A Fall Adventure at Bishop’s Orchards in Guilford

Cut to the chase. Take me to the Momsense.

PLEASE NOTE: This post is about the 2013 event. It is possible that it may contain some outdated information. While this post should still give you a great idea of the overall experience, please be sure to check the Bishop’s Orchards website for details about things like hours and pricing.

2013 Post:

I’ve always known that Mandy is amazing, but let me tell you, now that I have two kiddos to keep track of on outings (compared to her three under 3!), I have a whole new level of admiration for her mommy skills. And when I read her post on Tuesday–where she was flying solo at Flight Trampoline Park AND managed to get all those awesome photos–it totally cemented her rock star status 🙂

Last weekend, I got my newly expanded crew together for our first big outing since the little guy arrived in July. And let’s just say I have a lot to learn when it comes to getting out with two kiddos! So if my pictures are a little blurry, or I’m missing some pertinent information, I apologize in advance. I’m just happy I made it there and back with everyone in one piece!

Last fall, one of our readers mentioned that his family’s favorite place for that quintessential fall activity, apple picking, was Bishop’s Orchards in Guilford, CT. Unfortunately, it was a little late in the season for us to take a drive down to New Haven County to partake in the apple picking, so I made a note to check it out next fall.

Well, here we are, at the start of the season and apple picking, not to mention other fall fun, is in full swing. It was a beautiful fall-feeling day when we headed down to Bishop’s Orchards. (And hey, we only left an hour later than we were planning to–not bad, right?!) Although the GPS on my phone indicated that we should follow Route 17 South towards the Guilford area, we decided to take the longer, but faster 91 South to 95 North route. Plus, we knew we wanted to take Route 17 home so we could pass by the orchard’s satellite location (also open for PYO on weekends) in Northford, CT.

It was a really easy drive (somewhere between 50 minutes and an hour for us–sorry, I forgot to look at the clock again when we arrived–like I said, I was a bit distracted with the extra kiddo in tow 🙂 ), but really close by if you live in the New Haven area. You can’t miss the place. There’s a giant piece of fruit out front! And a huge parking lot.

This is the main location in Guilford. As I mentioned above, there is another PYO farm in Northford (about 25-30 minutes north). But we’ll get to that later. We’ve got a lot to see first!

As much as I love apple picking, I was pretty sure I couldn’t take on too many activities for our first big outing with both the boys. And what I really wanted to see was the corn maze. (Ever since Mandy’s outing to Lyman Orchards, I’ve been wanting to try one out for myself.) So I figured we’d find (and conquer) the corn maze, and then see how much energy we had left for a possible picking excursion.

Because I hadn’t done quite enough “research” on their website, I wasn’t totally sure where to find the corn maze. So we unloaded here and decided to go on the hunt. I immediately noticed that this area, though expansive, didn’t really look like the type of place that you’d find a giant corn maze. Turns out my instincts, honed during two years of outing reconnaissance, were correct.

So the corn maze and the picking would be a short drive up the road, but it looked like there was plenty to explore right here, and hey, we’d already gotten everyone out of the car so we might as well take a look around 🙂

From our parking space, I could see a big red barn to the left (with plants for sale behind it) and a small animal enclosure to the right.

Animals are always a big hit with the preschool set, so we started to head that way. Then Boo saw the giant field o’ pumpkins behind the barn, and we took a little detour that-a-way for some photo ops.

And tests of Herculean strength (you should have seen the one he tried to pick up before this one).

I also noticed that there was a good size hay bale maze back here.

The cost was $3 plus tax/person to enter. Since I knew we were going to have to keep things moving if we wanted to make it to the corn maze before one or both of the kiddos got hungry and/or tired, we bypassed the hay bale maze. So unfortunately I can’t give you the inside scoop on this activity. Looking back, however, I think this would probably be a great alternative to the corn maze if you have toddlers. We’ll come back to that later 🙂

Next it was time to see the animals. Is this a llama or an alpaca? I can never figure out how to tell the difference.

This is a goat. That I know for sure 🙂

Later I saw these for purchase in the Farm Market. It didn’t help clarify my llama/alpaca confusion, but it did explain why the animals might be there in the first place.

Before we got back in the car, I just had to check out the gigantic Farm Market. I don’t think I actually snapped a pic of the outside of the building (oops), but it’s big and white and if you really want to see an image of it you can click here. Of greater importance is what you’ll find on the inside.

Of course the store features Bishop’s Orchards fruits, vegetables, and specialty goods (like applesauce, cider donuts, and pastry mixes), but it also has staples like eggs, milk, meat, cheese, bread, and other packaged goods. Not to mention prepared foods and entrees. So you can get a little shopping done as well. There’s even a rewards card if you plan to become a frequent shopper (get one at the customer service desk).

And did I mention the cakes? Yowza! (This smile only lasted until we told him we were not bringing one home.)

Outside the building, Bishop’s Orchards staffers were hard at work cranking out big bags of scrumptious-smelling maple kettle corn. It’s a good thing I was feeling the pressure to keep moving, otherwise, I would have bought bushels of stuff at this place! As it were, I settled for a bag of kettle corn (pick it up outside, pay for it inside) and a little bottle of their homemade cider. A delicious pre-maze snack.

The checkout area was busy, and Boo was getting a little antsy. Fortunately, he spotted this model train/track along the ceiling. It wasn’t running, but he seemed to think it was pretty cool to look at anyway 🙂

Before we left the premises, you know I had to check out the restroom situation. So I followed these little signs around the back of the building until I found it.

There isn’t a changing station inside, but they are family-style restrooms (one big restroom) and there’s plenty of room to bring in a stroller (they can make a suitable changing platform in a pinch) or to change a baby on the floor (assuming you’ve got a cushiony changing pad). Hey, sure beats a porta-potty! (Although, there was one of those on the property, too.)

There are also a pair of benches over here in case you need a place to hang out for a bit.

Back in the car, we headed out to the road behind the Farm Market (following the sign I showed you earlier). We turned left and started down the road we hoped would take us to the main PYO area and the corn maze (about 3 miles away). At first, the signage was great, but then they seemed to disappear. We kept going straight and finally saw a sign for a left turn on New England Road. FYI, the signs don’t actually say “Bishop’s Orchards” on them, so it’s a little confusing. But just keep your eye out for signs that look like this: