Smolak Farms

Over priced on trees, etc and my wreaths are already dying and brown after only a week old and xmas is still 3 weeks away.

Eh ok experience. First Ill start with the positive. The orchards were good with lots of different kinds off apples. They also have a big selection of ice cream. The ice cream was very tasty. Now, the negative. We asked where to go to pick apples and were to pay and the employee was just like over there. We eventually found where to pay. The bags for apples were overpriced. I usually go to Honey Pot Hill in Stow and its a lot cheaper. Then we went into the store where the cider donuts are and it was very crowded, chaotic and unorganized. Then we tried to go on a hay ride. We were told there was a very short wait and the wagon held 40 people. So we paid and got in line. We didn’t get on the next 2 rides and the wagons held more like 20 people. For a better, more organized experience, go to Honey Pot Hill.

Welcome to Cluster F&@k Farms! Not a bad place to have a kids birthday party during the off season, but this is the absolute worst place you could possibly go to get a Christmas tree. We went there to get a Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, and apparently half the Boston area did, as well. To make matters far worse, however, you have to deal with the crowds twice here because they’ve made the process of getting a cut-​your-​own tree require about as much logistics as an amphibious invasion of France.
First, you park your car in one area, and have to stand in line to get a ticket and a saw. Then you walk across a busy road, through an orchard and to the trees. You cut down the tree and carry it back through the orchard, across the road, and mount it on your car however you can. Then you drive your car to another parking lot down the street, take the tree off the car and then stand in line to get your tree bailed. Then you mount the tree on your car again (but at least you’ll have supplies this time) and then you’re done. If you love mounting a tree to the top of your car, this place is great because you get to do it twice.
Why do people go here instead of all the other places that have just as good trees and much less crowding? Well, I guess it is because they have mediocre food here and few animals to see. Or maybe they just made the same mistake we did and went where «everybody else goes.» Hopefully I can help you not do the same without having to experience it even once.
During apple picking season, I wouldn’t recommend it, either. It’s crowded then, too, and there is just too much stuff they are trying to sell the kids. You can’t just take your kids apple picking; they will want to do all the junk activities like the bounce house and the overrated corn maze. There are lots of nice places to go apple picking where it’s just about being outside picking apples, and the place isn’t trying to be Disney Land with an orchard.

Came here just for the cider donuts and it was so worth it. Line was ridiculously long, but someone thankfully came through with bags of donuts for sale to anyone in line who wasn’t buying anything else from the bakery. Brilliant! They were so soft and sugary and delicious and warm. I would’ve waited even longer.
Corn maze not worth the money.

I drive past Smolak farm to and from work every day. I have really tried to like the bakery. Every time I’m in there the service is slow and the baked goods look sub par. The last two times I left before ordering because I was in line (behind one person) too long and got a good look at the bakery case. 25 years ago I loved taking my kids there for apples pumpkins and Christmas trees. Maybe they are just trying to be too much without the right business plan or consultants. Oh yeah expensive too.

Cannot wait to go back for the corn maze. Last weekend we went to grab a coffee and treats. We were pleasantly surprised with huge and delicious candy apples and fresh hot homemade donuts (not gluten free unfortunately). We walked around a bit, and were pleasantly surprised to see a corn maze. The corn maze closes at 430 so we unfortunately didn’t have time to go through it. Can’t wait to go back to do it and grab some yummy treats!

We did the hay ride, petting zoo and walked the orchard. The raspberries were sweet and then some were bitter but they were all the same color that we ate. We had apple cider donuts and cider. We parked quite a ways away but it was a gorgeous day so the walk was ok.

Don’t get me wrong — it’s October and my boyfriend and I wanted to do some cliché fall stuff. So we went for a scenic (free) drive down to North Andover and through some country looking houses and trees on both sides of the road changing colors. It was cute. So we arrived and parked to the rock paved lot near the what-​looks-​like-​a-​pond and some pumpkins with kids. We walked to the information center (?) where they sold donuts and already picked apples, pumpkins and had a bathroom. We obvi made a pit BR trip. So afterwards, we looked at the pumpkins and walked through the back. Made our way down some orchards and almost getting hit by the tractors lugging kids around for a ride. Couldn’t find where to purchase PYO bags so we went back to the information center (?). A nice boy setting pumpkins up sold us a bushel bag of apples for $ 35 (about 40 apples per boy). There was another option for $ 26 and by default, it was smaller. We took the bigger bag and made our way to Old Standard after we crossed the road. Little did we know that there were wood signs in front of the apples telling us what apples were what. So we spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out what type of apples xyz were. We went a couple days after Columbus day and well, there were more apples on the ground than on the trees. But we did find some red delicious, mac, courtland, etc — and little did we find Granny Smith. So we went to another orchard back on the other side of the road, Antique. And afterwards, after much lugging around, test tasting, apple picking yoga and intense hide and seek — we called it a day. It was a good experience, but I’ve heard better at other farms. This may be a one time deal.

