Being outdoors on a crisp, cool autumn day and feeling the fallen leaves crunch under my feet always makes me feel rejuvenated. Little wonder, given the myriad health benefits of apples and apple picking. In fact, this perennial activity can help thwart some of the biggest health risks to people 50 and older.

Apples are packed with healthy carbs, pectin and antioxidants, and are a good source of vitamin C and fiber, one of the nutrients we need more of as we age. (Just remember, most of the nutrients are in the skin, so bite right in.) Picking your own apples supercharges the health benefits. Did you know that strolls through orchards can lower your mortality risk from all causes? And replacing 30 minutes of sitting a day with physical activity can lower your risk of type 2 diabetes. In addition, walking in nature can also improve your mental and physical health.

We’ve rounded up six orchards across the U.S. where apple picking is just the beginning of the experience. Since we’re dealing with Mother Nature, we recommend checking the websites for updates on what varieties of apples are available before heading out with your basket. The farms have different levels of accessibility but they can all accommodate visitors with mobility issues to some extent.

In addition to apple picking, you can pick flowers at Riverview Farm in New Hampshire.

Liz Berendsen

Riverview Farm

Plainfield, New Hampshire

Established over 40 years ago by the Franklin family, this 44-acre farm manages to be serene despite its many activities and popularity with locals. It offers 12 acres of apple picking (15 varieties), a 3-acre corn maze, pumpkin and berry patches and a glorious field of flowers to pick the perfect bouquet. There is ample parking in the dirt lot, which is just minutes away from the farm store where bags and wagons for apple and pumpkin picking are on offer along with homemade jams and dried flower bouquets — and where owners Paul and Nancy Franklin are likely to be at the registers. Step out onto the back porch or grab a chair on the lawn to view the Connecticut River while enjoying hot mulled cider and a homemade cider donut (available on the weekends).

There’s a ramp up to the deck for wheelchairs, all the activities are within a short walk and many of the orchards are accessible by car. Pick your own apples are $1.50 per pound and the maze is $8 per person; ages 4 and younger are free. Flowers are charged by the stem and by weight. Open August through Oct. 31, Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Man picking macintosh apples from an apple tree

Honey Pot Hill Orchard is a fourth-generation farm in Massachusetts.

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Honey Pot Hill Orchards

Stow, Massachusetts

This father-daughter run, fourth-generation farm is the perfect place for a multigenerational outing or retreat. In addition to a longer-than-most apple picking season (check website for details, depending on variety, and there are 26 of them), the farm offers three corn mazes, hay rides, farm animals, a farm store with bakery goods (including pumpkin pie) and a hard cider tent that serves up live music and games along with the homemade brew (weekends 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

There is limited wheelchair accessibility, but the orchard is on mainly flat ground with dirt paths. Pick your own apples are $25 for a peck bag (roughly 10 to 14 pounds) and $38 for a half bushel bag (20 to 22 pounds). Pick your own apples and some activities, including the corn mazes, are cash only. Open daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

aerial view of Leffel Roots Apple Orchard

Leffel Roots Apple Orchard features a pumpkin patch, apple orchard and corn maze.

Jim Leffel

Leffel Roots Apple Orchard

Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Laura and Jim Leffel spent 22 years traveling the world with the U.S. Air Force before settling down in Wisconsin and opening their 40-acre farm. They started with just two kinds of apples for picking in 2015, but have expanded to offer numerous varieties plus pick your own pumpkins, two apple slingshots (which allow users to sling apples at targets; $5 per bucket of apples), limited group tours and a 10-acre corn maze that includes a different interactive game every year. The store offers an array of treats like honey from their apple blossoms and apple cider, plus unusual finds such as gourd birdhouses. Be sure to try a slice of their famous apple pie washed down with a glass of apple cider or ale.

