What it’s like to go apple picking at the top-ranked Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow

"It feels like you are actually in a fairy tale."

Floridian Trinidy Hughes experienced two firsts this month: her first trip to Massachusetts and her first time apple picking.

Hughes, from Naples, Fla., visited Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow on Sept. 7 with college friend Sophia Murray and her mother Michelle, both from Bolton. The friends met at the University of Alabama.

“It feels like you are actually in a fairy tale,” said Hughes about her time in the orchard as she relaxed under the hard cider tent, listened to live music, and played Jenga with her friend.

Some would say Honey Pot Hill Orchards, a family farm founded in 1926, is among New England’s finest fall offerings. The orchard has been ranked the best in the U.S. by Travel & Leisure and the top orchard in Massachusetts by Boston.com readers.

“The property is very picturesque, in terms of a mix of big and small trees [and] rolling hills,” owner Chelcie Martin told Boston.com. “You can see the plantings of different varieties, as you come in. It’s a very pretty spot. We’re very proud of it.”

The scenic 186-acre Honey Pot Hill Orchards has been in the Martin family for four generations. The orchard features over 30 apple varieties, a farm store and bakery, hay rides, animals, mazes, a pumpkin area, hard cider tent, and more.

During the first weekend of September the foliage and lines were practically nonexistent, but an infectious sense of fall adventure was already in the air.

Families, couples, and friends strolled the orchard in t-shirts and shorts while toting apple bags. For many, apple picking is an annual New England tradition and at Honey Pot Hill Orchards the season runs from August to November.

“We do this every year,” said Pelumi Osibanjo of Swansea, who said this was her family’s fourth year picking at Honey Pot Hill Orchards.

Osibanjo stood beside her cousin Hauwa Huthman from New Jersey as they took pictures of Huthman’s son, 1 year-old Adam. The little boy sat smiling from a low chair near the pumpkin area, clutching a small pumpkin by the stem. Pumpkins are lined up near the farm store where children can also climb on an antique tractor and the whole scene is presided over by a scarecrow.

Meanwhile, deep in the rows of apple trees, families called to each other, laughed, and took turns on ladders propped against the trees for reaching the highest apples. An apple ambassador dressed in red and stationed behind a wooden stand fielded questions about the fruit. That day’s apples — McIntosh, Ginger Gold, Sansa, Akane, Gravenstein, Gala, Smitten, and Honeycrisp — were lined up before him and labeled with a black marker. Handwritten signs posted in the orchard provided further information, such as how the apples taste and whether they are good for cooking.

Elias Lewis, 2, of Randolph smiled from mom Jillian Lewis’ arms while reaching for an apple on a higher branch. Elias, like Hughes, was a first time picker.

Some visitors took a break from apple picking by relaxing at picnic tables beneath the hard cider tent, which was strung festively with white lights. The band Murphyz played “Handle with Care” by the Traveling Wilburys while children danced and friends played cornhole beside the pond. The orchard serves its own hard cider, called The Last Press, and the friendly bartenders are knowledgeable about it. A 10-ounce pour costs $8. While guests must be 21 to drink, all ages are allowed in the tent and $2 non-alcoholic cider is available as well.

Just outside the tent is a hayride stop, where guests are whisked away for a 15-minute scenic ride. The hayride typically makes three stops. Stop one goes to the farm store, bakery, grill, the smaller mazes, pumpkin area, and farm animals; stop two is for the Big Green Monster Maze; and stop three is for picking pears and apples. Families should note that while strollers are allowed in the orchard, they are not allowed on the hayride.

At Honeypot, visitors can choose between three mazes. In order of difficulty, the mazes are as follows: the Tunnel Maze, Little Hedge Maze, and Big Green Monster Maze. The mazes are cash only and cost $2 for the tunnel maze (an indoor maze for kids age 4-9), $4 for the Little Hedge Maze, and $7.95 for kids and $11.95 for adults for the Big Green Monster Maze. The latter offers more than 1.5 miles of pathway, six bridges, a gazebo, and takes more than an hour to complete.

This reporter got lost in the Little Hedge Maze, where mazers seek a flag pole in the center before heading back out. Snippets of amiable conversation overheard in the hedges that day: “Is this the wrong way?”; “I think this is a dead end”; “I thought this was going to be easy”; and “We’re letting a 2 year-old lead us!”

If all that mazing sparks hunger, lunch is available via a grill near the farm store. Visitors can order burgers, hot dogs, chips, cider, and water and eat on picnic tables beneath umbrellas.

While some guests eat, others shop. The farm store is a bustling place, with guests carrying apple cider, stacks of pies, and other fall goodies. The shelves are stocked with various produce, caramel apples, cinnamon apple chips, fudge, jams and jellies, candles, honey, and more.

And, of course, no apple picking excursion is complete without cider doughnuts. Honey Pot Hill’s doughnuts, named among the best in New England by Boston.com readers, are sold on the side of the store where folks line up before a row of ice cream stand-style windows. The doughnuts, made fresh every day from the orchard’s pressed cider, are a little crispy on the outside, not too dense, and fluffy rather than cakey on the inside, according to Martin. Guests can choose from plain and cinnamon and sugar doughnuts and they cost $1 each and $6 for half a dozen.

Across the way from the farm store is where visitors can spend time with the barn animals. Several young children gathered at the fence with their parents, pointing at the pigs, goats, mini ponies, and chickens. Visitors can feed some animals special food through a chute for 25 cents. Two goats playfully wrestled each other while another took a nap. Over in the pig pen, three little pigs, complete with three little houses, roamed the area energetically before the onlookers.

While there’s plenty of adventures at Honey Pot Hill, Hughes said she could have spent all day in the rows of apple trees just picking apples.

Murray said she knew her friend would love the region this time of year.

“Fall is when New England is at its peak,” she said.

Honey Pot Hill Orchards, 18 Boon Road, Stow; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Apples cost $25 for a medium bag (for up to three people) and $38 for a large bag (for up to five people). Pick your own is cash only and there are two ATM machines available near the entrance. Credit cards are accepted in the farm store. Pets are not allowed.