Beckwith Orchards Cider Mill — Local services in Franklin Township

If you live in Summit, Portage or Geauga County and don't visit Beckwith's at least once each Fall, you are completely missing out. Honestly, you should visit three times- Once as soon as the first batches of cider are pressed. Once mid season when you can get your hands on so many different varieties of apples, and finally once in mid October so you can refill on cider and go through the corn maize. Pun intended.

Make sure to tour the orchard, ask questions and raise your apple growing knowledge, but most importantly... Smell. Inhale the wonderful scent of the place, redolent of apples and cinnamon and pumpkin and everything great about Fall.

Make sure to bring the kids even if they took a class field trip as so many local kids do. They'll want to share everything they learned and guide you through the maze.

One last Northeast Ohio hint... Cleveland Whiskey's Christmas Bourbon goes great...

Such a disappointment! Years ago we went to this orchard and it was nothing like it is now. We moved out of the area so it hasn't been easily accessible. We made a special trip yesterday to get some apples. The variety was about 6 different kinds that were already bagged, probably for the Covid situation. Anyway, we couldn't find one bag that had decent apples! Not one. They all contained apples that were bruised or nicked somehow and they were all mixed together size wise. They looked worse than the ones in the grocery store that are in the bargain bin! Seriously. We will never go back and make the ridiculous assumption that it would be the same in quality. Huge disappointment!! My husband thought they must be selling the "good quality" to some market or store and leaving the rest for the "thrift store" on site. Sounds about right from...

Nice place to stop for fresh peaches and especially apples as well as unique items. However, I have been really disappointed in the peaches on my last couple (2) of visits. I bought peaches (1/2 peck bag) the first week they were open and they were very fresh and good. However, a week later on my next visit, almost all the peaches were bruised-up pretty severely. They weren't bad, but all the bags of peaches that I could see had bruises. I tried to pick-out the best looking bag, but almost all of them ended-up being bruised. Then this most recent week the peaches looked really good, but they all ended-up being mealy which is typical of peaches that are old (stored or kept too long). They definitely were not fresh. It is interesting that I did not experience this at all last year. Perhaps this was just the early...