Belkin Family Lookout Farm - U-Pick Orchard - Taproom, Outdoor Dining and Market — Attraction in Natick

I went to Belkin Lookout Farm for the first time yesterday with some friends and their four year old daughter. We settled on this particular orchard because it was literally the only You-pick orchard that was open on a Monday. They had a nice video on their website which made it look beautiful and family friendly, and I had not read any of the other reviews prior to going.

It was pretty quiet there being a weekday. We paid reduced rates of $8 admission per person, but I was pretty shocked to see the rates were even higher on other days. The man at the ticket window didn't really speak, just took our money and asked if we were planning on picking fruit. Do people come here to not pick fruit? There was three bag sizes you could pay for, I did medium for an addition $16 dollars. We all got a "stamp" that was a big black blob on our hands and walked over to a train.

The train ride felt kind of like being in a disney theme park, but where the staff don't really talk. I would have preferred to walk, but I think they require to you take the train in so we did.

The orchard itself is beautiful!! The train drives under a canopy made from bunches of hanging grapes, through the rows of orchard trees. We tried a few grapes and they are very sweet and provide beauitful shade and atmosphere. The first stop the train leaves you off of had Asian pears and very large Golden Delicious apples. It had just rained that morning so all the fruit was a bit wet, and tasted like delicious pre-washed fruit right from the tree. We kept walking because the train wasn't around to the next train stop for more fruit variety. This just had mostly rotten Cortlands. This is not the farms fault, because certain fruit grows at certain times and these were just a bit past their prime. We headed down to the third stop, which had just more of the same pears and Cortlands, but also had the children's play area.

The four year old with us wasn't really into the apples, but had a lot of fun at the play area. They had some really awesome goats, and a small "petting" zoo which you couldn't pet anything and their was no pellets to feed them. But you could look, and they had sheep, pigs, ducks, alpacas, goats, and donkeys. They had a bouncy castle, some jungle-gym type stuff to climb on, a burlap maze, a small Caterpillar themed train for kids to ride around on, a tree house with a slide, and some picnic tables. The day was beautiful so we sat down to relax as the little one played. It was very empty, maybe one other family there for just a few minutes. I believe on the weekends they do magic shows and have food their, and face painting, but none of this was going on when we were there.

After that we realized the only stop we found fruit that looked great was the first so we just walked back through the orchard to the beginning because again we didn't know where the train was, and it was just too nice of a walk to ruin waiting for a train. We filled our bags then headed to the big barn giftshop/check out place. I was hoping for more fresh farm produce here, but it was more like a market with non Lookout Farm related stuff. We bought some Cider donuts that were half off (probably because they were made over the weekend) but they still tasted good to me.

All in all, it was a good time. It was about 50 bucks for 2 adults to pick medium bag of apples/pears. The experience was still nice for me, but yes this does feel really expensive. I hear other places do not charge as much. You are really paying for them to keep up with a very large farm, and a train, and a children's play place. It was not a bad experience but I'm sure other farms could provide you with a less expensive option as well. Also the staff there seemed pretty miserable. You work at a beautiful...

We visited 4 or 5 years ago and then returned recently this season. If you like going to Jacks Abby and want to sit in an outdoor beer hall this is for you. If you want the fun of apple picking, commercialization and process flow have killed it.

Since our last visit Apple picking has become an amenity at the beer hall/brewery and is not the main attraction. It used to be that apple picking was the draw and the treat for completing the activity was the beverage. It all makes sense from a fiscal standpoint... create more year round revenue instead of stacking all your sales into September and half of october. As stated Monetization of the operation is the recurring theme.

That being said hoards of people made the pilgrimage west of Boston in their requisite flannel shirts, living in photos on social media, waiting in a line 45 deep only for an announcement to be made that they are all out of donuts. Most farms use a variant of the same donut machine from a national manufacturer and most area retailers use the same spiced apple cider donut mix from a regional vendor. No reason to run out of donuts other than mitigating waste and maximizing profits. And 3 hours later upon the exit of our visit no donuts. It was Saturday.

You need a reservation to sit at the first come first serve open dinning concept but can arrive 30 minutes early. This was confusing but effective way of managing crowds. Tableside ordering via QR code and a flurry of staff running orders to tables.

The former store area with the donuts now feeds the beast that is the restaurant/beer yard. The store itself has been relegated to a smaller outpost 300 yards closer to the main road. Buyer beware the honey and some other items while inclusive and representative of local farms is not made at lookout farm, it is only branded as such. This was explained to us in the store by the worker.

The final observation was the ikea like mazing of people through a series of sparsely populated overpicked rows of apples. At $30 a bag it would have been nice to pick fruit that was viable. You are sequestered to 1 to 2 rows of each varietals so the recurring revenue can be protected for future weeks. Most other farms have more access to more rows for better experience.

They also seem to have trouble with crowd control. One of those previously flannel clad patrons on their obligatory pilgrimage from Boston was driving their car down the pedestrian path between orchards. This area was significantly restricted with agricultural fencing. While the patron was a special kind of stupid, the lack of parking detail near the main road and not the main parking lot is likely to blame.

But overall still a good time for a family. It just felt a little over engineered. And yes bring the...

This farm is beautiful and seems like a very well-oiled machine. We went with friend last weekend after looking for a orchard within driving distance from Boston. It was a beautiful day, and everything seemed very well-organized and I appreciated the parking attendants directing everyone where to go, signage, etc. It was a September Saturday so I do not blame them for being swamped, 'tis the season in New England. The issue I DID have however, was that every person age 5+ is required to purchase a bag to pick apples, with the smallest one being $24. Yes, that's the most I have ever paid for apples, but the world is expensive and literally everyone has had to raise their prices, it's just one of life's necessary evils. However I think it's really disappointing that everyone has to purchase a bag. My husband and I spent $48 right off the bat before doing anything (we have a 2 year old, and the three of us can only eat so many apples!). I would have preferred to purchase one larger bag for our family instead of us being forced to each have one. Friends we were with felt the need to lie about their child's age and say she was four because they also did not need this many apples for their family. We had another adult friend with us who was just visiting for the weekend and is a flight attendant, who had to figure out some way to transport all these apples back with him only to fly out again and have them potentially go to waste. He was planning on just coming with us to enjoy the day, and he was forced to purchase an entire bag of apples he did not need. I don't really see how letting people walk around without a bag and just enjoy the space with others would be detrimental or cost the farm any extra money - they seemed to be doing just fine (and we did in fact spend even more money getting food, drinks, donuts, etc. I would have bought a caramel apple too - my favorite! - but the farm stand store was mobbed and literally sold out of everything). We had a nice time, but it was truly one of the most expensive family days we've ever had and I'm not sure it was worth the experience. I ran into a coworker while I was there who said she had been coming for years and like other reviewers, lamented the loss of the train and the playground and said that was a big reason her family loved coming there so much. In the future, I would stick to a smaller family farm, where you can get a similar experience for much less $$$ and with less rigid requirements for...