Phil’s Apples

Best value, best location, best cider!
Phil’s passes along a family recipe on their land that welcomes visitors from all over to pick apples from a variety of trees. Taste fresh cider that was on the tree less than 30 minutes ago … stroll with friends and family to picnic and pick apples … chat with the friendly staff happy to help.
We are returning to Phil’s again and again.

RIP, Phil! I always enjoyed chatting with him on my past visits.
It’s hard to find unpasteurized cider, and Phil’s is still the best, with the new owners carrying on his tradition of pressing small batches. They don’t have his press, but they use a small one that produces the same quality. It’s like drinking apples! Much thicker than the other cider I bought the same day elsewhere.
I ferment cider every fall, buying it from various orchards in the area, and Phil’s always produces the best.

Was so sad to hear of Phil’s passing this spring — visiting Phil & his orchard was a family tradition we looked forward to all year. Awesome apples, fabulously fresh cider.
Happy to see from other reviewers that Phil’s orchard is still selling apples — we’ll be heading there ASAP!
R.I.P. Phil.

Very simple operation with just apples and cider. Cider was being pressed that morning and we bought a gallon for $ 7 — delicious. 1 peck for $ 14. The apple trees are close together and the terrain is a bit hilly and rugged. Really nice experience — we got Honey Crisps, some really nice purple Macouns, and a few MacIntoshes. Very friendly staff. Parking is roadside.

Phil’s U-​Pick Apples is STILL the best place for apples. Phil passed away this past April, but the new owners are keeping it going. Phil would have liked this year’s bumper crop of apples and peaches. Our family has been picking apples at Phil’s for many years. What’s great about this place is that it’s a very relaxed atmosphere, with no frills, just fruit and fabulous hand-​pressed cider. Pay for your bag, walk in, and fill it up. It won’t take long. Honey Crisp and Golden Supreme in September, and we always try to get back in late October for Enterprise.

Sadly, Phil passed away unexpectedly in April of 2013. His house and orchard were put on the market this summer, and on a recent drive past his property it appears that it was sold. A farewell 5 stars to Phil, for many years of the best cider that I have ever tasted. He and his orchard were a local gem, and he will definitely be missed.
Today (9÷15÷13) the orchard looks to be operating and hosting PYO so hopefully Phil’s apples will continue on. Rest in peace, Phil.

Phil’s has been our orchard of choice for 10+ years now. It’s not the «apple theme park» that you’ll find at larger orchards and, although they do a brisk business on beautiful weekends during the peak season, it’s never uncomfortably crowded. I never liked apple picking when we only knew about huge «family fun» places like Honey Pot Hill. Since we found Phil we’ve never gone anywhere else.
Every year the Phil Family threatens to retire someday. I hope they never do.

Huge U-​Pick selection & always a great time. Parking is limited to street parking & since this is a Harvard road it’s kinda a small country road so make sure you pull off to the side far enough.

Street parking only.
I had some trouble driving through Harvard center. You might want to check out a map.

Gold mine for honeycrisps
So when youre at a pick-​your-​own farm, you gotta strategize —
Go straight to the honeycrisps, dont get bogged down in cheaper apple varieties. Honeycrisps are super crisp, juicy with a tart kick and the priciest at the supermarket. The redder ones are sweeter, just make sure theyre firm and havent been on the tree too long (dried out at the top)
Dont waste your time with trees near the entrance, those are picked over. Go deep or get to the edge
Once youve secured the good stuff, its time to sample the award-​winning apple cider, explore the farm, and taste other apple varieties. We liked the purple Cortlands and the humongous purple-​red Enterprises for their crispness and mild acidity but word to the wise — they get mushy after a few days. Gotta eat ‘em fresh. Btw the honeycrisps dont get mushy
They also have peaches in the far back which arent bad, but make no mistake this is an apple place
Phil and family are friendly folks. Dont forget to call and ask what varieties are in season before you make the long drive over! There were no fujis when we went, but those should be pretty good.
If you live in new england, you gotta go apple picking at least once cause its a popular local activity. Perfect for couples or groups.

Well, I’ve decided to stop awarding businesses five stars unless they are truly outstanding (fighting grade inflation ;-)). Phil’s is definitely a five star operation. Great apples, beautiful place, delicious cider. Worth the trip from Wayland even though the places in Stow are closer.
To start, I called ahead to make sure that there were still apples available for picking, after the days with gale-​force winds and the freak Halloween snow storm that downed many limbs near us. Phil told me there weren’t many left, but he would put off shaking the last ones down if I was coming. Plus the apples were only $ 15/​bushel at this point in the season.
I’d been before in a car with GPS, so I was thankful for the signs being up, having guessed wrong whether to take the first or second Harvard exit off Rte 2. I spotted the sign, made a U-​turn, and got there in no time. There were in fact few apples left on trees, but I’m a gleaner at heart. I overfilled my bushel bag even being fairly picky (harhar) about the size and appearance (not too green). It wasn’t intentional, just a byproduct of putting the bag down, then filling the front of my sweater and mis-​guessing the capacity of my sweater and the bag.
The apples? Gold Rush and Enterprise. Very crisp to the point of being hard despite having a touch of frost on the skin when I harvested them two days ago. Sweet-​tart, flavorful, delicious eating, and good for pie. When I had come before, they’d had Macoun, Cortland, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Macintosh, and Red Delicious, all well marked and loaded with apples. Very peaceful and low-​tech.
As someone who loves that tart winey taste of Macintosh apples, I was very happy to learn that the cider (red cap) he had was Mac/​Macoun. The sweeter Red Delicious/​Fuji will be coming this weekend, with a green cap, but I prefer the red cap.
Phil checked in on me while I was picking to direct me to other trees in the orchard which still had fruit, and answered my many questions about his apples. He paused in his harvest of the remaining apples to fetch honey for me, and told me about the characteristics of the fall vs spring honey, and all about that cider. when I was rummaging through my wallet, he told me I could always mail him a check if I didn’t have enough on me to pay. He couldn’t have been nicer. He didn’t even comment about my bulging bag with apples piled high.

