More Than Delicious Orchard

After too many orchards filled with bells and whistles (or slides and ponies, as the case may be), More Than Delicious was just the sort of tiny affair I was hoping for. There’s some beautiful land, friendly people, and yummy apple varieties — all you really need for the perfect apple picking day. Prices seemed reasonable, at $ 60 a bushel (…yeah, we got a lot of apples), plus we picked up some honey, cider, and apple butter. Quite the fun and relaxing morning (but do beware of the bees enjoying fallen apples!).

THIS is the standard by which all orchards need to be judged. I have lost count of the various types of apples they have and each one is better than the last. If you are looking for thrills, a big shop or some one to cater to your needs the go elsewhere! If you want some of best apples in the state of Illinois then come here. This is our favorite orchard.

More Than Delicious Apple Orchard has more varieties apples than I ever knew existed! It is a no frills orchard just off of 120 in Woodstock. As an adult going to pick apples, I’m not interested in a bounce house or hay rides. All I want is a beautiful setting and lots of apples. More Than Delicious has all of that, plus a few pears, too! We hope to make it back again before the end of the season… if we can manage to eat ten pounds of apples before then!

No frills and that’s what I want from an apple orchard. We showed up late in the season when most places were advertising one or two apple varieties and they had 10+ available to be picked. You won’t find jumpies or other kid activities but you will be able to fill a big bag of apples without issue. Great find!

Great place to pick apples!
As others have indicated, it’s the purest apple picking experience I’ve seen in the area. It’s not watered down by bouncy houses & other gimmicks. This makes them one of the few places that doesn’t charge admission. It’s also not over-​crowded which made it a relaxing afternoon.
They also offer a small shop of complimentary items such as apple donuts, pre-​picked pecks and local honey.
We received a friendly greeting from the owners who explained the best places to look for apples.
We loved it & look forward to coming back.

$ 16 bucks for a peck. And yeah, calm and relaxed. I’d go back.

What a great find! It’s your family owned and run mom and pop apple orchard. We were greeted by the owners, and enjoyed roaming around all of the different apple varieties. We walked out with a peck of apples, 5 pounds of pears, cider, and donuts, for just around $ 30. Large enough to not be crowded, but small enough to be personal. I enjoyed this no-​frills, family run orchard, and look forward to coming back next year!

This is how family traditions start… It all starts with the smell of apple cider and cinnamon, the crunchy leaves, the friendly family run apple orchard on a perfect Sunday.
We went here last fall and had a great time spending the late morning picking (and sampling) all of the varieties of apples. It isn’t so big that you feel like you will miss a great tree but also big enough to accommodate all the families that will stop by during the course of the season.
They had about 10 types of apples available for picking when we went in October and were also selling local honey and some pastries.
We will be back!

I can see that apple picking here is going to become a Fall tradition for our family. The drive here through small towns and country lanes was relaxing, and the small orchard was just the right size for an hour or two of relaxed picking. It doesn’t have a extensive store or silly petting zoo, which I liked because those places tend to be unfocused.
We were impressed with the wide variety of apples, which you don’t normally see in the stores, and concentrated our efforts on the more interesting flavors that included a tasty sweet sour pear-​like variety with rough skin, called Hawthornes Golden Gem. Others good ones: Mutsu, Connell Red, Snow.
You can «taste-​drive» and share as you walk, to narrow you slesctions down. We’ll probably go back again in a couple weeks, as our ½ bushel is getting low, and the Autumn colors signal a good time to pick sweeter apples.
Start at the top of the hill and work your way back, as the bags can get heavy. I was impressed with how sturdy the bag they provide is, and how it’s family run. I saw maybe four generations there on the weekend we went. It gets busy, so go early in the day.

Great experience! Very Friendly!
We were looking for a no frills apple orchard that was family oriented and we found it!

Family run orchard. We were greeted by the owners as soon as we drove in. Son-​in-​law directed us where to park. Mom checked us in and took our payment for the ½ bushels we took for each child in our group.
+ Super friendly family service
+ Free entrance
+ Free parking
+ Apple trees clearly marked with ribbons so you can tell what types of apples are on trees and which trees are ripe for picking
+ Good ol’ apple picking; No crowds, no «hoopla» like petting zoo, etc. Great if you just want a nice day out w/​the kids doing straight forward apple picking
+ Nice surroundings
+ They had a little store where you can get pears, apple cookies, apple cinnamon donuts, caramel if you want to make caramel apples at home, honey, etc.
+ Super clean surroundings
+ Super friendly, super friendly, super friendly
As great as it gets. I have nothing negative to say. Great job, MORE THAN DELICIOUS ORCHARD!
Check out thier website for more info:

