Smokey Ridge Ranch

Smokey Ridge Ranch has been in the same family since 1924 and is now on its fourth generation. It grows seventeen varieties of apple, five of wine grape, olives and chestnuts, and it lets you pick two of those yourself.

What You Can Pick

• Apples - seventeen varieties, "Pick the perfect Apples and have a kid-friendly farm experience!" The orchard is a short walk from the car park.
• Chestnuts - "sauntering through the orchard gathering chestnuts that have fallen from huge, beautiful, 40 year old trees", usually late September through October

The Apples

The list is unusually deep in old varieties: Winesap, Jonathan, Macintosh, Granny Smith, Rhode Island Greening, Arkansas Black, Red Delicious and Golden Delicious, alongside Mutsu, which the farm calls its most popular, plus Jonagold, Pink Lady and early and late Fuji. As the farm puts it, "Not all apples varieties are ripe at the same time each fall."

Good to Know

Persimmons and flowers are picked as you go rather than by you: "Apples, flowers, persimmons - we pick-as-we-go, guaranteeing you the freshest, tree ripened fruit." Ring 530 626 5077 to check the chestnut harvest.

Pro tip: Rhode Island Greening is a 17th century American cooking apple that almost nobody grows any more, and Arkansas Black keeps until spring. Both are worth the trip on their own.