Fruit Picking inHobart

Appinoka is a regenerative farm at Mountain River in the Huon Valley, run by the Botha family since 2019. Around eight thousand strawberry plants are grown without herbicides or pesticides, and the family opens the rows for picking on announced days at $15 a kilo, well under the pre-picked price. What You Can Pick Strawberries - November to April, $15/kg Activities Farm shop with pasture raised eggs, smoked meats, honey and vegetables Paid farm tours, booked separately through their website Farm animals including hens, pigs, lambs and cattle Good to Know Picking is $15 per kilo against $20 pre-picked, and there is no entry fee. Opening is announced day by day on Facebook and is weather dependent, with hours running as wide as 8.30am to 6pm. Cash, debit and EFTPOS are all accepted. If you would rather not pick, there is usually fruit in the fridge at the farm gate. Pro tip: the price gap between picking and pre-picked is the biggest of any farm here, so it pays to pick.

Coal Valley Apricots grows one thing and grows it well: spray-free Moorpark apricots, picked from the trees at Campania for a few weeks each January. Sales run from a stone barn on the property and the season is genuinely short, so this is a farm you watch rather than plan around. What You Can Pick Moorpark apricots - January, $10/kg Activities Stone barn farm stall for pre-picked fruit at the same price Richmond and the Coal Valley wineries a short drive away Good to Know There is no entry fee and fruit is $10 per kilo whether you pick it or buy it pre-picked. Opening times are posted on Facebook and Instagram the night before and change daily with the weather and how the fruit is ripening, with sessions in past seasons running anywhere from 9am to midday up to a 3pm to 7pm evening pick. Closed-in shoes are required, and the season can finish as early as late January. Pro tip: follow their Facebook page in December, because by the time apricots are on your mind the season may already be over.

Iron Creek Bay Estate is a working orchard about thirty minutes from Hobart that has grown into a full day out, with a restaurant, an adventure playground, walking paths and farm animals alongside the fruit trees. Picking runs through the orchard door from mid December to the end of February. What You Can Pick Cherries, apricots and plums - mid December to end of February Apples and pears - autumn, subject to the season Activities ORANI Restaurant, open daily for breakfast and lunch Adventure playground and five kilometres of walking paths Farm animals, with a feeding experience at $5 per person Free lavender field, late December to early February Guided stargazing and school holiday cooking classes Good to Know Picking runs 9am to 4pm through the summer window and there is no entry fee to pick, though prices are not published, so ask at the orchard door. The restaurant and accommodation trade year round, which makes this one of the few farms here worth visiting outside the picking season. The site is wheelchair accessible and dog friendly. Pro tip: fifteen minutes from Hobart Airport, so it works as a first or last stop on a Tasmanian trip.

Littlewood Berry Farm, known locally as The Patch, sits in the Coal Valley just outside Richmond and is first and foremost a pick-your-own strawberry farm. There is a coffee van, a picnic lawn, pet sheep and a pair of Highland cows, which makes it an easy stop with small children. What You Can Pick Strawberries - November to April, $10/kg picked yourself Activities The Hut selling strawberry ice cream, sorbet and jam Little Bean coffee van on site Farm animals including pet sheep and Highland cows Picnic lawn beside the patch Sunflowers, usually around February Good to Know Picking is $10 per kilo, against $15 for pre-picked, and there is no entry fee. The season normally runs early November to the end of April, but hours vary with the weather and how the fruit is coming on, so check their Facebook page or call 0409 622 857 on the day. The farm also runs school group visits and sells its own lamb, jam gin and strawberry liqueur. Pro tip: pair it with Richmond village, five minutes up the road, for a proper morning out.

Mountain River Blueberries is a two and a half hectare farm in the Huon Valley that grew out of a hobby patch. It opens for picking on announced days through the summer, charging $20 a kilo, and sells pre-picked and frozen fruit at the Hobart Farm Gate Market for most of the year. What You Can Pick Blueberries - January to March, $20/kg Activities Farm Gate Market stall in Hobart, selling fresh and frozen fruit Dried blueberry leaves alongside the fruit Good to Know Picking is $20 per kilo with EFTPOS available, and there is no entry fee. Open days are one-off announcements on Facebook rather than a fixed weekly schedule, typically running 10am to 3pm, so watch the page rather than turning up on spec. The farm is at the end of Cudgee Road, where you take the left turn. Pro tip: frozen fruit is available from the market stall well into winter if you miss the picking window.

