For the last five or six years, our family has made a tradition of visiting Apple Hill Farms during the fall. Apple Hill represents over 50 farms that work together to support local agriculture. You’ll find both fruit and vegetable farms and beautiful orchards to walk through. If you’re looking to extend your stay, you can stay at their Bed and Breakfast and even book a day at their spa. We have spent our time checking out many of the different farms and we’d like to share with you our top 8 places to visit.
Rainbow Orchards
This farm makes the list for several reasons and the yummiest of them all being their Apple Cider Donuts. They’re warm and delicious and devoured by every member of our family. There is also lots of open space for the kids to run, explore, and play. You may find them climbing hay bales or scaling an old tractor. Our kids have no trouble staying busy and happy here.
Fudge Factory
With a name like Fudge Factory, there’s no mystery as to why we love this farm so much. They boast more than 75 different flavors of fudge with at least 30 on hand at any time. You just can’t go wrong here. In addition to their delicious fudge, you’ll find apples, pies, candies, and jam. This farm also has a lovely play village for the kids to play in with a play train, small carousel, and more. There are some friendly alpaca to visit as well.
High Hill Ranch
One thing we love about High Hill Ranch is the opportunity to peruse a variety of artisan shops. High Hill Ranch has the largest craft fair of handmade goods in all of Apple Hill. You’ll find anything from handmade soaps to adorable tutus. We even found one garlic shop. Yum! Our kids had a great time exploring here and took turns running full speed down a dirt hill. There is also a small catch-and-release pond where you can spend some time fishing and watching the ducks. After fishing and duck watching, you can make your way over to the ponies. We love giving our kids the opportunity to enjoy nature, each other, and simple pleasures and places like High Hill Ranch do just that for our family.
El Dorado Orchards
At El Dorado, we love riding the train around the lake and through some wooded parts of the farm. It is closed during the week, so be sure you plan a weekend outing. After the train ride, enjoy some delicious food from one of the many food vendors.
Denver Dan’s
We loved picking apples in the orchards at Denver Dan’s. There’s not much better than enjoying crisp, juicy apples together with your family after a nice long walk through the orchards. This farm has a variety of unique apple trees and you can also enjoy some of the delicious apples you know like Red Delicious, Granny Smith, and MacIntosh. We met with Denver Dan’s nephew, who shared with us the original map of the farm alongside a current one. It was neat to see how much had changed over time and he was lovely to chat with.
Next time we will call ahead and schedule a cooking class for our kiddos as this looked super fun to do. This farm is not one to miss. Great farm, great apples, great people.
Larsen Farm Museum
This museum portion of the farm housed lots of unique memorabilia that we all enjoyed looking through. Glass cases showcased old guns and sparkling gems. There were real models of old wagons and cars that the kids dreamed of driving. When a fun family outing doubles as a history lesson, it is a win all around!
Delfino Farm Kids Inc.
While we were here, we loved meandering through the corn to find our way to the pumpkin patch. Between the apples, pies, and pumpkins, it is a full-on Autumn experience. After traipsing through the pumpkins, our kids finished up the experience rolling down some grassy hills again and again. It is a joy to see them enjoy themselves and simple, wholesome experiences like the ones at Delfino Farms are ones that will mark our family’s memories for many years to come.
Boa Vista
This place is our one-stop-shop! Pumpkins, apples, shops – they have it all. One thing that sets this farm apart is all of the opportunities to sample the different products. The apple samples have helped our family broaden our taste for apples. Last year we discovered that we’re Pink Lady fans and this year we’ve discovered the Arkansas Dark. It is so much fun to try apples we haven’t tried before and we always leave with at least one new apple in our bag. This year we also found some adorable tiny apples called Lady Apples that we decided to bring home for fun. If you’re feeling daring, you could try your luck at the jelly and jam samples with unique flavors like hot pepper bacon jam and then wrap things up with some fruit cider samples.
These are our favorite places to visit at Apple Hill, but there is something for just about everyone. We hope you’ll check them out and let us know what you enjoyed, too. Most of the farms are busiest during weekend hours. This is when you’ll find the biggest selection of farm attractions open. If you’re looking to avoid some of the crowds, weekdays are usually less busy, but keep in mind that some farms are closed or close a portion of their attractions during weekday hours. We love Apple Hill and we hope you do too!
