applecrest farm orchards

We took our grandkids to Applecrest to pick apples during their fall festival. With face painting, pumpkin & apple picking, tractor rides through the orchard, we all had fun. A bit expensive but worth the trip.

Three generations of us travelled from Cambridge Ma up to Applecrest farm for the harvest festival in mid October. Luckily the weather was nice. We picked raspberries rather than apples, but the apples too were superb. We had excellent fresh apple doughnuts, apple cider, ice cream and apple cake.The band was entertaining and all in all we would highly recommend a visit.

Unfortunately I had surgery early this fall so I couldn't get my kids to go apple picking in September as I usually like but was glad while every place else is done with PYO they still had it. I wasn't too concerned about the bicycle races they had going on but not too bothersome. My only remark is they should tell bikers to WALK their bikes from point A to point B. Riding should only be for race. I had one biker nearly run me over. Like I said, still recovering from (foot) surgery. Other reviewer mentioned long line and high price for donuts. It took me less than five minutes to get mine and I paid $5 for a half dozen. I also got the small bag for apples (peck?). That was only $20. My daughter enjoyed the Storybook Hay Ride for $7/pp put on by Sanborn High Drama Students. It was cute. All that matters is she had a great time. All in all it was a great day and although they had a crowd of people there, folks were evenly dispersed (some racing, some picking, some eating, some at petting zoo, etc.). Thanks AC!

I said I wouldn't go back after a bad experience last year but I did again and I regret it. This is very simply. Over an hour wait to buy cider donuts. Over and hour wait to go on a hayride (which cost me $20 for 4). I had to walk to the main section through mud because the wait for the tractor was again very long. And everything is overpriced. Shame on you AC for gauging people. You should not have be entitled to special farm subsidies that we the tax payers bare so you can rake in millions. I will not return.

We visit Applecrest every weekend (weather permitting) that pick-your-own is available. We were spoiled by the crazy delicious (and abundant) blueberries offered this year. The peaches were equally good. The apples are delicious, we can't eat store bought anymore because we have become so accustomed to the crisp, thin skin found on the freshly picked ones. The best part of visiting Applecrest is the ability to visit a real working farm. This place is the real deal---hundreds of acres of crops. How unfortunate that farms are so few! For apple pickers, there is a tractor-pulled cart ride to transport you to the apple orchard. Getting on and off the cart can be a challenge for seniors, as we found when we brought an elderly mom along. Wear comfy shoes, The types of apples available will be explained when you arrive, as well as the proper way to pick in order to prevent damage to the trees. There is a small area with penned farm animals for children to visit and feed. There is a large pumpkin patch where you can select one to take home. There is a farm store, if you prefer not to pick, and where you can also purchase other fresh fruits and vegetables. A small ice cream/dessert stand offers treats; so hard to resist that peach pie and peach ice cream! There are also cider donuts available for sale. There is live music and grilled food offered on weekends. Always fun to visit. But...be forewarned....there is major construction going on this fall; a restaurant is being built where parking used to be available. Plan to walk a little bit from the field where you will be directed to park to the area where the festival and farm store are located. Recommend wearing comfy, sensible shoes as you will be walking over dusty, grassy, uneven paths and terrain. Also, there are no rest rooms - porta-potties only. And as others have pointed out, it is a bit expensive, but you will get what you pay for.

