Russell Orchards

Had an incredible experience picking strawberries with my three small children. Went with our playgroup and the cashier was friendly and very accommodating. The berry price is unbeatable! The ice cream was delicious (vanilla choc chip) and my kids enjoyed the (slightly overpriced) strawberry popsicles in a cup. I look forward to going back for other fruit picking this summer.

The best run farm in Ipswich. Great for apple and blueberry picking! Be mindful of the timing of the year for mosquitos and green heads if you are bringing children along. This is the perfect farm to go for pumpkin picking and all fall activities! The animals are well taken care of and loved. The cider donuts are the best in town!

Three and a half stars. Polite staff, sufficient gravel lot parking, pretty stretch of land. The tasting glass makes for a nice souvenir to soften the fee, and the one tasting counter gets pretty crowded. Sadly, I wasn’t a huge fan of their dry fruit wines, and it was a bit too chilly to hit up the ice cream counter. But! Their apple cider is awesome, virgin or doctored at home. Lots of scented gourmet products perfect for gifting. Apple cider donuts hit the spot, wonderfully fragrant but definitely on the greasy side.

Oh my compared to the apple orchard I went to last year, this is my now favorite one. Although it was packed full of people, my friends and I still managed to get a bunch of apples. Obviously, come here sometime early in the season or else all of the yummy apples will all disappear! I can’t think of this specific kind… honey something, but I know the trees were cleaned of it. Plenty of other apples to eat and bake with!
The worst part of this was the waiting line for the donuts. I think we waited about 30 minutes just for donuts but in the end they were alright, although they smelled amazing!

Beautiful farm and orchards, country fresh smells, fun animals for the kiddos. Absolutely delicious cider donuts, and a assortment of fresh apples

Did anyone else go apple picking on Columbus Day??? I felt like everyone went on that long weekend. Anyways, this was my first visit at Russell Orchards, only a 30 minute drive from my house and the area is very beautiful.
I noticed the employees were super content and very welcoming. It felt super genuine and nice to be around. +1
If you want to PYO (pick your own) apples, each bag was $ 20. A little pricy but you can tower all those apples like a Tetris game if you want to. One of their popular apple selections were the Honey Crisps; unfortunately one of their farming spots were wiped out of them because of how popular they were. (There’s a couple spots, so don’t worry).
Besides apple picking, you’re offered a free Hay ride if you purchase an apple bag, otherwise it’s a couple dollars. There’s a little barn side for the horses, goats, roosters, etc. A good amount of pumpkins, and a little shop where they sell mischelanous items like honey, apple butter, pies, shirts, CIDER DONUTS, etc.
Speaking of the cider donuts, I was actually disappointed with them. I had my fair share in cider donuts and I felt like these donuts were too too soft and got soggy quick. They didn’t have much flavor and sugary goodness either. They had no form and turned flat): They also advised you to keep the donut bag open so they don’t get soggy, but that didn’t really help.
Overall, great place, but I want to check out other farms with better donuts for the whole experience.

I came here on Columbus Day for apple picking, and that was mildly chaotic. There was a fifteen minute wait for the hayride to the orchards, and the staff were trying to fit more people onto the hayride than could fit it seemed.
Once getting to the orchard, there were three types of apples that were completely picked and no longer available. Bummer. There were still plenty of options. Some of these apples were huge, too!
There was a five dollar wine tasting for the apple wines and ciders. The apples are local, the berries are from Maine, and they hand label and cap each bottle. What a tremendous amount of work! The bottles range in price from $ 9-​$ 23, from what I saw.
There has to be a better way to sell apple cider donuts though. We waited about twenty minutes in line inside the barn, and somehow due to poor ventilation and congestion of people, we were sweating tremendously from the lack of fresh air and building heat while waiting in line. We ended up not getting any donuts after a half hour of waiting because they were all out and we’d have to wait even longer for them to come out of the oven.
Tips: Cash only at the apple picking orchard for a bag, but credit cards are fine for purchases of barn products.

