A Fall Day at Honey Pot Hill Apple Orchards
Honey Pot Hill Orchards, Stow, MA
Let’s Go Apple Picking! Our First Experience Picking Apples at Honey Pot Hill Orchards
Oct. 25, 2020
You can also find the Vlog on YouTube (see below!).
Have you ever been apple picking before?
Lucas and I noticed that apple picking appears to be a very popular fall activity in our new neighborhood! Therefore, we decided to spend a Sunday wandering around the apple orchards of Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Massachusetts. This was our very first-time apple picking, and we had SO much fun! We stopped by the Farm Store, and then harvested plenty of apples to munch on. To hear about our experience -- keep on reading!
Starbucks is Slowly Becoming Our Weekend Treat!
Maybe it’s the Pumpkin-flavored drinks returning for the fall season, or maybe it’s because the weather is just getting cooler… but Lucas and I have been enjoying a weekend treat to Starbucks before the start of every adventure once again!
Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, Massachusetts
Thankfully, there are many health and safety regulations in place in order for apple pickers to still enjoy the apple orchards this year! With social distancing required as you wander around the orchards, as well as masks worn when entering more congested spaces (e.g. the Farm store, etc.), we were able to enjoy our apple picking experience while also feeling safe. They also required you to wash your hands upon entering the orchards, and reservations were needed.
Our reservation time was set for 10:15am. We chose this time intentionally because it was the earliest time slot available when we made our reservation. We wanted to get home in time for football, but also before the bigger crowds arrived around mid-day. Although we got a little lost on the hour-drive to Honey Pot Hill Orchards, we made it just in time for our reservation, and the parking lot was only just beginning to fill.
We picked up our medium-sized bag at the check-in station, and wandered over to the Farm Store. To avoid crazy lines, we wanted to get there before lunch-time, so we picked up some local Boston honey, a couple of small pumpkins, and a Pumpkin candle to bring home with zero people waiting in front of us. We then went over to the Apple Cider Donut stand to pick up a dozen cinnamon sugar donuts to enjoy. This was our very first time trying an Apple Cider Donut and it was a GAME CHANGER. So delicious and we had to resist eating them all in one sitting! They definitely didn’t last very long back at home.
Although we definitely had donuts for brunch, we still had an appetite for an actual lunch, so Lucas and I picked up cheeseburgers from The Grill along with iced apple cider. The apple cider was SO fresh! We’ve never had apple cider taste just like you were biting into an actual apple.
With stomachs filled, we made our way over to the orchards for our apple hunt. There were many types of apples ready to be harvested during our visit -- including Gala, Red Delicious, Cortland, and more! However, we were obsessed over the Cortland apples, so we filled our entire bag with them! It didn’t take very long to fill our bag with 25 delicious Cortland apples. We used the longer ladders each time -- true believers that the best apples were always a little harder to reach!
In addition to the Farm Store and the apple orchards themselves, there were also fun mazes for kids to enjoy, and a hard apple cider station for the adults. Unfortunately, I completely forgot my wallet (and my ID), so we were unable to try the hard apple cider flights that they were offering that day --hopefully we’ll be able to try them someday!
Apple Recipes?
We initially thought that 25 apples would be difficult to scarf down, so we thought of some fun apple recipes to try. That said, we were SO wrong! We ended up eating all of the apples so quickly, that we didn’t even have enough for any of the recipes we wanted to try!
Since our trip, we’ve been very tempted to go back to the Farm Store to pick up more Cortland apples and apple cider… we’ll let you know if we give-in to this temptation before the fall season is over! ;)
Where to Next?
Apple picking was SUCH a great time! We both had so much fun wandering around in the beautiful sunshine and wonderful fall colors, that we decided to make this an annual tradition (whether it’s in MA or WA!). There’s nothing like spending a sunny morning picking your very own apples to enjoy for the weeks to come afterwards.
Fall is absolutely fantastic in New England so far! We can’t wait for our next fall-inspired adventure… this time to enjoy the spooks and haunts of Salem, Massachusetts! So keep an eye out for that post coming up very soon!
Cheers to apple picking and tradition creating!
Gen
