Find a local pick your own farm here!

Hillcrest Orchards: PYO Apple Orchard, Pig Races, Cow Miliking, Hayrides and More in Ellijay, Georgia

Hillcrest Orchards

Great family entertainment for a low price and PYO apples!

Click here to return to the Main page for apple orchards in Ellijay.
  (UPDATED: October 7, 2022)

Hillcrest Orchards website
9696 Highway 52 East, Ellijay, GA 30540.

Phone: 706-273-3838. Alternate Phone: 706-273-9494. Fax: 706-273-3888. Email: applelan@ellijay.com.

Activities: pick-your-own apples on certain dates (see below) in September and October ONLY , wagon rides, prepicked produce, gift shop, snacks and refreshment stand, restrooms, picnic area, face painting, pony rides, petting zoo, farm animals, birthday parties, school tours, even try your hand at milking a cow

Open: PYO apples are available in September and October. U-PIC APPLES every day from September 2nd until they are all picked. Come early in the season for the best picking. U-Pick is not included in the farm activity admission price.
2023 HOURS: September & October- 9:00=6:00; November 9:00-5:00 See their website for updates due to weather conditions, availability, etc.
Two bag sizes are offered for u-pick- 1/2 peck and peck. Call for pricing
.

Apple varieties: in the U-Pic Orchard:

  • Rome Beauty
  • Golden Delicious
  • Mutsu
  • Granny Smith
  • Goldrush
  • Arkansas Black
  • Yates

There are other varieties inside the market.

 We have our jubilee see below every weekend in September and October

Directions: Exit onto Highway 52 East. Hillcrest Orchards is 9 miles east of Ellijay on Highway 52. Alternate route: Highway 400 North to Highway 53 toward Dawsonville, just past the Outlet Mall, go through Dawsonville, about 2 miles outside Dawsonville turn right onto Highway183, go about 10 miles, turn left onto Highway 52 West, Hillcrest if about 12 miles on left. Click here for a map and directions.

Produce: Apples, pies, doughnuts, ice cream, honey, crafts, bread, dried apples. Petting farm.  PYO only during the Apple Pickin Jubilee festival - call for the current dates and times!milking a cow

2021 prices: Admission includes entertainment ( wagon ride, music, pig races, cow milking) and PYO orchard (entry to the store to buy picked apples is free); Other fees for petting zoo and some other activities;  ALWAYS click here for current pricing, dates and times..

September and October weekends, 9 am to 6 pm.  You pick apples available on specified weekends only. Apple Pickin' Jubilee" begins early September and continues each Saturday and Sunday until the last weekend in October; Business hours are 9:00 until 6:00 daily. Payment: Cash, Debit cards, Visa, MasterCard. Festival activities include wagon rides, live entertainment such as Country Bands, Cloggers and Pig Races. You can milk a real live cow, ride pedal carts, visit the Moonshine Museum, Farmhouse Museum and Enchanted Forest Walk. We offer Pony Rides and Bull Rides. Lots of great food such as homemade fried apple pies, apple fritters, apple cider doughnuts, ice cream and fudge. Visit the grill for burgers, dogs, BBQ, and more. There are several tractors the kids can climb on. Great photo opportunities.  Bluegrass bands and clogging groups perform each afternoon at the "Apple Pickin' Jubilee". Food is available outside in the food court or inside the ice cream parlor. Pick your fun at the annual "Apple Pickin' Jubilee" where you can pick your own apples, milk a cow, watch live pig races, visit the petting farm, take a wagon ride through the orchard, visit the Moonshine Museum and watch live bands and cloggers on the Hillcrest Stage. Visit our playground and ride our giant slide down the mountain. Come hungry because there's more food than you can hold. Visit our bakery and ice cream parlor for homemade fried apple pies, apple cider doughnuts, apple fritters, pizza, ice cream, fried oreos, funnel cakes and fudge. Wash it all down with some fresh cold apple cider. We will have the grill fired up outside in the festival area for hamburgers, hotdogs and barbecue and roasted corn. Be sure to try the chicken on a stick and grilled corn on the cob.

musical entertainment all day at HillcrestReviewriding one of several tractors

Especially during their Apple Pickin' Jubilee  weekends, is much more than an orchard or roadside stand, Hillcrest is an afternoon of family entertainment.  Starting inside with the shop, you can watch north Georgia's famous fried apple pies being made and find all kinds of treats, like apple bread!

