Smolak Farms — Attraction in North Andover

You know you’re having a great time when you’re planning your next visit while you’re still there! 😄😄

OUR VISIT We went on a Wednesday mid-September, arrived at 10 am and the place was almost empty as it was a weekday. It was getting more people by the time we left (1:30 pm) but definitely still not crowded. We drove up from Boston and it was our first trip to an Apple orchard. I took my three children (5 years & under) and we had an amazing time. The staff was very friendly and courteous, the entire time we were treated as old friends who came to visit.

COVID Reservations are not required. There are signs up to remind everyone to wear masks and fortunately there’s plenty of space (unlike other smaller orchards, so I’m told) so social distancing is quite easy. My kids were asking “Why are we the only ones here?!?” When we were picking apples. 😂 I specifically chose Smolak because it is larger and the other local orchard websites had info about “making sure your visit was quick” and “keep your children next to you” and other nerve wracking guidelines.

PICK YOUR OWN I was worried my children were too small to enjoy the experience but fortunately they weren’t. Even my 18month old toddled around too and from the “pick your own” Apple area (behind the big white barn, keep following the signs) where we very easily filled one of their little bags with freshly fallen apples. Unfortunately the paper handles on the bags break with much use so you might want to bring a different bag to put them into after you’ve paid. The apples, however, are gorgeous and so tasty. In fact they are probably the prettiest apples I’ve ever seen. Although they request you don’t eat the apples until they are washed as I’m assuming they are sprayed to keep the bugs off. There were so many apples! Several varieties, I forget the name of the kind we picked. There’s also apparently raspberries which I wish we could have picked but they either weren’t ready or not available for picking that day. But they were beckoning from the other side of the path...there’s info on their website about what is in season when, basically any time between June and Christmas there’s something!

OTHER ACTIVITIES Smolak farm also has a pumpkin patch and an animal area (no petting, but that’s too be expected with little fingers& nibbling, I guess) complete with some classic farm animals and also Alpacas and peacocks. The set up is really nice, there is a really creative wooden playground area within the animal area (with seating for the adults). There’s also a very large tent with many picnic tables for your lunch. There are supposedly hayrides as well but I’m not sure if they were available the day we went; we had enough to do and might try for it next time.

EATS & PURCHASING We brought our own sandwiches and got some ice cream (so many flavors!) for desert and these delicious (apparently “world famous”) apple cider donuts for the ride home. There’s also other items for purchase available: New England Maple Syrup, fresh cider, local cheese, lovely fall decor, farm toys and lots more. We did end up also getting a tiny little John Deer tractor... I was incredibly impressed with how reasonably priced everything was, and they didn’t charge for things like seeing the animals. They did have little quarter dispensers for animal pellets on the pens if you wanted to feed the animals, I didn’t have any cash for that but every thing else I could easily pay with my card.

ALL IN ALL We got what we came for and more, and I would encourage anyone and everyone else to go here (I’ve seriously been telling my local friends) We will hopefully be back later in the year for a Christmas tree 🎄 and hopefully next summer for cherries 🍒 and peaches...

Well, i did my homework and went to Yelp and InsiderPages prior to going here but basically I didn't listen. I read the terrible Birthday party reviews but since we were going for the kids to pick pumpkins from "the patch" I didn't think the reviews applied.... and I couldn't have been more wrong!!

We got there about 11am on a Sunday and already the field was filling with cars. We found "the pumpkin patch" (a yard with about 200 pumpkins) spread out on the small "patch" area. Since it was the beginning of the day i was expecting more choices but we all found "our" pumpkin and went to the cashier. I thought 60 cents per pound seemed high but I didn't realize how OVERPRICED it was and that this was only phase one of the Smolak Farm scam... and i do mean scam in every sense of the word. Six medium/large (but not giant by any means) pumpkins were over $78.00!!

Few local supermarkets are more pricey than Whole Foods and yesterday i saw pumpkins at Whole Foods that were every bit as large as the ones we bought at Smolak Farms that were TWO for $12 (some of the ones we bought at Smolak were OVER $14 EACH)!!!! Market Basket is selling large pumpkins for 29 cents per pound which is about the going price.. NOT 60 CENTS!! ESPECIALLY since the farmer, the distributor AND the retailer all need to make a profit from the retail store pumpkins.

The hay rides are $4 per person (no discount for children) for a very short hay ride; $5 for six donuts (that admittedly are delicious BUT made with cheap corn syrup, not real sugar) but all this was not nearly as upsetting as paying $7 EACH for two carving kits (i saw the EXACT same kit last night at Target for ONE DOLLAR each!!!!!!)

I'm not sure who owns Smolak Farms and how they sleep at night but i can assure you they sleep in luxury. In 2 hours four adults and two kids spent $150 and we did NOT eat or drink anything!! (well, i guess we did eat the cheap corn syrup donuts.. but nothing else).

This place is a scam in every sense...

It is difficult for me to leave a negative review because the owners truly are wonderful. However, hopefully if they are as nice as I think they are they will listen to reviews and make some changes.

Cost: This is the most expensive apple-picking places I have seen. It is $20 for a 1/2 peck bag, $35 for a full peck. That is about $10 more (for the full peck) than other local places. In addition, they charge you for every other little thing (hayrides, animal/kids area) whereas other farms have these things and more available for free.

Crowds: Extremely crowded! They do a poor job managing lines in their store. There is a long line of traffic getting in, and parking can be challenging.

Store: Very limited selection of items for purchase. They do not have a true farm store. You can buy cider, cider donuts, and apples, and a few other random items. I have been at other farms that have far more. Lines were ridiculous, resulting in a wait of about 25 minutes just to buy a half dozen cider donuts and a bottle of water.

Apples: We went picking on what we later found out was the last day of picking. We had looked in advance on their website, where it stated there were "still plenty of apples." When we got there, they gladly sold us a bag, but we soon found that not a single apple remained on the trees. For $35 we were left with filling our bag with apples from the ground, picking through partially rotted apples to find the few rare good ones. We considered bringing our bag back and asking for a refund, but the kids were having a good time. In my opinion they need to be more honest with people about what the "picking" is like, and discount the apples if they're getting that close to the end.

Positives: Attractive property, excellent cider donuts, Treadwell's ice cream (excellent!).

In summary: overpriced, crowded, not honest about apple picking conditions, excellent ice...