I visited this orchard with family when I first moved to the East coast. It’s a cute place and great for kids. They have PYO (pick your own), a petting zoo area and of course the farm store. I think they also have a hay ride if I remember correctly, and pumpkins when in season.
This place is great because they have a variety of fruits you can pick. When I was there, we picked blueberries and some raspberries (although they were scarce by then-​late summer). The store had a great selection of items and the cider donuts were pretty good (not the best i’ve had, but nixed my craving). Highly recommend.

My girlfriend has been asking to do something fall themed pretty much every day for the past year. I don’t really get it. You can eat pumpkin pie year round. I think she was just excited to wear some new sweaters and boots. You go girl.
Kristina picked Russell Orchards since there are approximately one million positive reviews on Unilocal,which seemed like a no brainer. Neither of us had any desire to make an apple pie, so apple picking was out of the question. This trip was simply a way to go on a nice road trip together, taste some fruit wine, and eat some apple flavored baked goods.
Coming from Revere Beach, Waze took us on a terrible route through Lynn. So much for the nice drive. Total driving time was about an hour (not including our stop for lunch).
The parking lot was packed; but they had attendants helping us navigate through this labyrinth of Subarus and strollers.
They had booths set up outside where you pay for your purchases. Inside the main house, they have gifts, food items, and of course — wine.
The main house was absolutely packed. We navigated through a sea of Lulu Lemon and screaming children to the wine tasting and tried some of their fruit wines (dry apple cider, sweet apple cider, red currant, and wild blueberry). The tasting is only $ 5 and you can keep your glass (we gave it back) (we have so many glasses). The wine itself is a neat novelty but I wouldn’t replace any of my Napa varietals with strawberry rhubarb.
We then decided to wait in line for some hot apple donuts. After about 30 minutes in line (I’m convinced children perpetually smell like gas), we received our small sack-​o-​nuts. The donuts were tasty when they were hot, but they honestly tasted like a plain donut from Dunkin’s. There is no cinnamon or sugar coating. Personally, I like plain donuts; but if you’re expecting them to be worth an hour drive you’ll be let down.
I think Russell Orchards is all about expectations. If you have kids and want to look at some of the animals like chickens and donkeys, then I’m sure this will be up your alley. If you’re like us (dual income no kids), there is really no reason to make the trip unless you live significantly closer and have an abundance of patience.
I will say the entire staff was extremely friendly and they clearly are running a successful business. It just wasn’t our slice of apple pie.

Adorable & great for a day with small kids. Apples well marked, plentiful, & we loved the farm animals & small pond. We went on a weekday — I could see how a busy Saturday in October could also be the 7^th layer of hell. We loved it though. Highly recommend.

This place is what all New England farms should look like. It is beautiful, with lots of trees that change colors, roaming flocks of geese, donkeys, goats, orchards, and a pond. I came here years ago to pick apples, but I went last week just for the apple cider donuts. My only complaint is that they don’t serve milk! Donuts deserve to be eaten with milk.

Apples are incredible. The PYO (Pick your own) was convenient and fun. The hayride was not necessary but for the right weather, the walk was great going back!
Donuts are absolutely a MUST going here. You’ll regret not getting in line (and it gets LONGGGGGG) to get a half dozen for $ 5. The butter spreads are great for the price (maybe like $ 4 at most) and the wine selection is fairly decent.
The breads are excellent !!!
All in all, the price was good for almost everything. I think the $ 20 CASH ONLY option which was when we went on a Saturday was alittle over the price I was looking for but when you have some apples the size of two fists (The honeycrisp are the BEST !!!), you can’t go wrong for the price.
My advice… get there EARLY. They open at 9am so get there before the rush (which is after noon).

Great atmosphere, service and food! Went for a late night bite during a weekday, walked in an hour before they closed and got a table right away.
First off the bread/​rolls are amazing! Had plenty of butter and perfect amount of salt. They were warm and soft.
Had half of the 10 oz filet, it was perfect! For the sides I had creamed spinach and the mashed potatoes. I wasn’t thrilled about either side, creamed spinach was good but could’ve had more salt. The mashed potatoes were very bland, def don’t recommend getting them.
Overall the service was great and the drinks were good! Will def go back!