There are raised decks around many of the apple trees, which are specially pruned to make it possible to pick apples from a wheelchair without reaching up. “For some people, it may be their first apple that they’ve actually picked themselves, which is kind of rewarding,” says Laura Leffel. Private tours are available. Pick your own apples are $21 a peck (roughly 10 to 14 pounds) and $40 per half bushel (20 to 22 pounds). Open through Oct. 20, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (weather permitting); last maze entrance at 9 p.m.

Sky Top Orchard

Zirconia, North Carolina

Those looking for a little more activity with their apple picking might want to head to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The 125-acre farm, founded by the Butler family in 1967, offers a wide variety of apples, cherries, peaches and grapes for picking (seasonal). For $30, visitors can roam 70 acres filling a bag that holds about 12 to 15 pounds of apples. “It’s a lot of land and people love to just go out and get lost in the orchard,” says Margaret Butler, adding that people often pick with a few friends to divide up all those apples.

The farm hosts group tours (including colleges and senior centers) which can include an educational talk (weekdays only) plus a hayride and of course apple picking from a tree or a basket. Butler says the staff is happy to help those with mobility issues into the wagon or arrange a custom group tour. Tours are $9 per person including some apples. Don’t forget to stop at the fruit stand, which offers mountain views along with kettle corn, apple cider slushies and a paved spot for easy drop-off and pickup. Be sure to check the website for updates on opening hours in the wake of last month’s flooding in the region. Open daily except Thanksgiving 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. until daylight saving time ends. Then open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through early December.

Kiyokawa Family Orchards overlooks Mount Hood

Mount Hood looms above Jonagold apple trees at Kiyokawa Family Orchards.

Randy Kiyokawa

Kiyokawa Family Orchards

Parkdale, Oregon

For a laid-back experience in the Hood River Valley, bring your family, including your dog (on a leash) and spend some time among more than 150 varieties of apples (including juice & cider apples) many of which are available to pick, along with pears, Asian pears, cherries and stone fruit (seasonal). Aside from 16 acres of fruit picking, the 207-acre farm offers jams, ciders and fresh honey for sale. If your group includes energetic kids (or kids at heart) head over to the authentic bin fort. Be sure to check the calendar on the website for live events celebrating seasonal harvests. The picking orchards are reachable by car and are on fairly flat land with closely mowed grass, so it can accommodate fat-tire wheelchairs. Pick your own apples range from $1.79 to $2.49 per pound depending on the variety.

The farm was the first in the valley to offer pick your own apples in 2001. Randy Kiyokawa, whose grandfather started farming in the valley in 1911, says his mother, Michiko Kiyokawa, turned 101 in September. Open through Nov. 3, Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Nov. 4 through Nov. 24, open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

interior photo of a shop within Raising Cane Ranch

Apples are $4 per pound at Raising Cane Ranch in Washington.

Courtesy Raising Cane Ranch

Raising Cane Ranch

Snohomish, Washington

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to make cider from the apples you’ve picked, grab your friends and make your way to this young but mighty farm just a stone’s throw from the Snohomish River. Founded with one raspberry patch in 2010 by Melissa Denmark and her husband, Nick Pate, the solar-powered farm now includes two dozen types of apples, including many heirloom varieties, and a food forest with Aronia berries, chestnuts, currants, hazelnuts and huckleberries — all grown with organic practices. For those who like a little kick to their cider, there’s the newly opened Riverview Road Cidery on the ranch offering an array of innovative fermented ciders (think blackberry and rhubarb).

Denmark recalls a woman in her 60s who recently visited the ranch for the first time and raved about the relaxed experience compared to the farms she took her young children to with “all the bells and whistles.”

Pick your own apples are $4 per pound. Cider-pressing parties are $250 for three hours (reservations required via email). Open weekends 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cidery is open Friday 4 to 8 p.m., Saturday 12 to 8 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.

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Jaimie Seaton has lived in and reported from South Africa, the Netherlands, Singapore and Thailand. She has written on travel and other topics for aarp.org and AARP The Magazine. Her work on various subjects has appeared in The Washington Post, Scientific American, Smithsonian and numerous other publications.