🍎🍩 Where to Pick Apples, Sip Cider & Find Fresh Donuts
Patterson’s Pick Your Own Apples
Is there anything better than a crisp fall day spent picking apples, finding the perfect pumpkin and treating yourself to fresh cider and warm donuts?
Fall is farm season in Lake County and Northeast Ohio! Spend an afternoon exploring local orchards, farmstands and markets filled with crisp apples, seasonal produce, pumpkins and all the flavors of fall. Whether you're searching for apple picking near Cleveland, a family-friendly pumpkin patch or just an excuse to grab a fresh apple fritter, here are a few stops to add to your fall bucket list.
🍎 Patterson’s Fruit Farm
Make apple picking part of your fall tradition at Patterson’s Fruit Farm in Chesterland. This six-generation family farm is filled with history and a longstanding commitment to providing high-quality produce to local families and visitors.
Pick your own apples during the fall season, then stop inside the year-round Farm Market for seasonal produce, crisp apples, maple syrup, fresh apple cider, pies and donuts baked fresh daily.
What to Find:
🍎 Pick-your-own apples (August 22nd - End of Season)
🍏 Fresh seasonal produce
🥤 Apple cider
🍩 Fresh-baked donuts & apple fritters
🥧 Homemade pies
🍁 Family fall fun
Local’s Tip: Don’t leave without grabbing a fresh apple cider and a fresh warm donut—or one of their famous apple fritters—for the ride home!
🍏 West Orchards Farm Market
Head to Perry for another classic Northeast Ohio apple orchard experience at West Orchards Farm Market.
Located near the fertile banks of Lake Erie, this 70-acre Lake County farm grows an impressive variety of deciduous fruits. Depending on the season, you’ll find sour cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines, pears and, of course, plenty of apples.
Visit the farm market to stock up on locally grown produce and enjoy the flavors of harvest season right from the source.
What to Find:
🍎 Locally grown apples
🍐 Pears and other tree fruits
🍑 Seasonal peaches, plums & nectarines
🧺 Fresh local produce
🍂 A true Lake County farm-market experience
Local’s Tip: Clear out the car - West Orchards has all the big, beautiful mums and pumpkins your front porch has been begging for.
🧺 Shop Local at a Lake County Farmers Market
Fall harvest season means there's still time to shop fresh and local at several Lake County farmers markets! Browse locally grown fruits and vegetables, baked goods, honey, maple products, flowers and other locally made finds while enjoying one of the last farmers market weekends of the season.
Markets still open this September:
🍎 Painesville Farmers Market | Thursdays through September 17
Shop Painesville Square from 11 AM–3 PM for fresh produce, sauces, flowers, honey, soaps and other locally made products. Grab lunch from a food truck while you browse!🍯 Mentor Farmers Market | Fridays through September 11
Head to Eleanor B. Garfield Park from 2–6 PM to shop under the shade trees for fresh-picked fruits and vegetables, specialty baked goods, honey, maple products and other farm-fresh finds.🥕 Heart of Willoughby Outdoor Market | Saturdays through October
Fall weekends are perfect for a morning in Downtown Willoughby! Browse a rotating selection of local vendors every Saturday from 8 AM–Noon in the Willoughby City Hall parking lot.
🐝Lake Metroparks Farmpark – Celebrate the Apples & Honey!
Experience harvest season on a live working farm at Lake Metroparks Farmpark in Kirtland!
Farmpark is a working farm and education center where visitors can meet dairy cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, rabbits, horses, alpacas and goats. Explore the Plant Science Center, see farm machinery exhibits, visit the playground and learn more about farming and where our food comes from.
Horse- or tractor-drawn wagons provide rides to destinations throughout the park, making it easy to explore everything Farmpark has to offer. Wagons are also handicap accessible.
Don’t miss:
🍎🍯 Apple & Honey Harvest Weekend – September 19, 2026 - September 20, 2026. Celebrate two of fall's sweetest flavors! Learn how apples are harvested and turned into cider, discover the world of bees and honey, and enjoy hands-on harvest activities during this special fall weekend at Farmpark. Take a tour of the “Johnny Appleseed Trail” and explore the Plant Science Center, where Farmpark’s apiary offers a closer look at bees, honey production, and the many ways pollinators support everyday life
photos thanks to Earl Linaburg
Why head home when you can turn your fall farm tour into an entire weekend?
🏕️ Local’s Tip: Make It a Weekend at Standing Rock Farms
Located in the heart of the Grand River Valley Wine Region, Standing Rock Farms is a Northeast Ohio luxury cabin and camping destination surrounded by some of the best scenery of the season.
Spend the day apple picking, pumpkin hunting and exploring Lake County, then head back to your cabin for a relaxing evening surrounded by fall color.
What to do:
🍂 Hike trails surrounded by fall foliage, explore the orchards, pick wildflowers, fish in catch-and-release ponds or take a canoe or kayak out on the water.
Where to unwind:
♨️ Head back to your cabin's hot tub or gather around one of the property's firepits for s'mores under the stars.