You know summer has arrived when Strawberry season is here, I couldn’t wait to bring my nieces and nephew and share in the joy of picking their own strawberries. Upon arriving here we waited 45 mins for the hayride that would take us to the fields. With the long lines of people waiting there was only 1 trailer to transport the masses, they seemed unprepared for the influx of visitors.

Arrived with a few friends on a Saturday around 3pm. Very busy. Lots of kids. Dog friendly. Somewhat helpful parking lot and traffic attendants, though they could be a bit more hands-​on and involved.
There is an information booth, albeit with the customary super long line. A couple/​few folks walking around, making themselves available for a quick question or two would have been helpful. We dodged the information booth and instead went to the outdoor farmer’s stand, and the cashier could not have been more rude when we asked her where to go for PYO (Pick Your Own). Mind you, she was not servicing a customer when we approached her so not really sure how she came to be bothered by our question.
The PYO attendants were cheerful and helpful, however a map or a 30 second heads up on where certain apples were would have been helpful.
Lots of apples, except for the Granny Smith row. There wasn’t one apple on any of the trees in this row. Mind you, we went on 10/​10/​2015, so not sure if they were already ‘out of season’ or not.
We had hoped to buy an apple cider donut inside the storefront, but the line was absolutely bonkers. We’re talking an easy 45 minutes here. So instead, we decided to check out the ‘zoo’. Some cool animals, and decent photo opps as well.
For the PYO, we went for a ‘large’ bag which was $ 35.00; seems a bit steep, but we did get a ton of apples. Also ate a few during the pick, so there’s that.

I would have given them 2.5 stars — it was definitely overpriced for what it was (very basic petting zoo w/​a pony ride & nothing but up charges to do anything else) & we paid $ 60 (yes, sixty dollars) for two reasonably sized pumpkins. If you wanted a corn maze or a hay ride — those were $ 10 for each additional person. It sounds like a cute little family owned place, but they are only there to separate you from the money in your wallet.
Why are they getting one single star? Their portable toilets looked like they were fresh out of a hundred thousand person refugee camp. Full of waste, floors that were wet with god knows what & wet/​dirty/​used TP & trash all over the floors of every one of their portable toilets. This was at 9 in the morning of a sunday when hundreds of paying customers were descending upon them. (btw, I called the board of health as the sign in the portajohn said the last time they’d been cleaned was ⁹⁄₁ & it was now ¹⁰⁄₁₁ — so the math/​day/​human waste amounts seemed to be about 5 – 6 weeks amount of crap in there). Yummy, apple cider donut anyone???
PS These guys are making serious money on this place & they have the stones to have a «donations» box for taking care of the animals health & well being. I’m sorrry, but if I’m a family of four dropping $ 100 to spend three hours at your little shindig — you’d better have taken care of the animals with some of the massive profits you’ve made off your place.

For the start, we asked a worker where to go apple picking, to which he answered «over there» which we figured out meant the other side of the farm. The inside of the shop was chaotic and unorganized, and it didn’t help how small it was, or how you had to pay in a separate area. In the apple orchards, you could barely tell which apples were where as the names were written on small sticks instead of signs. My friends and I wanted to go on a hay ride which we were told would not have a long wait, and each one would fit up to 40 people. Ok, sounds good so we paid only to find out that we had to wait for 20 minutes, as we did not get on the first two hay rides that appeared.
The parking lots were also not labeled, and no one to tell you where to go. It was also chaotic.
The only part which was truly overpriced was the apple picking.
Overall we were not pleased with the company and will not be returning…
The donuts were good though

Pros: apple cider donuts, ice cream, a number of other activities other than apple-​picking (animals, pumpkin picking, slides for kids, etc.)
Cons: PACKED during fall weekends, $ 30/​$ 40/​$ 50 for the apples, the smallest bag at $ 30.
If you’re looking to just go apple picking, I’d recommend somewhere else in the area given the crowds and overpriced apples.

This place isn’t as nutso busy as Connors Farms, and it’s much more scenic, however the way overpriced pony ride ($ 10) and the huge apple cider donut line, led me to score a 3. But here’s the trick: go to the ice cream stand, which has a significantly shorter line, and order an apple cider donut sundae. That way you get the steaming hot donut with ice cream on top and save yourself 45 minutes in line. Other than food, there was a nice selection of animals– pigs, deer, goats, and llamas. And the place is very dog friendly too. Visited on Sat, 9÷26÷15

They were advertising on their web site that peach picking was open, so we came up but they told us there weren’t any peaches left on the trees. We grabbed a bag anyway and indeed the peach trees were bare but we found some lovely plums. Would have been nice to know in advance what we were getting before driving up all the way from the city, and would have been nice to not be covered in dust in the parking lot, but hey. The checkout line in the farm stand was way too long, so we bounced with our hand-​picked plums.
Lots of kid-​friendly stuff going on there this weekend, including a petting zoo and a giant bouncy slide, which not having kids we skipped.
It was also military appreciation weekend. Nothing against vets, but it does seem sad that no one ever has a special appreciation day for loggers and fishers, even though their jobs are more dangerous than being in the military, or for roofers and garbage collectors and power line workers, who also do dangerous and vitally important but usually pretty thankless work.

