Briar Hollow Orchard & Cider Mill Order cider & donuts

U-pick orchard & cider mill — Hendersonville, NC

Bring a blanket.
We'll bring the cider.

Apples you pick yourself, cider pressed in the mill, donuts while they're still warm, and grass wide enough for the whole crowd. Briar Hollow is a picnic orchard first — everything else follows.

Order cider & donuts See the u-pick schedule

U-pick apples
Pressed cider
Cider donuts
Hayrides
Picnic orchard

Overhead view of a gingham picnic blanket spread with a jug of cider, a basket of donuts and fresh apples

Spread out. Stay a while.

What's on the blanket

Five patches,
all stitched together.

Everything we do sits within a short walk of the picnic grass — pick a few apples, carry them over to the mill, and let the cider and donuts find you.

Cider, pressed here

Apples go in, cider comes out — cloudy, sweet and jugged in the mill. Take a cold jug home, or drink a cup on the grass while the press is still running.

Pressing days are the ones to catch.

Cider donuts

Fried through the day and best eaten while they're still warm. Order a dozen ahead and they'll be boxed and waiting for you.

U-pick apples

Rows open as the crop ripens. Bring a bucket, and we'll point you to what's ready that week.

Hayrides

A wagon out through the trees, past the picking rows and back to the grass. Sit on the hay and let the orchard go by.

The picnic orchard

Open grass between the trees, shade for the hottest part of the afternoon and room to spread out. Stay as long as you like.

U-pick schedule

The picking calendar follows the crop.

Every season is a little different, so picking days get posted as the apples tell us. Here's how a day at the orchard usually runs.

The board at the mill gate has the day's open rows.

Order cider & donuts ahead

Apples

U-pick rows open

Bring a bucket or a bag, and we'll walk you to the rows that are ready that week — and show you how to twist an apple off without bruising the spur.

Cider

Pressing days at the mill

On pressing days the mill runs and the cider goes straight into jugs — still cloudy, still cold. Come stand near the spout for a cup of it.

Donuts & hayrides

Out to the orchard and back

Donuts come out of the fryer through the day, and the hay wagon keeps looping past the picking rows and back to the picnic grass.

Order ahead

Pack a hamper for the ride home.

Tell us what you'd like and we'll have it ready at the mill when you arrive — a jug or two of cider, a box of donuts, or both.

Fresh-pressed cider By the jug
Cider donuts By the half dozen or dozen
U-pick apples From the rows, in your bucket
Hayrides & picnic grass Part of the visit

Plan a visit

Stay for the afternoon,
not just the apples.

Picnic grass, shade trees, a long afternoon.

Briar Hollow is in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Pick your apples, then carry the whole afternoon over to the grass — cider jug in one hand, donut box in the other.

A blanket or a low chair, whichever you like better
A bucket for whatever you pick
A sun hat the picnic grass is wide open
An appetite donuts are best fresh

A hay wagon of passengers rolling between orchard rows on a bright afternoon — The wagon loops past the picking rows all afternoon.

Someone on a wooden orchard ladder reaching for apples among the leaves — Pick a bucketful — we'll point you to the ripe rows.

Fresh cider running from the spout of a wooden press into a bucket — Pressed in the mill, jugged the same day.