The pig races are always amazing, with their own race track and stadium!

And this is the only farm in Georgia where you can actually milk a real cow!

Then head outside to the stage area for a show, a petting zoo, a goat ramp and goat jump, playground, festivals, tours, hayrides, pig races,

 

 

 

 

Hillcrest orchards pig races

 

 milk a cow (even the children may try milking), often musical entertainment on their stage, haunted house and more.Hillcrest pig racing stadium

Heck, it's worth the visit if only for the pig races!  Everyone quickly gathers way they announce the next races!  Place your bets and possibly win a prize, or lose your bacon! The new pig racing stadium has covered bleachers on both sides for a clear view and protection from sun or rain!

 

stage for musical entertainmentThe folks are friendly, the apple trees are low and easy to pick from, and there is so much to do, this is my pick for the orchard to go to for a day of family fun and entertainment!


Apple Pickin' Jubilee at Hillcrest Orchards  horse drawn hay wagon to the orchard.

Pick your own apples, wagon rides, playground, pig races, moonshine museum, enmoonshine museumtertainment, food, corn maze, petting farm and pony rides.

 

petting zooAFter a day at the farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hillcrest's Apple Varieties

Below is a listing of the apple varieties that they typically carry, in order that they typically start to be harvested in Ellijay. Be sure to call a couple weeks before they are due to start harvesting, as the actual date varies from year to year! Ellijay apple orchards usually have apples for sale from August to late December.

 

After a day at the orchard, the kids fall asleep as soon as they get in the car!

 

Apple Variety Photo Usually start harvesting Flavor Best uses
Gala

Gala.

August 1 Very sweet Eating, applesauce, apple butter, pies
Ginger Gold

Ginger Gold apple

Early Sweet Eating
Jonathon

Jonathan.

August 15 Tart Cooking
Red Delicious August 15 Sweet Eating, good to blend with other apples in applesauce and cooking
Golden Delicious August 15 Sweet Eating, good to blend with other apples in applesauce and cooking
Honey Crisp

August 20 Sweet, Crisp, Juicy Eating, Applesauce, Apple Butter, Pies
Mutsu September 1 Sweet / Tart Cooking / Eating
Jonagold September 1 Sweet / Tart Cooking / Eating
Rome Beauty

Rome Beauty apple

September 15 Slightly Tart Cooking / Eating
Stayman - Wine sap September 15 Tart Cooking / Eating
Fuji

Fuji.

October 10 Very sweet Eating, applesauce, apple butter, pies, cooking
Granny Smith October 15 Tart Cooking / Eating
Yates Yates appple October 20 Sweet Eating
Arkansas Black

October 20 Tart Baking, Eating (very hard apple)
Pink Lady

October 20 Sweet Eating

Also, see our pages on tips for picking apples at a farm, easy illustrated directions to make applesauce, apple butter, apple jelly and apple pie; the guide to apple festivals and our guide to apple varieties! NEW! Please write me, if you know of any to add!

Feedback from visitors

  • Comment from Blake: I've been to this farm many times, including 2 weeks before the commenter above and again on October 16th.  Yes, the mannequin displays are rustic, but my kids (2 and 5) really liked them.  And yes, Ellijay is in the north Georgia mountains, so if you are looking for Disneyland-quality animatronics, you will be disappointed. Heck, you're going there to pick some apples, ride a wagon, listen to folk music, and watch pig races. Where else can you and your children actually milk a cow and hold a baby chick? This isn't an evening at the opera in Vienna.  The displays are whimsical and comical in their simplicity, so the kids have fun. It can get crowded on some weekends, but that's more of a testament to the popularity of the place.