I have to agree with every review here. This past weekend, we wanted to take our kids apple picking. We’ve been to bunch over the years, some better than others — but, IM (somewhat)HO — the one consistent negatives are the crowds, ridiculous extraneous stuff like pony rides, hay mazes, wicker man burnings, etc (okay, I made that last one up).
Still. We were set for Parlees Farm since, well, one was as good as the other, just masses of soccer moms and dads on smart phones dragging around kids in Abercrombie diapers, when I decided to try Unilocal.Just to see.
And, well… Phil’s. Those reviews: simple. Honest. Amazing. Hard to resist.
My wife was a bit nervous, since the kids might freak out over lack of extras, but she’s really damned cool in general and we went with it. It was freaking _​perfect_​. Phil was right up by the road, selling some fresh cider & honey, giving away honey candies, and just chatting with people. We only had one check with us, and wanted to buy some extras on the way out, so he said «just grab a bag, and tell my wife on the way out that you didn’t pay for it, ‘cuz I’ll be making more cider by then.» We grabbed the biggest bag, Phil have us amazing tips on where to go for what, how to pick it, etc etc.
Best apples I’ve ever tasted. Hands down. Kids dancing around in the orchards, daughter beaming «this is the best day I’ve ever had!» Son stomping in puddles. Happy family, great apples.
The cider: you’ve never had cider before. Really. Unless you’ve had Phil’s, you have never had cider before. Just trust me.
Funny piece to this? On the way back, stopped by Shelbourne Farms because the kids needed to pee (cider), and we decided to throw them into a hay maze (look, I’m willing to allow lions to chase my kids around if it means they’ll get tired). While paying for the hay maze/​bouncy castle/​go-​cart/​pony ride tickers (seriously, what the hell?), someone bought a small (I mean, like 5 apples and it’s full) sized bag for $ 15. The ginormous bag we bought at Phil’s, that I need two arms to carry at the end? $ 20. Ridiculous.
Go to Phil’s, thank them with a review here later.

Phil and his family do an awesome job with their orchard and apple cider establishment. Over the years, the kids have enjoyed their field trips to Phil’s for their demonstration of the cider making operation. Even though this orchard is further away from us than the one we normally go to, we try to mix it up a little and visit a couple of times a year. ‘Tis truly another town gem.

My roommate and I went to a different apple orchard a few weeks ago and it was ok. Then we found Phil’s online and decided to go and try it out. This is the least touristy, most legitimate apple orchard in MA. Hands down Phil and his wife seem like great people and the machine he has for pressing cider is very impressive. I am going back there two weeks from now to pick up more of his amazing cider even though I live an hour away each way.

Best place to pick apples in MA!
Cheap Fun and great selection
You can find Phil there making cider everyday

These guys are the best. Their cider is thicker and more flavorful than anyone I’ve ever had. They are a smaller farm with lots of trees right around the house. Phil is usually cranking away at the cider press and answers any questions and gives great suggestions. We will go back a few times this fall to pick different kinds of apples.
Much better than the big dog and pony show type places. Once you go there you will want to return.

I still have dreams about the honey crisp apples at Phil’s Orchards. Sweet, crunchy, fresh and lovely as those bright September mornings when orange leaves and dewdrops on the newly-​cut grass outside your dorm window tempt you with barefoot thoughts of skipping lecture for the rest of the year. The peaches too are wonderful, filling your mouth with silky juice after each luscious bite. There’s nothing quite as autumnally glorious as plucking those rain-​kissed orbs of red and orange off a branch and chomping it down as you stumblingly avoid sticking your foot into a pit of mud.
A small bag is only five bucks, or something ridiculous like that. When I visited, Phil’s Apples was practically empty of visitors, which is pretty much the perfect state for a fruit orchard during harvest season. The fruit was by far some of the tastiest that I’ve ever had, and I’m a voracious fruit-​eater. Seriously, I ate like two grapefruits yesterday.
Anyway, if you’re in Boston between September and November, a visit to Phil’s is imperative. Imperative, I say, imperative!

This was my first apple picking experience ever. I had a good time. Phil’s provided a cup of free cider, prices were reasonable, it was easy to find off of Route 2 in Harvard, MA, and the apples are tasty. What more could a girl ask for in apple picking?