Where to pick your own fruit & produce in NSW

Spring to summer

The Peach Farm 

Pick peaches and nectarines (September to November) 

The perfect all-rounder holiday spot for families, The Peach Farm is a pet-friendly farm near Yamba that not only offers PYO peaches and nectarines by the bucket, but also eco-friendly off-grid glamping, kid-friendly events and private picnics in the blossom-scented orchards. Spend a day filling a bucket’s worth of perfect peaches for $15, and let the kids run free with the farm’s menagerie of cute animals.

The Peach Farm, Iluka - Credit: Minya Rose

The Giving Farm

Pick blueberries (October to December)

With eight varieties of organic blueberries, you can taste the different types fresh at The Giving Farm near Wyee on the Central Coast. There is no entry fee for picking. Simply grab a compostable punnet, find your favourite berries, and pay for what you pick. 

10's Estate 

Pick cherries (November to December) and figs (January to March) 

While the kids fill their buckets with fruit from this Mudgee orchard, adults can try a taste of the farm’s wine at the cellar door. Pick 10's Estate's figs January to March each year and Cherries in November and December. Citrus groves have also been planted for future PYO experiences. Don’t leave without a cherry popsicle. 

Bidgee Strawberries and Cream 

Pick strawberries (November to May) 

The bursting red fruits you’ll pick on Bidgee Strawberries and Cream near the Riverina farm are grown using sustainable and eco-friendly methods, so you can feel good as you pick. It’s $5 for entry and you pay $6 per 250g you pick. The farm also offers meet-the-farmer tours, and a delicious farmgate shop and cafe with strawberry jam, strawberry pie and strawberry ice cream using Riverina milk. 

Bidgee Strawberries and Cream, Wagga Wagga - Credit: NSW Farmers/Rachel Lenehan

Allambie Orchard and Café  

Pick cherries (November to December) 

On the way to Wagga Wagga, swing through the cutely named village of Wombat, where you can devour sweet cherries at Allambie Orchard for $10 per kilogram. You can also BYO picnic and enjoy your PYO cherries on the property, or tuck into a cherry pie or ice cream from the cafe. Should you miss the harvest window, you can always visit for a blossom tour during September and October. 

Allambie Orchard, Wombat

Clyde River Berry Farm

Pick blueberries (December to January) 

Nestled on the banks of the Clyde River Berry Farm is a short drive from Batemans Bay, this eco-friendly blueberry farm is tucked within NSW’s South Coast hinterland – a pristine environment for growing sweet and juicy berries. The farm is open every day during PYO season, and while blueberries are their staple, blackberries and strawberries are sometimes available, depending on the season. Don’t leave without trying their homemade berry ice cream and range of jams made with farm produce. 

Clyde River Berry Farm, Mogood - Credit: Shoalhaven Tourism

Ricardoes Tomatoes and Strawberries Farm  

Pick strawberries (year-round) 

The scent of strawberries is synonymous with summer, but at Ricardoes Tomatoes and Strawberries Farm in Port Macquarie, you can pick your own fruit year-round thanks to their hydroponic growing system that is always producing delicious strawberries. Entry is free and you only pay for what you pick. Arm the kids with buckets and send them off to collect to their heart's content. Open seven days a week, free farm tours are offered on weekdays. 

Ricardoes Tomatoes and Strawberries farm, Blackmans Point

Berrylicious Strawberries

Pick strawberries (year-round) 

If you’re taking a southward sojourn from Sydney and fancy the taste of a juicy strawberry, stop into Berrylicious Strawberries near Thirlmere and eat as many as you want for $22 per person (kids are $11 but babies under two eat for free). The greenhouse-grown berries are suspended two-metres above the ground, and are ripe and ready to be plucked and eaten throughout the year.

Berrylicious Strawberries, Thirlmere - Credit: Berrylicious Strawberries

Meliora Farm

Pick oranges and lemons (year-round), mandarins (May to September) and avocados (August to January)

Guests are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket and enjoy the gorgeous scenery following their fruit-picking foray at Meliora Farm. Tucked away in Peats Ridge on the Central Coast this working farm was established in 1925 and grows both citrus and avocados. Pick-your-own dates are set for select weekends when the fruit will be at its most fresh. Visitors are given their own Meliora farm bag upon arrival, which they can fill to the brim (approximately 12kg of fruit) for $35. 