This place is a complete rip off. All the kids activities are overpriced. Good luck taking your kid to apple picking and saying no to seeing the animals. Corn maze is $ 5 per kid, but there is a little kids activity course next to it and you can get a bracelet that covers those activities for $ 15 per kid. Oh and if you want to accompany your kids in the corn maze you pay another $ 5. They don’t tell you that the apple slingshot that was included in the $ 15 bracelet is off limits for anyone under 12. Other two activities that are included in this bracelet is being able to jump on 2 (two!) bouncy castles and being able to climb on a few tires that they slapped together as a sad, sad climbing frame.
If you think you are done getting ripped off, well you are wrong. You can now head to see the animals (which used to be free last year) and buy another $ 15 bracelet, per kid.
The $ 15 bracelet also gives you access to the playground. This one covers a pony ride, but of course they don’t care if you want the pony ride or not. Once you are in, you can feel free to pay more (25cents for a small handful) to feed their animals.
Smolak got the whole concept wrong. There is absolutely no need to rip off families as they try to enjoy their weekend picking apples. The attractions they are offering are so overpriced that it’s not even funny. They are supposed to bring some side attractions that keep the kids happy while families spend money on the farm goods. The way they are set up, seeing the animals cost more than going to the zoo, and jumping on the two sad bouncy castles cost half the monthly pass at Cowabungas.
At the end of this experience, I was so pissed off and felt taken advantage of, that we did not even pick apples. We will be going to Boston Hill Farms to pick our apples, which is a far more family friendly place than this one.

Stopped in on a Sunday evening around 6:30 pm with a Groupon for two banana splits. Each with 3 different flavors of ice cream, whipped cream and nuts. One with just hot fudge, the other with 3 different fruit toppings. Cherries offered but declined. Ice cream flavors included maple walnut, pistachio, cherry, black raspberry, cookies N cream and butter pecan. Ice cream was creamy, fresh and very tasty. Fresh banana on the bottom, loaded with toppings. We’ll be back!

This was written in the fall of ’14 (it’s been forgotten in my drafts).
I’ve been going here with my kids for 4 years. It gets more expensive each year for the kid’s activities — 1 bouncy house and 1 inflatable slide and face paint is something like $ 10 a kid. This isn’t reasonable since going to an indoor bouncy house place with 8 – 10 inflatables is comparable in price.
We went to their new corn maze. Do not waste your money. Don’t worry about wasting too time though as it will take you only 2 minutes to complete. Seriously, it will take longer to park your car than the time it takes to go through the «maze». It’s impossible to get lost. It’s for 2 year olds.
We’ve gone to several bday parties here for 4 – 6 yo. They do a good job with those and have old fashioned games and cider donuts and of course a hay wagon ride on the rickety diesel smelling tractor on the wobbly path in through the apple orchard; it wobbles over to one side so much at one point you will pray it won’t tip over.
I feel bad for the animals. Some do not seem to have proper shade or water when it’s very hot outside. I do not support these kinds of animal places where animals are kept in tiny spaces in all weather and are pelted with dried up corn kernels all day.

While their sales go up their authenticity goes down. I’ve been living within walking distance of Smolak Farm since 1996 and seen their business grow and the experience plummet. This was the biggest draw for us to live and raise our 3 young boys in their neighborhood. I’m a businessman too, in some ways I do not blame Farmer Smolak for doing what he has to do to make a living… but selling off land for home development, pushing out the local purveyor of ice cream for a more profitable Smolak owned alternative, and building a mini Zoo and catering business in the wood abutting the neighbors maybe not the best approach
Admittedly I still enjoy dropping in on a very quiet weekday morning for an overpriced scone, a 50% smaller muffin, and a great espresso thanks to a deluxe machine, but give me Ingaldsby Farm with their real farm stand and authentic New England country experience any day.
And to be fair to Farmer Smolak, I may be hung up on the romance of days gone by, but I’m sure there are ways to run a profitable, neighborhood business without the legit traffic jams and completely overrunning things every weekend in the fall.

I love apple picking and have been to a number of farms in CT, but Smolak was my first visit to a MA farm and I gotta say — no offense to my native state — this place was 1000x better than anywhere I’d been before! They have EVERYTHING. Obviously an apple orchard, but also pumpkins, fruits, berries, cider, homemade ice cream (can you say apple cider donut sundae?!), hay rides, a corn maze, farm animals, bouncy castles, an apple slingshot, a pumpkin launcher, and, most importantly, the BEST apple cider donuts (and other baked goods and beverages). They also have a Salvatore’s Restaurant tent if you want to have a full picnic-​style meal, and they do special events such as night hay rides and the Pumpkin Smash Festival which I hope I can attend! I’m so happy I visited, I had so much fun. Smolak Farms is a must this fall!