Old Beach Berries is a small organic blueberry farm twenty five minutes from Hobart that opens for pick-your-own across January and February. It is a weekend side enterprise rather than a full time operation, so the open days are announced week by week, but the fruit is grown without herbicides or pesticides and the picking is genuinely hands on. What You Can Pick Blueberries - January and February, $23/kg Activities Pre-picked orders available online with pickup times Gift vouchers through their online shop Good to Know There is no entry fee and you pay for what you pick: $23 per kilo if you bring your own containers, $24 if you use their take-home boxes. Picking buckets are supplied. Covered footwear is essential, so no thongs or sandals. Open days are posted on Facebook and Instagram each week rather than being fixed, and the varieties run Brigitta through January into February and Elliott in late January. Pro tip: no street address is published, so check their socials for the location before you set out.

Something from the Ground is a certified organic blueberry farm at Grove, established in 2009 and sitting right next door to the Willie Smith's Apple Shed. It opens for picking every Saturday through the summer season, which makes it one of the more predictable options in the Huon Valley. What You Can Pick Blueberries - January to March Activities Certified organic rows, grown on biological principles since 2009 Huon Valley touring, with the Apple Shed next door Hobart Farm Gate Market on Sundays, year round Good to Know Picking runs Saturdays through the January to March season, with times posted on Facebook and Instagram each week, so check before travelling. Prices are not published, so ask on arrival. The farm is a short drive from Hobart down the Huon Highway. Pro tip: combine it with the Apple Shed next door, which trades year round.

Sorell Fruit Farm is the best known pick-your-own orchard in Tasmania, and for good reason: around a dozen different fruits ripen across a season that runs from spring into autumn, so what you can pick changes almost every week. Strawberries and cherries start things off before Christmas, the berry rows follow, and apples and nashi pears carry through to autumn. What You Can Pick Strawberries - December to April Cherries - December to February Apricots - January and February Peaches - January to March Nashi pears - February to April Apples - February to May Berries - blackcurrants, boysenberries, loganberries, silvanberries, tayberries and jostaberries, December to February Activities Cafe and gift shop at the farm Farm produce including jams, vinegars, chutneys and honey Picking buckets supplied, with fruit charged by the kilo Native plantings and birdlife around the orchard Good to Know The farm was established in 1987 and changed ownership in recent years, and in the process it lost control of its old web address, so the domain no longer belongs to the farm. Facebook is now the working channel for opening days. Reports on pricing conflict, with some visitors describing no entry fee and others an entry charge on top of the per kilo rate, so ring ahead on (03) 6265 3100 to confirm current prices before you go. Pro tip: this is the one Tasmanian farm where a single visit can cover half a dozen different fruits, so go in January when the most rows are open.

Westerway Raspberry Farm sits on the Tyenna River flats in the Derwent Valley, on old hop fields the Clark family planted with raspberries in 1995. It has grown into a serious commercial berry operation, but the pick-your-own rows still run alongside it, and the range is the widest of any berry farm near Hobart. What You Can Pick Strawberries - November and December, $16/kg Raspberries - December and January, $16/kg Boysenberries, silvanberries, tayberries and jostaberries - December and January Blackberries - January and February Blackcurrants - a special open day in early January Activities Farm gate shop, open daily December to May River flats setting with shaded seating and picnic space Mount Field National Park fifteen minutes up the road Good to Know Entry is $10 for adults, $5 for students with ID and free for children under 5, with picked berries at $16 per kilo on top. Bring your own containers or use the ones supplied. Fields are open 9am to 4.30pm with last entry at 4.30pm, and the farm gate shop closes for winter from June to November. Berry availability shifts week to week, so ring first. Leashed dogs are welcome in the seating areas but not in the fields. Pro tip: the farm uses minimal spray and says the fruit does not need washing, so you can eat as you pick.