Meliora Farm, Peats Ridge - Credit: Elise Kemp/Felicity Kay Photography

Summer to autumn 

Wombat Heights Orchard 

Pick strawberries (October to April), cherries (November to December), figs (January to March), sugar plums (February) and persimmons (April to May) 

While cherries are the main crop at this sprawling farm in the town of Wombat, the late summer and early autumn months bring many more fruity treasures to pick yourself, including strawberries, figs, peaches, persimmons and sugar plums. Wombat Heights Orchard doesn’t sell any of its fruit at markets, so you’ll get the chance to pluck the very best fruit. Groups are welcome – bring lunch and stay for a picnic on their lush two-acre garden grounds.

Wombat Heights Orchard, Wombat - Credit: Wombat Heights Orchard

Darkes Glenbernie Orchard  

Pick peaches and nectarines (November) and apples (January to April) 

This six-generation, family-run Illawarra apple and stone fruit orchard set in beautiful Darkes Forest is a destination for more than simply munching on a hand-picked apple. When not being pocketed by visitors, apples from Darkes Glenbernie Orchard end up in award-winning bottles of Darkes Cider. Book a 90-minute tour to enjoy a bonus tractor ride before you pick your own fresh fruit. 

Glenbernie Orchard, Darkes Forest 

Cedar Creek Orchard  

Pick stone fruit (November to January), apples (January to May) and persimmons (April to May) 

The Slim family have been tending Cedar Creek Orchard in Thirlmere since the 1940s. Wander the 100-acre property on a guided farm tour, where you’ll sample fruit and watch apples being crushed for juice. You can also purchase the Slim family’s delicious fruit, juice, honey and cider (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) at the shed or, at certain times of the year, make a booking to pick your own. 

Cedar Creek Orchard, Thirlmere - Credit: Cedar Creek Orchard

Norland Fig Orchard  

Pick figs (December to April) 

Sweet and jammy, a perfectly tree-ripened fig is a summer sensation. With views toward Mount Canobolas, Norland Fig Orchard is a stone’s throw from Orange and offers fig lovers a chance to choose their own across two harvests. Norland grow four varieties, including the dark purple Black Genoa fig and the light-green-skinned White Adriatic fig. Pay for what you pick and check their social media to get the latest update on what's in season.

Fresh figs picked in the summer season in Australia

Hillside Harvest  

Pick stone fruit (January to March), figs (April) and apples (April to June) 

Summer at Hillside Harvest family orchard in Orange is filled with the sweet scent of peaches, plums and blackberries. Visit any day of the week to harvest your fill of seasonal goods or leave the kids to do the work while you enjoy a coffee in the Farm Store and Cafe. Out of season the orchard can be enjoyed with a tasting, a guided tour, or leisurely stroll. 

Hillside Harvest, Borenore

Pine Crest Orchard

Pick apples (January to May), chestnuts and walnuts (March to April) and persimmons (April to June) 

Growing apples and pears for more than 40 years, Pine Crest Orchard in the Blue Mountains also offers PYO chestnuts and walnuts (bring gloves for the chestnuts), as well as chestnut ice cream. Apple varieties include all your favourites as well as specialty varieties like Tydeman’s and Akane. 

Pine Crest Orchard, Bilpin

TNT Produce 

Apples (January to June), persimmons (April to June) and tomatoes (May) 

The perfect day out for couples, families and groups of all sizes, TNT Produce near Bilpin in the Blue Mountains offers plenty of delicious activities. Pick fresh tomatoes from the vine, sweet and crunchy persimmons, pink lady apples and more depending on the season – and stop by the store for local honey, apple juice, jams, oils, olives and more. 

TNT Produce, Bilpin - Credit: TNT Produce

Shields Orchard

Apples (February to May) 

Crisp, sweet apples from the Blue Mountains are some of Australia’s best and their flavour seems even more fragrant when plucked from the branch. Head to Shields Orchard in Bilpin during the apple harvest to do just that. With 12 varieties each ripening at different times, you can usually start picking Royal Gala from February and carry on until the last of the Sundowners arrive in May. You’ll need to book in advance but there’s no entry charge, you simply pay for what you pick. 

Shields Orchard, Bilpin

Mouat’s Farm

Pick apples (February to June) and cherries (December to January) 

This Batlow farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains is abundant with fruit trees, the oldest of which were mere seedlings in the 1920s. If you’re en route to Beechworth via the Snowy Valley Way, be sure to pop by Mouat's Farm to fill the boot with fresh apples, cherries and berries. Come summer, you can self-pick a bucket of cherries and twist the first Gala apples from their branches. From there, other varieties roll out, including Kanzi, Fuji, Granny Smith and Pink Lady, until the picking season ends in early June. 

Orchard in the Snowy Valleys

Nutwood Farm

Pick chestnuts and walnuts (March to April) 

Join the chestnut harvest that graces NSW every autumn. Stop by Nutwood Farm in Mount Irvine in the Blue Mountains to PYO chestnuts and walnuts for $11/kg. The grounds are perfect for kids to run around on – just make sure to wear strong-soled, enclosed shoes and gloves to protect yourself from spiky chestnut burrs.

Nutwood Farm, Mount Irvine

Diego Bonetto's Mushroom Foraging Workshop 

Forage for pine mushrooms (March to May) 

Join professional forager and author Diego Bonetto as he guides you into Penrose State Forest in the Southern Highlands to search for and harvest edible pine mushrooms during a foraging workshop. Part treasure hunt, part ecological education, the workshop will leave you with a box of delicious and safe fresh fungi, as well as a tasting of your haul fried in oil and garlic cooked up by Bonetto. 

Diego Bonetto Mushroom Foraging Workshop, Penrose State Forest - Credit: Helen-Algie Forest

Ozia Tours

Apple & Persimmon Tour (May to June) 

If you’d prefer for someone else to transport you on a fruit-picking expedition, join a tour with Ozia Tours. Leaving from Sydney or Parramatta, this full-day tour takes you to the famous apple-growing town of Bilpin, where you can PYO for a discounted price of $5 per kg for apples and $10 per kg for persimmons. The tours stop by a nearby brewery for an apple cider tasting and lunch before finishing at The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah.  

Ozia Tours visiting Bilpin - Credit: Ozia Tours

Kookootonga Chestnut & Walnut Farm

Chestnuts and walnuts (March to April) 

Also nearby in the Mount Irvine region, Kookootonga Chestnut & Walnut Farm has been owned by the Scrivener family since 1897, and the farm’s first chestnuts and walnuts were planted more than 100 years ago. The farm is still family-run and visitors can head over to PYO chestnuts for $10/kg and walnuts for $12/kg. There's a cottage for overnight stays, and if you want to bring every member of the family, dogs are allowed on leads. 

Winter

Hunt for truffles across NSW

Find truffles (June to August) 

The arrival of the cooler months brings one of the dining industry’s most prestigious ingredients, the truffle. You can forage for your own in a range of farms across the state. Go on the hunt with Walter the dog at Oakshade Truffles in Mudgee. Unearth premium fresh black and white truffles from the soil at RedGround in Oberon, where you can also stay the night. Join a truffle tour at Robertson Truffles in the Southern Highlands. Hunt with dogs and a small group at Gulaga Gold on the South Coast. Search the English and French oak trees at Hidden Valley Farms in Goulburn. Sign up for the annual 'Forage & Feast' experience at Orange's Borrodell Estate, where the hunt is followed by a decadent three-course meal or join the family-run farm hunt at Blue Frog Truffle Farm in Queanbeyan. 

Borrodell Vineyard, Canobolas

Watkins Family Farm

Pick mandarins (June) and cumquats (July) 

Watkins Family Farm in the Hawkesbury have been in the citrus business for well over a century. In the winter months, come along on weekends and holidays to pocket plump and juicy mandarins of the satsuma, imperial and emperor varieties for just $10 per bucket. Kids can also pat and feed the farm's lambs.

A bucket of mandarins picked fresh from the orchard

Anderson Farm

Pick mandarins (June) and oranges (June to September)

Depending on the time of year, head to Anderson Farm to pick mandarins, oranges, or lemons. Based along the banks of the beautiful Hawkesbury, their bush lemons make great lemon butter and their oranges make a great tangy marmalade. Entry is $5 for those aged ten years and over with large buckets of fruit costing $10.

Cedar Farm

Pick oranges (July to September) 

In adorable Dooralong on the Central Coast, head to Cedar Farm to fill your buckets with fragrant and sweet oranges. Grab a picking stick and head into the 15-acre orchard to select your own spray-free Navels. Once your arms are laden, weigh your haul and pay only $2.50 per kilogram. Opening times vary, so check their socials before you go. Keep an eye out for pony rides, sausage sizzles, and local honey that may also be offered on picking days.

Children picking oranges at Cedar Farm, Dooralong - Credit: Cedar Farm