The Best Cherry Picking Farm Near Sydney

Where’s the best best cherry picking farm near Sydney? Certainly not in Orange (a town in NSW, 255kms from Sydney). My first experience of picking your own cherries at a cherry farm was many many years ago. I drove all the way to Orange with a small group of uni friends who picked that cherry farm for us to go. We were told “There isn’t any cherry tree left for you to pick your own” at the farm when we finally arrived. So that was that.

Don’t get me wrong. I still had a superb time in Orange. We bought lots cherries, had a feast of BBQ, swam in a lake, went out at night with fire crackers in hands. These happy old times. And how time flew! Later I heard the best cherry picking farm near Sydney is in Young (375kms from Sydney) but never tried “pick your own” again. Until this year.

J suggested to go visit Young, “the Cherry Capital of Australia” during the national cherry festival and do some sight seeing. Located in a valley surrounded by low hills, Young is famous for cherries, peaches, plums and other stone fruits. The cherry harvest runs throughout November and December and the fruit season ends in April. There are dozens of orchards around town which, in season, sell cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, apples, pears, grapes, strawberries and raspberries. Some of these orchards offer visitors “pick your own fruit” option. Where others only sell fruits readily picked or jams, pies made from fruits from their own farms.

“Pick your own fruit” at Young, NSW

As soon as you drive near Young on Olympic drive, you’ll see orchards after orchards with signs on the road side, inviting you to go in. So it wasn’t easy to decide which one is a good one to “pick your own”. We drove around that road twice, searched through google reviews and stopped by a few to check how they operated. Eventually we decided to go to Ballinaclash Fruit and Wine on Olympic Highway South of Young. Staff at the reception explained how it works and I was so glad to go on my own cherry picking for the first time! The good news is, they also has pick your own apricots for $4 a kilo. There’s no entry fee to go in. You can eat as much as you can inside the orchard and cherries you pick to take home is $8 per kilo. That sounded really good compared to some other orchards that charge $10 entry fees to go in on top of $10 per kilo for cherries you pick.

No wonder they had relatively more people inside and good reviews. Nevertheless, we had to test it ourselves.

Oh my, there were rows after rows of cherry trees full of cherries in the orchard. All I saw was big, plentiful of cherries everywhere ready for you to pick. I started to wonder how it was possible “there’s no tree left for you to pick your own” back then in Orange?

Anyways, I wasn’t complaining. 🙂 With so few people around because it was Friday, we ate, picked and took lots of pictures.

Walking pass by different types of cherries, we reached the apricot orchard. How cute are these apricots! Not to mention that they are delicious!

Will I come back again?

This cherry farm is full of cuteness. They also have a shop next to reception full of cherry wines, jams and pies.

The next day when we drove pass it to the Young Cherry Festival Parade, it was crowded with people and cars. Glad we went in on a week day while it wasn’t so packed.

The Cherry Festival Parade in Young town centre was so fun. Want to check out what it looked like?  J posted lots of photos here. Go and check it out!

Will I go back to the cherry farm again? That’s for sure! It’s the first cheery picking farm near Sydney I’ve ever got in. It’s got to be the best! Haha. Finally I went into a cherry farm to pick my own fruits! With a little bit more research beforehand, we fully enjoyed the trip, feeling full and happy.