By WENDY HARGREAVES
One for the bucket. One for me. One of the bucket… you get the idea.
Summer is peak season for pick-your-own fruit in Victoria, and it’s shaping up to be a bumper crop for berries and stone fruits. So pack a picnic rug, dust off your sun hat and head to a u-pick farm for bucket of sun-kissed fruit. Here are five of the best orchards, where canny farmers are also selling homemade jams, chutneys, relishes and fermented goodies to take home.
1. Cherry Hill Orchard, Yarra Valley
Cherry Hill offers pick-your-own sessions in Coldstream and Wandin East daily (except Christmas Day). The Cherry Hill team is also offering twilight cherry picking in December, but make sure you book ahead to secure your spot (from $13pp). Pack a picnic to enjoy after your picking session, or visit the farmgate café for cherry ice cream, cherry soda, and all sorts of cherry preserves.
Cherry picking is also available at Cherry Haven in Wandin East, but check the farm’s Facebook page for opening days in December and January as the hours change to make sure there’s plenty of fruit. Cherry Haven grows more than 30 varieties of cherries, including white and sour cherries.
2. Pennyroyal Raspberry Farm
This pretty little farm in the Otway Ranges is open 10am-4pm daily (except Christmas Day) until the raspberries run out in mid-January. The farm’s famous cafe won’t be operating this summer, but you can still buy cold drinks, snacks and homemade berry ice cream from the farm shop (along with jams, relishes, cider and fresh seasonal produce – the rhubarb is wonderful). If you plan to pick more than a kilo of berries, bring your own picking container ($32/kg), or buy one of the farm’s pre-paid cardboard containers for smaller hauls. Pennyroyal’s has plenty of ripe raspberries, along with brambleberries, boysenberries, youngberries, loganberries, gooseberries and red and black currants. Soon they’ll have marionberries and gooseberries, and the whole farm is free of pesticides and herbicides.
3. Rainer’s Orchard, Woori Yallock
Rayner’s Orchard takes pick-your-own to a whole new level. Hop on a tractor tour ($38.50 for adults, $32.50 for kids) to taste at least eight different fruits straight from the trees. They more than 450 varieties of fruit trees, which means there’s always something to try – but summer is the best time to visit with Rayner’s famous stone fruit coming into season. After your tour, grab a farm-style meal at the Peach Café or take home your own fruit tree at Rayner’s nursery. The farm is open 9am-5pm during summer.
4. Hampton Ridge Farm, Trentham
Cooler spring weather has delayed the annual pre-Christmas raspberry picking sessions at Hampton Ridge, a gorgeous family farm just five minutes from the historic township of Trentham. These raspberries are worth the wait, even sweeter for growing slowly in Victoria’s central highlands – and the fact they’re free of fungicide and pesticide sprays. Your berries are weighed and paid for on exit. BYO takeaway container and dogs are also welcome. Keep an eye on the Hampton Ridge Instagram for the farm opening at 109 Huttons Lane, Little Hampton.
5. Naturipe Fruits
With three farms across Bacchus Marsh and Ballarat, Naturipe welcomes visitors to pick peaches, nectarines, cherries and strawberries. Entry is free to harvest nectarines and peaches (and $4/kg to take your bucket home). There’s an small entry charge for picking strawberries or cherries, and the picked fruit costs about $14/kg. You can also stock up on goodies like jams, sauces and vinegar from the farm shop. The farms are open from 9am to 5pm.
And while you’re out there…
Beechworth Berries
Pick strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries at this lovely farm just north of Beechworth in Wooragee. The strawberries are grown waist-high for easy picking, and dogs are welcome. This is not a farm for scoffing fruit while you pick, but the $8.50 entrance fee includes the first 500g of berries, so it’s great value. Be sure to swing past the farm gate shop to pick up some homemade jams. Open daily from 8am-4pm.
Tour the farm around Brae restaurant
This might not be a you-pick adventure, but there is something magical about Brae Farm, the lush source of vegetables, grains, fruit and honey supplying one of Australia’s finest restaurants. Now you can take a farm tour with head gardener Jo Lawson (without dropping at least $370pp for a seat in the restaurant). Every Friday and Saturday at 11am, Jo leads a one-hour walk around the regenerative farm that shapes Brae’s daily menu, tasting the harvest along the way and learning about compost, soil health and organic soil management. The tour finishes with a non alcoholic beverage made from organic ingredients from the farm. It’s a bargain for $30pp (with no charge for kids), but you must call ahead to book a spot on (03) 5236 2226.