My fiancée and I have been going here for the last 4 years. I absolutely love them; they specialize in «unheard» of varieties, although there’s some old favorites too. Each year, they remember us, which is impressive considering they see us all of about 1 hour every 365 days.
Speaking of which — we go out early in the season to pick ½ bushel of the early varieties, which are generally great for eating but don’t last as long. We return about 3 or 4 weeks later for the longer lasting varieties. We keep ‘em in the downstairs fridge and are still making applesauce and pies several months later.
One year the mosquitos were horrendous, although generally they haven’t been a problem — just a heads up you might want to bring some spray just in case.
IMPORTANT: if you’re looking for hay rides, pumpkin patches, scarecrows, taffy apples, etc etc THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. This is for fantastic apple picking in a beautiful setting; it won’t take you long to pick your apples and be on your way!
Happy Picking!

This was our first trip to the apple orchard for all of us. We picked this orchard over the other ones because of the reviews on here as well as the advertisment of many different varieties of apples.
We picked McIntosh, Ida Red, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Mutsu, Lustre Elstar, Newtown Pippin, Cornell Red, Copeland, and Winesap.
This is a unobtrustive, but quaint orchard, family-​owned by Mike and Velma Downes. When we arrived in the early afternoon, we were greeted by both Mike, Velma, and their son-​in-​law Mike. We ended up getting a ½ bushel (20 – 22 lbs) for $ 26.00.
It was a serene and meditative trip through the rows upon rows of apple trees that were all over the orchard. It wasn’t crowded, but there were a few families spread about the orchard that no one felt rushed to pick their apples and get out.
The parking lot is a bit small, but I imagine it doesn’t take long to pick apples (It took us approximately 30 minutes to pick a half bushel) and that was WITH KIDS in tow. :)
They have quite the variety of picked apples and pears as well as honey for sale in their main shop. I do like how the owners actually explain to every group/​family what is ready for picking for those of us who have never picked their own apples before.
The orchard is easy to find and marked with large APPLES signs… they do not have other items, but this is a nice place to go to to pick very sweet and delicious apples. No joke! We had a Golden Delicious and it DEFINITELY tastes WAY better than the store-​bought kind. You can taste nature and the care put into growing their fruits really comes out in every bite!
I’m definitely going here to pick apples again next year and bringing along more family. :)
If you are looking for a place to pick really yummy apples, without the rush of the crowds… this is it!

I wanted to get outdoors and do something before winter sets in and decided what better than apple picking? I ended up choosing More Than Delicious because all I was really looking for in an orchard was apple picking. As a kid-​less 20-​something I don’t really need a corn maze or a petting zoo, and the price was certainly right. Parking and admission are free here and the price of apples per-​pound is cheaper than the other guys *and* the supermarket. Score! The orchard itself was lovely, quiet and absolutely loaded with beautiful apples in lots of different varieties. I dragged my reluctant boyfriend along and he ended up enjoying himself too (although he didn’t want to admit it). They had a few pumpkins for sale as well and I picked up a nice one for Halloween.
So in sum, this place is great if you just want you-​pick apples without the extras, the crowds and the inflated price. As a bonus, the people who run it are nice and great about keeping their website up to date with which varieties are available.

My wife an I first went picking here in the fall of ’07 and in the two years since then the trip has grown into something of a family tradition.
The orchard is a beautiful, small, family run farm with a *wide* variety of apples. The trees are tied with ribbons so you know what is ready to pick. I had heard that this year was a great year for apples, and it really shows – there was an abundance of large fruit on every tree.
More Than Delicious also does an excellent job of keeping their website (
) and Facebook Fan page up-​to date with a picking schedule during the season.
If you’re looking for a quiet picking experience I would highly recommend this orchard.

Such a nice alternative to the giant apple-​picking-​plus-​circus type orchards I’ve been to.
This small, family-​run establishment has the widest selection of apple varieties I’ve ever seen: standards like Gala, Golden Delicious, McIntosh and Honeycrisp, plus varieties I’d never heard of: Sweet Sixteen, Lustre Elstar, Connell Red, Spitzenburg, Jonagold, Mutsu … it was great fun comparing the different varieties.
The trees were heavy with fruit. The biggest problem was deciding which to pick.
Pick by the peck ($ 15) or half-​bushel. They also had pumpkins, squash and some homegrown veggies for sale. Windfall apples half-​price («for sauce or a treat for your horse»). And no hooplah. If you want exotic animal petting zoo and giant inflatable moonwalks, you’ll need to look elsewhere.