What an amazing location to pick juicy apples, grab some warm freshly baked apple cinnamon donuts, pick up some cold or warm apple cider and have a great experience over all! I was so happy with the apples I got, the warm apple cider and even indulged in a piece of chocolate mint fudge! *NO REGRETS HERE* It was truly a great experience here to welcome the fall weather into our lives yet again!

The BEST farm to go for an adorable weekend outing! Russell Orchards is one of the cutest pick-​your-​own farms I’ve ever been to. I went multiple times over the summer when I was in Ipswich for Crane Beach (it’s right on the way to the beach, you literally have to pass it so super convenient) and picked fabulous strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries (the blackberries were particularly good!). The people who work there are incredibly friendly and on one occasion, a man drove us from field to field to pick the different varieties and scouted out the best locations for us. Can’t wait for fall to pick apples!
In addition to the great fields there’s a whole section of all different farm animals that are great for little kids (and me…). There is also a fabulous country store that sells produce, all kinds of goods, great ice cream, baked goods like cider donuts, cider, and does wine tastings.
Can’t rave enough about this farm — definitely recommend heading over on a beautiful day!

Outstanding and very inexpensive. The apple cider tastes just like you would hope it would — like someone crushed an apple and added nothing else and poof you have their cider. Try the oatmeal cookies too — delightful!

Came here last weekend to pick some fruit. Both strawberries and raspberries were ready for picking, so that was our intent after first sampling some of their fruit wine. Parking was a breeze and we walked up to the small table for wine tasting. For $ 5 we samples 1 cider and 4 fruit wines. All were horrible and not at all to my liking, fortunately we were able to keep the glass, so that is something.
I had no issue finding enough fruit to fill my basket and actually like their set up with paying the $ 3 to pick and then having that amount applied as a credit to your fruit purchase. The fields were big and well manicured. The signs helped a lot too.
The store was cute and while the apple cider donuts were hot, they definitely weren’t the best I’ve ever had. The ice cream was good and I did get a fruit tart to take home. I don’t think I’ve ever paid $ 18 for a tart, but que sera sera…
All in all, it was fine but I don’t think I will be back.

Cute farm with plenty to eat and do! Cider tastings, fresh cider donuts, blueberry picking (or whatever is in season for pick your own), playing with the farm animals, and monster ice cream scoops! Got a small that came with two huge scoops! The cider donuts are fun to watch them make but aren’t as sweet as you’d expect a donut to be.

Took a little field trip today to the North Shore and found this great farm stand! We were immediately distracted by the baked goods as we walked in! It smelled amazing!
We were in search of locally grown summer vegetables & grass-​fed meats, free range/​cage free chicken. They had a small selection of frozen meats and we ended up buying local blueberries, summer squash/​zucchini (buy one, get one free), peppers and some baked goodies: apple cider donut, oatmeal chocolate chip & walnut cookie and a blueberry scone.
The apple cider donut and oatmeal cookie barely made it to the car! Very cute farm stand and we would definitely return when in the area!
You can also PYO in-​season berries!

Being a South Florida girl, you can safely say I have never had an apple picking experience. I haven’t even had an orange picking experience! So when we went to Boston and my friend offered to take us to the orchard I was ecstatic! Like a silly little school girl, I literally had the biggest smile on my face. I love new experiences and especially those that have to do with nature.
We happened to be in Boston during the perfect time. It was the end of September and there was a crispness in the air. We hopped on for the hay ride pulled by a tractor… okay I was already dying by this point. To me this was something out of a movie. So for all those who get to experience this yearly, don’t take it for granted! After a short ride we were on our way to filling our bags with apples! My husband who is allergic to some kinds of apple was like a kid in a candy store. Trying all kinds. Luckily he didn’t have any allergic reaction!
We had the apple cider donuts… best donuts ever! So off we went in the plane back to Florida with our bag o’ apples.