Yesterday, we made plans to meet friends in Mt. Airy at the Rock Hill Orchard. We had never been here before, but the combination of apple picking and ice cream was too tempting to resist! We had to plan almost a week in advance for this adventure as timed tickets were needed to access the upper area of the farm where the orchard is. The farm is controlling how many people are on their grounds, and masks are required. All visitors ages 5 and up must buy a ticket.
We parked at the farmers market just off the main road, and got our ice cream there. There were a bunch of picnic tables, and a playground. It was hopping, but everyone we saw wore a mask, and there was an attempt to keep 6 feet apart. No one was allowed inside the market, you had to place an order, and it was brought outside to you. The market had ice cream, milk, donuts, produce, apples, pumpkins, and more! Pebble had a baby scoop of fresh strawberry; Rainbow had a single scoop of strawberry; and Stormy went for a scoop of dark chocolate. The ice cream was delicious!!! I loved the fact that instead of plastic, we were given wooden spoons. I have never seen that before!
After we finished our ice cream, we loaded back into the cars and headed for the orchards. The farm didn’t look large from the street, but it goes way back from the road! We followed signs to a check in table where we got our wristbands and apple bags, and then continued up to a parking area.
There was so much to see and do in addition to apple picking! We didn’t opt to do the corn maze, you have to pay for that when you buy your ticket online. We also didn’t plan on doing the pumpkin patch. After parking, we walked toward the Creamery. There are a bunch of picnic tables up here as well as a sign stating where to go for certain apple varieties. There were a lot of options!
Just past the Creamery, we made a left turn toward the rows of apple trees. The organization here was amazing! Each row was labeled with the name of the apple, plus rows were one way only.
We loaded up one of our bags with Mutsu apples, an old favorite, and then grabbed a few Smokehouse apples, something new to try!
At this point, we heard the pumpkin cannon warming up and went over to take a look. Rainbow loved watching the pumpkins soar through the air and impact giant hay bales way out in the field. It was amazing how far they went! She saw several people waiting to use the cannon, and didn’t want to leave the area. Rainbow giggled and jumped up and down each time the cannon fired!
After watching the cannon launch 4 or 5 times, we walked back toward the parking area to head to another area of the orchard for a different type of apple. Pebble spotted the baby cows near the Creamery, and pointed saying, “cow! Moo!” They were very cute!
We all took turns petting one of the babies, they were so soft! We got a great laugh when one cow started licking my husband’s arm. Maybe he had some ice cream on his jacket courtesy of Pebble…
The last two varieties of apples we picked were Golden Delicious and Stayman. This area of the orchard was much less populated than the first section we were in, probably because we were no longer near the Creamery. Here we had more room to spread out, and we let the girls take off their masks. Plus we were able to just spend some time with our friends and catch up. It was a great end to a wonderful day!
FYI, if you go, definitely plan ahead, tickets go fast. As to the facilities, there are two porta potties near the farm stand, and more up near the Creamery. We are looking forward to coming back next year!
