Doe Orchards

Giant blueberries (and some raspberries)! I came here last summer with my friends to pick some blueberries just before more raspberries were ready but we did see a few that we were able to quickly pop in our mouths.
Unlike some orchards that have a large production with other activities and farm animals, this is a simple stand where you can pick up a container and start picking! $ 5 for a quart of blueberries in a bucket around your neck! Can’t go wrong.
I had so much fun scouring the blueberry bushes for the largest and most delicious looking blueberries while sampling so many along the way. We came after a shower the previous night so all of the bushes were a bit wet. I’m looking forward to coming back again this year. Hopefully this year there will be more ripe raspberries!

Amazing orchard, fair prices and so so so many apples! Staff is super friendly and the trees are all very well marked in which type of apples you are looking for. Also there were still some peaches available, which was a great treat. The Pick Your Own Christmas tree area looked very great as well, obviously too early for that but really nice area. Definitely a place to check out/​return to!
**They did get hit with a hail storm this year that did damage some of the trees, and you have to look for good apples on some of the trees, but it is still so so worth it.**

This place is awesome! It is not crowded and dirty like other places. We brought our dog too, she loved it! It is priced as others are, so no deals there. This place is great. No tourist stuff, just apple trees. Will be back next year!

The stand is plain and simple, but the honey crisps are spectacular!

A beautiful freshly cut tree from the tree farm at Doe the day after Thanksgiving, that’s what’s standing in my foyer. They tell me that folks were waiting an hour before they opened. They may have picked out their tree months ago. Almost all of the trees I looked at were perfect, so I finally just had to choose one so that the man wouldn’t be kept waiting with his saw. Paid at the stand near the trees, and rode back to the parking area on the bed of a trailer behind the tractor. That was fun.

If you’re looking for a quiet place to pick apples, free from hayrides full of yelling kids and mobs of people fighting over the «best» tree, this is where you should go.
The staff is friendly, the apples are a plenty (that kind of rhymes) and it’s as close to an authentic apple picking experience I’ve seen within 30ish miles of Boston. The reason for 3 stars you ask? Well, 14 dollars for a small bag of Apples (weighed in at about 9 pounds) seems a bit excessive for pick your own. If you could give 3.5 that’s what it would get.
On a side note: If you’re looking for an amazing place to pick apples and don’t mind driving to Vermont, head over to Harlow’s Sugar House in Putney VT. The place is amazing.

After visiting another orchard that was overgrown and poorly demarcated and charged by weight, it has been a treat to rally friends and pick and picnic at Doe Orchards annually, with their color-​coded varieties, big old healthy apple trees for eating and picking and climbing, well maintained grounds and occasional visit from a flock of wild turkeys.
This year, a friend and I called ahead but only got voicemail, raced out (a 40+ minute drive) on a rainy day just to get a small bag of Honeycrisps fresh from the tree, and arrived with only ten minutes to spare, but they wouldn’t let us pick. It would be helpful if they’d publicize the time that they stop admitting pickers before the 5 pm closing. Oh well, it’s their prerogative to save themselves 10 minutes of inconvenience at an opportunity cost of $ 14 each for a small bag x 2. Anyway, $ 14 this year?! ($ 23 for the large!!!) That must be the going rate you pay for the experience these days, but for that I’ll picnic in the park and pick up a competitor’s apples at the farmers market, thank you anyway!

I wish I could add a star from my prior reviews, as each year here the experience just gets better!
This year we decided to bring the dog with the hopes that they would let her walk through the field with us. We get there and find out they’re super dog friendly (in fact there were a ton of other dogs). They even let you bring your dog apple picking, which we will definitely be doing next year.
We head to the field to pick our tree and realize we didn’t have the cash. We totally discussed this on our drive there, but we misunderstood each other and thought we had it covered. The girl working at the booth tells us to go find a tree and cut it down anyway, they’ll just hold it up front for us and we can go grab the cash at the ATM. So nice of them! The second we step onto the field someone checks with us to see if we have questions and points us in the direction of the trees we were looking for.
After walking the fields for a bit, we found the perfect tree (a bit smaller than usual this year though as the new house came with lower ceilings than the loft). I already know we’ll be back next year, and not just for a tree since this will become our new apple picking destination.
I honestly can’t say enough great things about this place. Our tree look beautiful and because we know it was freshly cut it will definitely last us through the holiday season and beyond! If you still need your tree make sure you head to Doe this weekend!

My face is sticky. So are my fingers. I may have just moaned.
No, this is not x-​rated, this is a locally grown peach from Doe Orchards. They are that good, that juicy, that sweet, that amazing… that I was inspired to make peach preserves to keep some of that goodness near me all year round.
This place is DEFINITELY worth the trip out there to pick up a container of peaches (5 peaches are less than $ 5and worth every penny), or Pick Your Own Blueberries while they last at $ 4.75 per quart. Blueberries are the supermarket are like $ 4.00 per PINT, and how many pints are in a quart, kiddies? That’s right, 2 pints are in every quart. For a little effort, you get an AMAZING product at a good price (almost 100% more for the same money!). And they don’t use pesticides on the berries, they use nets. I’m not sure about the peaches.
Last time I was here, I saw Mr. Doe himself. He is very old. He picked up a container of large peaches and took it home. I think even if he didn’t have any teeth, he would be able to eat these peaches, because they are so tender and juicy. I wanted to go shake his hand and commend his fine fruits, but I was too busy stuffing my face with blueberries while i was «picking.»
If you don’t have a car, rent one and go here. I haven’t yet tried the apples or cut my own tree, but if the fruit is anything to go by, the fall and winter products must be incredible. Yum.

Doe Orchards does not have a petting zoo, it does not have a giant barn full of preserves and donuts, it does not have a train and most importantly it does not have crowds. Doe is a beautiful, simple apple orchard and Christmas tree farm and if that is the experience that you are looking for then it’s the place to go.
We have been going to Doe for years and the experience is always the same. The small parking lot is packed, but there is always a spot. You buy a bag or two for putting the apples in and head out with the dogs to fill them up in the orchard. There are people around, but the orchard is big enough that no one is fighting over the last tree that has apples on it. You enjoy the fall colors of the surrounding forests, maybe lie on the grass and soak up some of the autumn sun that always feels to great. Pick up a pumpkin or cider on the way out and then drive home to make pie. Perfect.
Be sure to come back after Thanksgiving to chop down your own Christmas tree. The selection isn’t enormous and the trees are usually smaller than the ones in town that were strip mined up in Maine, but they are so much fresher so they smell better and last longer. Bring your own saw or borrow one from Doe. Cut the tree yourself or one of the guys will give you a hand. The tree farm is further in than the orchard so you get a tractor ride back to the cars with your tree where the tree is bundled and tied to your car gratis. Brink a thermos of hot chocolate or cider and the experience is perfect.
Doe is simple, with no frills, but a pleasure every time. Enjoy.