Last Sunday, my friend from out of town and I decided to go apple picking. It seemed like a low-key, fun way to spend our day; the sun was out (by golly!), and we were hung over, so we thought some fresh air might do us good.
I looked around online for a nearby orchard and found Heavenly Hill Farm in North Royalton. I had never been to North Royalton before, but it was a quick drive, and the orchard itself wasn't too hard to find (although we do apologize to the family whose driveway we intruded upon when we thought your little "Apples" sign was the place. Oops.).
Heavenly Hill was small, and you kinda get the feeling that your car is going to get blocked in, but thankfully that didn't happen. You have a choice of either paying something like 73 cents per pound of apples you pick, and a bit less per pound if you find them on the ground (but who would know?), or you can get a big box for $6 or a huge basket for $16. We chose the six dollar box.
The girl at the counter even told us we can hitch a ride with the "hayride" guy who was making the rounds. But then we saw the trees like, 100 yards away. We chose to walk...but the offer was appreciated.
It was very scenic, and lovely, and definitely not too commercial. Each tree was adorned with a different stuffed animal, perhaps in anticipation of Halloween? Or so you can remember where you got that really good-tasting (uh, I mean good-looking, we don't taste without buying....hehe) apple? I don't know, but it was freaky.
The apples themselves weren't bad, but weren't fantastic. Some trees were just nasty. Some were delicious. I guess this is how it is. I haven't been apple picking in like 10 years so I was savoring the experience more than the apples.
But I would do this again this season even, because it really wasn't a "whole day event" type of trip. I think we were there for only 30-45 minutes and got plenty of apples. In all, I think we spent a max of 2 hours on the whole ordeal including travel (from Tremont).
They also have pies for sale (in case you don't want to DIY with all the fresh apples), and also very strange but intriguing items for sale...like Star Trek dish sets and Elvis figurines. My friend got a couple of antique-looking jars to put flowers in.
All in all, it was a good day.