Applecrest Farm Orchards — Attraction in Hampton Falls

I grew up in Michigan, where fall is all about the cider house, orchards, and cider donuts! I looked for something similar now that I'm living in New Hampshire, since my kids (being Florida born) have not experienced such a thing. I really wanted to follow this family tradition, and based on reviews I really thought Applecrest would fit the bill.

We waited until the weekend to visit since we also wanted to catch their harvest festival weekend. Their web site advertised "free admission," and all sorts of activities for kids, so we were excited. We brought a small amount of cash just in case.

When we arrived, the parking lot was easily navigated and parking assistants directed us to available parking. They had a walkway roped off which was helpful for showing people exactly where to go.

As we approached the big, beautiful modern barn that serves as a grocery store and restaurant, we were hopeful that the cash wouldn't be an issue. Sure enough, visitors were able to use plastic to pay for their purchases inside.

We walked through the shop and out onto the festival staging area where there were stations set up for scarecrow building ($15,) face painting ($3-$7 depending on the design) and food ($1.25-$6 for cider donuts, $2 for drinks, cash only, with a convenient fee-collecting ATM nearby). The food shack was the only thing that had prices clearly labeled. The scarecrow didn't have a price sign, and the face painting only showed the cost written lightly in small pencil numbers in a binder they let the kids look through. Of course, people start their kids into these activities before knowing there's an associated cost (face painting especially tends to be free, as a draw for families with kids...?) and before you know it, the cash is nearly gone.

We walked over to the farm part of the property to see what else was around. There was a petting zoo style area set up where kids could touch ($1 per person) and feed (+$2) sheep. Of course kids are going to be accompanied in to this area by an adult, so that's just extra dollars. The pens were walled in by another fence so there was absolutely no way anyone could get around paying $1 just to touch a sheep. (The $1 was access to be able to reach through a fence to touch the animals, not to be able to actually go in the pen with them.)

Apple picking was one of the main draws, so while I kept the kids busy my husband went to inquire about that. The options were $25 or $40 to pick apples. Ouch! I'm all about supporting local businesses, and I understand that an operation this big sometimes needs to charge a little more than a grocery chain. But $25 for what would amount to maybe 3-4lbs of apples? No thanks. Instead, we opted to blow the rest of our cash (because they didn't take cards for this activity either) to pay $7 for a pint of raspberries we picked ourselves.

Overall, the property is lovely. The selection of products is quite vast, both in the store and on the field. It's easily walkable, stroller friendly, and the staff do a really good job at running things. The folks at the scarecrow booth and the face painting were great with the kids. I would have loved to give five stars, but they needed to be more friendly to those paying with plastic (I don't care if you get a kickback from those ATM fees, get a Square reader and you'll have much more business! I never did get my cider donutsince I ran out of cash!) and absolutely needed to be more clear with their pricing for activities at the festival part. Put signs up indicating that these things cost money (and how much) and maybe even put that information on the web site so visitors can come prepared with the right amount of cash. Don't advertise the farm/festival as "free admission" when the only things that are free will be to take pictures in front of the pumpkin patch, and to watch the animals from behind an extra gate so you can't even get a kiss...

We used to LOVE to make a weekend day trip to the farm. Every inch of it was full of charm and fun! The new building, where it's nice in a typical, franchisey sort of way. ...is not at all where I will bother driving to anymore. We had all thought that this new building was just for restaraunt purposes, and we're very disappointed.

Plainly. ....HATE the new & "improved " applecrest. I may as well go to my local Co-op, don't bother with a 2 hour drive. Not to mention, they were out of ALL of the things I buy when we go there & no one knew anything about when they might get more. (Fudge, jams cheeses etc)

We also ate at the bistro. VERY disappointing. The hostess was obviously overworked & she was being rediculously rude, but beyond that. ....ha. I have some egg allergies and so on, so I like to read & know a menu beforehand. The website was very easy to navigate & where I thought some of the food here looked a little on the pricier end (14 bucks for a small Flatbread ) I still wanted to try it. So we get to the farm, and after a 45 minute waiting list for a table, we sit down only to find out they're only serving a VERY limited menu on Sunday, brunch & breakfast....no soup. ..no fish unless you're a kid. ...not even one of the sandwiches I wanted to try. ....it was all breakfasty crap & sweet. My daughter really wanted soup, hot cider (which they couldn't figure out how to do, only cold cider) & a salad. .....it was raining outside & we were chilly. Just she and I had braved the steady drizzle in favor of picking peaches since the whole peach festival was canceled (applecrest really should have posted something about that ) while the rest of our party waited for a table. Ps, we walked down towards the peach orchard since their advertised free rides were also canceled. Ahem. I'm pissed that we paid for a stupid freaking bag of peaches though that we didn't even get to pick!!!!!!! The lady at the main barn basically said we couldn't even get into the orchard without buying a bag in the main building before we ventured out there. Mistake. BIG MISTAKE! Compete waste. ...we never made it all the way to the damn peaches! So all that for nothing! The gal at the register didn't have a clue what to do when I came back for a refund since we never got anything. So anyways, we went to eat. ....hostess was crap, waitress & waiter were absolutely wonderful. ....food was extremely mediocre & overpriced. ....menu was for crap, false website advertising. Ps, why in the hell would you NOT serve lunch menu during a freaking festival? Or on Sunday afternoon? Especially for people who don't want sweet and can't eat certain things that live in most breakfast foods. ...like eggs.

Long story short. ....we all were very disappointed, I would personally use the word hate. ....I will never recommend this place ever again. Not friends or family who vacation at my place, definitely not to locals, not even...

We went for the Pick Your Own (PYO) apples and peaches in late August. My review is for the PYO, not for the store or other activities.

The prices are a bit high, but we were already there. $20 for a half peck of peaches and $20 for a peck of apples. It's early season, so the Jersey Macs are ripe, and yes, they're quite tasty. Nice apples, good picking for early season.

More than half of the apple trees have a significant amount of poison ivy around the trunks, so be really careful. Make sure your kids don't get into it.

There were employees up at the shop, but not a single employee down at the PYO area to answer questions or point folks in the right direction. This was a gorgeous late summer day on a weekend. There should have been SOMEONE around there.

When I went to pick a peach, I tugged on the fruit, and a whole massive branch came down on my head. I mean, yeah, things happen. I wasn't injured. But then I noticed that there were massive branches down everywhere in the peach orchard. It looked like a massive storm had hit, but when I looked closer, it appeared that the trees were being attacked by a brown rot fungus. It was quite surprising. I've been doing U-pick/PYO fruit for decades, and I've never seen anything like this.

Also down at the parking lot for the U-pick orchards, I saw signs that said "buy any PYO peaches and get any size PYO apples half off." Well, nobody had said anything about that up at the store, so I took a photo of the sign and went back up to the store with it. In the very least, I wanted someone to know about the damage in the peach orchard.

One of the more experienced cashiers said that the sale had been from yesterday, and seemed frustrated that nobody had taken the signs down, but she did ultimately give us the sale price for the apples. She was shocked to hear about the peach orchard condition and thanked me profusely for letting them know. It made me wonder if anyone was monitoring the condition of the orchard.

I did forget to mention the poison ivy, but hey, it's New Hampshire. The stuff grows everywhere. Just make sure you're aware of it when you go to pick.

So that's about it. I'd say it was an average...