What’s more bucolic than picking your own apples? “This season’s apples will be very high quality because we’ve had so much sunshine, which generates sugar content in the fruit,” said Pete Gregg, spokesman for the New York Apple Association. Here are some of his pick-your-own picks less than two hours from Manhattan:
HUDSON VALLEY/ CATSKILLREGION
Pennings Farm
Market Inc.
161 South Rte. 94
Warwick
As you pull up to the farm market, a scarecrow greets you. Inside are a giant inflatable farm train and a small haunted house for kids; there are hay rides, a dairy barn, a petting zoo, live music and pony rides, too.
Details: (845) 986-7080
Price: $14/half-bushel
Soons Orchards Inc.
24 Soons Circle
New Hampton
Family-owned and operated since 1910, this orchard was planted especially for do-it-yourself apple pickers. Right now, the dwarf trees carry Empires, Red Delicious, Macouns and Liberty.
“The quality is the best I could ever remember,” said owner Sandy Soons. The orchard, an hour and a half from Manhattan, is near West Point and Woodbury Commons.
Details: (845) 374-5471
Price: $13.50/half-bushel
Masker Orchard
Ball Road, Warwick
Only an hour from the city, this 225-acre orchard with 30,000 trees could “accommodate the whole of Manhattan.”
Right now, the 30,000 trees are heavy with Granny Smiths, Greenings, Macintosh and Red Delicious, Empires and Matsu Japanese apples – plus, there are pumpkin patches, pony rides and plenty of other family activities.
Details: (845) 986-1058
Price: $13.95/half-bushel
Outhouse Orchards
130 Hardscrabble Road
Croton Falls
Approximately an hour and a half from the city, this orchard features Macintoshs and Cortlands and hay rides, pony rides, craft vendors and a pumpkin patch.
Details: (914) 277-3188
Price: $20/half-bushel
ROCKLAND COUNTY
Dr. Davies Farm
Route 30, Rockland
At this 35-acre farm an hour from the city, 4,000 apple trees are loaded with Macintosh and Red Delicious. The place also has a pumpkin patch, a fruit stand, corn and a big lawn area where you can bring blankets and hang out.
Details: (845) 268-7020
Price: $16/half-bushel
WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Wilkens Fruit Farm
1335 White Hill Rd.
Yorktown Heights
This small farm, about an hour’s drive from the city, has Cortland, Macintosh and Baldwin apples lots of ’em.
“We have a bountiful crop of apples which are so heavy that they are breaking our antique apple tree limbs, so come early and often,” said owner Tricia Wilkens-Dineen. There is also a pick-your-own pumpkin patch.
Details: (914) 245-5111 http://www.wilkensfarm.com.
Price: $19/half-bushel.
