Apple Hill Orchard & Cider Mill

Don’t fall for the hype. This place is terrible. Just go to your local Farmers Market for a better experience and tastier apples.
In fall 2014, I really wanted to go apple picking, having fond memories from college, and found this orchard would be on my drive from NC to TN.
Their apples are the same quality as what you buy at a mid-​range grocery store — nothing special or fresh-​tasting. The apples I purchased from different vendors at the Raleigh farmers market were all much better — super delicious!
Even worse, their fried apple pies are blasphemous to the idea of fried pies — soggy and wet. I’ve never had a more terrible fried pie. They were slimy! Slimy! It’s truly like they didn’t even try, assured that tourists, schools, and churches would come anyway, no matter how poor the fare and mediocre the apples.
Anyway. Don’t go here. Please. It’s awful and they don’t need any encouragement to keep up such a low standard.

The apples here are wonderful. They really make apple picking an experience and as easy as picking your own apples can be. The farm itself is beautiful and there is lots to do. If you go on Saturday, like we did, you can take a wagon tour of the property. I highly recommend doing this. The owner of the farm is the tour guide and he is very knowledgeable about the apples and the apple growing process. After the wagon ride we spent some time in there store where you can purchase everything from apple cider to apple butter and the best purchase we made was the apple cider slushies. They were WONDERFUL! The only complaint that I had was with one of the female staff members. She was not very friendly and rushed us on to the wagon ride just to sit and wait.
I do recommend checking the website and calling ahead to see what apples are currently available for the «U Pick» part of the farm. The website does show a schedule of what time of year is good for picking which apples but is not always reliable. We checked the website and planned our trip for a time when out favorite apples would be ready for picking but unfortunately, the frost caused some damage and we were unable to pick them. That was totally no fault of the farm! I understand that those things happen and we still had a blast! I highly recommend planning a visit to the orchard. It is worth it.

Yellow delicious, Gala, Honey Crisps and some other apples were ready for picking this hot August day. This was my first trip to an apple orchard and we drove 360 miles to get to this one. It was worth the trip however as this place has such beautiful views in the foothills of NC. They have pick your own or you can buy them at the country store on site. They furnish wagons for pulling, baskets for filling with apples and lots of expert advice for first timers like myself. The store also has many apple and fruit products for sale. We got plenty warm on this last day of August but we had a great time. Check out their web site for more information and some great pictures. There are many other apple varities available in September and October.