We have been going to Applecrest for a few years now, typically for our traditional apple picking trip. It's a huge place, with big orchards growing many different PYO fruits, such as apples, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and pumpkins. They have a creamery, a large farm stand an inside market, and weekend festivals with hayrides and a petting zoo for the kids. Parking is free and plentiful. On our most recent visit, a week ago, we realized they were under construction which meant there was a lot of extra mud and gravel to walk through that isn't typically there. I didn't think they did a great job blocking off the contruction area either. We hopped a trailer being pulled by a tractor to our orchard, which was pretty far off. You CANNOT walk to the orchard, you MUST take the tractor ride. Once in the orchard, you can buy a bag for a bushel ($30) or a peck ($20), and once you fill your bag, you get back on the tractor which will take you back to the main buildings. Note: don't sit directly behind the tractor or you'll be eating the exhaust your entire ride. Hayrides on wagon pulled by large horses looked fun, but I wasn't about to pay $15 for my family of 3 to ride. I thought that was a bit excessive. The petting zoo was $1 per person and another $2 for a decent sized bag of food. We were there earlier in the day and the animals were very active and interested in eating. My toddler loved the animals and had decent access to them. We got our dozen apple cider donuts to go, and drank the cider (which is not pasturized and I wouldn't recommend giving to small children). We ate lunch of clam chowder, butternut bisque and burgers and sausages on the grill. We got their own homemade ice cream in a waffle cone before leaving. The bluegrass band they had playing was great and there were many people who had brought their own chairs to set up and listen to the band. Applecrest has us coming back year after year so they must be doing something right. I do think they're a little on the high side for prices, and if they go up we will probably find another place to go for our annual apple picking. There are many orchards around.

Been here in the fall and it is crazy good. This time of year it is a nice little farm stand and ice cream shop. Had the apple pie a la mode and it was great. Glad we stopped in.

Every fall, as a local, we loved the whole harvest thing with pick your own pumpkins, apples, hayrides. But mostly, I love the seconds during the summer on tomatoes (especially the heirlooms) and peaches. I love the ripe produce. And I am gearing up for the strawberries in a couple of weeks. And finally, no review would be complete on this place without mention of the cider donuts - and the lines prove it. Any time is good to go.

My wife and I took our young children (2 and 3 years old) here last fall. The place bills itself as a family outing in the fall with things like apple picking, pumpkin picking, petting zoo, pony rides and foodstands.Our visit here was without a doubt the most miserable experience we've had ina veyr long time.Here's why:1. Too crowded. There were so many people here and so many lines that you literally couldn't move if you wanted to get near any of the events. There were horribly long lines everywhere and people bumping up against each other.2. Smoking. The owners of Applecrest allow visitors to smoke on their property. I guess that's great if you're a smoker but seeing as we're not and we don't like to have our children inhaling second hand smoke, it was less than fun having every other person beside us here puffing away.3. Dogs. The owners of Applecreat also allow people to bring their dogs and oh were there dogs here. there were hundreds if not in the thousands of dogs. Running all over the place, barking at people, barking at other dogs. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that mixing hundreds of strangers' dogs with hundreds of strangers little kids in a public place is a recipe for disaster. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen. What are the owners of Applecrest planning to do when they get sued because a little kid had his face bitten off on their property?4. Expensive. Maybe you don't mind paying $16 for an apple pie or $4 for a little bottle of orange juice but we did. Everything here is ridiculously overpriced. They have pony rides for $5. They put the kid on the pony and walk him/her around a small field one time. We figured what the heck and paid the five dollars for my 2 year old son to take a ride. As soon as he was on the pony he became very distressed and upset. We took him off the pony after being on it for a total of about ten seconds and not going anywhere. We politely asked if we could have a refund. The woman conducting the pony rides very rudely told us we could not, that there were no refunds and yelled "next" right in our faces as we were standing there.Since we went last October I am probably forgetting a few other horrible things about this place. Words cannot do justice to what a miserable and unpleasant experience it was. I would never return. Not even if the owners of this place offered to pay my mortgage for a year. That's how freaking bad it was. WORST EVER!

I visited this farm for the first time this past september and love the litte store and the displays of the different kind of vegetables and huge pumpkings.Great place to take kids to have fun specially during this time of the year.

We simply wanted to pick raspberries and apples and happened to go to this place on the same day they celebrated their 100th Anniversary. There was a wreck in front of their location and they just jumped in and routed people to their back entrance without batting an eyelash. They cleared the lane of brush to get people in and smiled and said "have a good day" at every turn. They were driving tractors to ferry people to the apple trees, had staff at all the locations to pick, including raspberries. The people in the store, giving out bags and pints, and the people directing traffic and directing people were all smiling and pleasant and made this a very good experience. I would definitely go back there to pick my fruit AND just to see what else they have in the store. This is the kind of family I want to spend my money with!