Payne's Orchards — Attraction in Bacchus Marsh

The owners of these orchards are the most horrible, obnoxious, rude and offensive individuals I have ever met. I watched the owner verbally abuse several customers and treat them with utter disrespect. I then saw himself, his daughter and wife (I assume), verbally assault an elderly lady and her grandaughter. What they did to them I would classify as extortion! When I spoke to the elderly lady and her granddaughter later I was appalled by what I heard. Basically, he accused them of picking cherries from somewhere where they weren't supposed to (which they were not aware of, as the nets were all down when they first started and were not notified by anyone), even though they were extremely apologetic, he then snatched the buckets from the frail old lady and rudely told them to leave. When they informed him they would pay whatever they were worth he was extremely rude, even though they had only picked a quarter of those particular cherries which they were apparently not supposed to. He then made them pay premium price, even though there was only a quarter of the bucket with these cherries. His wife in the process accused them of arguing when I clearly saw they were not doing anything but being polite and apologetic. He told them to take it or leave it. I experienced the same thing. When we first started picking at 10am all the nets were down. I saw everyone going under the nets and picking, so we proceeded to do the same. An hour later the girl that worked there slowly pulled them up. The owner (I assume), Graeme, started screaming at my son for no good reason. When I asked why he was screaming he told us we were not allowed to pick there, however, I was speaking to the girl that was pulling up the nets and she saw us picking there and did not say anything. Also, there was no one there to guide us as to where we could pick and he claimed there was. He then kicked us off the farm. I asked to purchase what we had spent an hour picking and he refused to allow us to do this. If I was on my own, I would have left, however I did not wish to disappoint my son as he had spent so long picking the cherries. He actually verbally assaulted my son. I was shocked by his behaviour. My son appeared a little frightened. Eventually after speaking to him he allowed me to have the buckets back and purchase them, but he told us to leave immediately and never come back. That is when I saw him and his family treat customers as they did us. This orchard is a DISGRACE. Being part of the farming industry I am appalled that this orchard is still standing. They should be ASHAMED of themselves! I noticed Graeme had a racist tone about him and he singled out anyone who was not a true Australian....very shameful. Graeme and his family are the reason all Australians are titled all around the world as rude and racist. To add to this, there were so many tourists there, in fact, 100's. I was also astounded to see cash sales being processed, without any receipts being issued. When I requested a receipt they refused to provide me with one and claimed this was only cash sales. Throughout the whole process and despite being apologetic when we picked cherries where we were not supposed to be (even though were were not informed by his employees or Graeme himself, as he claimed), we were treated with blatant disrespect. The old lady and granddaughter I spoke to informed me they used to be regular and have brought many people to to their business and stopped coming after a similar incident had occured and the only reason they went today was because where they usually go had run out of cherries. There is a basic level of human decency and these people have none. I most definitely intend to take this matter further and report it, for...

Had the pleasure of visiting the orchard for apple picking, and I must say that overall, it was a good experience. The orchard was nestled in a beautiful countryside location in Bacchus Marsh, and the greenery was simply stunning. The orchard was well-maintained and it was evident that the staff took pride in ensuring that the apple trees were healthy and fruitful.

Red and green apples were available available for picking. Both varieties were in abundance. The apples were ripe and delicious, and it was a lot of fun to wander through the rows of trees, hand-selecting the perfect apples to take home.

That being said, I must admit that the price of the apples was a bit steep (considering entry fee and price per kg). While I understand that orchard owners need to make a profit, the cost of the apples felt a little exorbitant. Also please consider some ways on minimizing the wastages as lots of apples were lying on the ground.

Overall, I would still strongly recommend this orchard for anyone looking for a fun day out with family or friends. The nature was beautiful, the apples were delicious, and the experience was a...

Love this place! Loads of space in the car park and good signage. As you walk up they have a little stall on the left which have the pre-picked fruit. They have a selection of fruit to pick which includes white cherries and red cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, jam apricots and selection of some other berries. They also sell jam and honey for a very good and reasonable price. Staff are very friendly. They charge $5 per person for entry fee and then you pay for what you pick. I can’t say this enough. STAFF ARE SO FRIENDLY AND HELPFUL. We didn’t really know which cherries to pick and the staff taught us the difference between ripe and unripe cherries and how to pick the best ones. They told us that keeping the stems on make them last longer which is so good to know. They also gave us a ladder to help us pick from the higher places and moved us around. I really encourage everyone to support this business and to go here. Unfortunately, they told us that they lost a big amount of there cherries stock this year because of the rain fall so let’s all make sure to support them 10...