Planning a Bilpin orchard day: choosing the right farm, crop and time of year
Bilpin is the orchard village Sydney thinks of first when someone says “let’s go fruit picking” — a scattering of family farms strung along Bells Line of Road in the Blue Mountains foothills, about 90 minutes from the CBD. This guide profiles all twelve pick-your-own farms in and around Bilpin, from the Feb–May apple orchards that give the district its name to the stone fruit, berries, autumn nuts and winter citrus that fill in the rest of the calendar, with real prices, season windows and what to expect from each one.
Why Bilpin is Sydney's fruit-picking capital
Bilpin sits high in the Blue Mountains foothills on Bells Line of Road, the scenic alternative to the Great Western Highway that links Sydney to the Central West via Kurrajong and Mount Tomah. The elevation and cooler climate that make the drive worthwhile are the same conditions that have made Bilpin an apple-growing district for generations, and today a dozen working farms in the Bilpin & the Hawkesbury region grow everything from apples and stone fruit to berries, citrus, chestnuts and cut flowers along a roughly 10km stretch of road. It's the district most Sydneysiders mean when they talk about going fruit picking, and — unlike a single-farm day trip — Bilpin rewards visitors who plan a loop, since several orchards sit only a few minutes apart. For the wider picture of where else around the city to pick fruit, see our best fruit picking near Sydney guide, which places Bilpin alongside the Hawkesbury River, Central Coast and Southern Highlands districts.
What's picking in Bilpin, month by month
Apples are the reason most people drive up, but they're really only half the calendar. Stone fruit gets going in December, blueberries and sunflowers fill the height of summer, and autumn brings a run of chestnuts, walnuts and late apple varieties before Anderson Farm's citrus takes over in winter. The table below lays out what each Bilpin-area farm grows, when, and roughly what it costs, drawn from what each farm has published or confirmed directly.
| Farm | What's picking | Season window | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shields Orchard | Apples | Feb–May | Free entry; pay per kg picked |
| Bilpin Botanic Orchard | Apples, cherries | Apples Feb–Jun (variety dependent) | Not published; booking recommended |
| Pine Crest Orchard | Apples, stone fruit, pears, raspberries, mixed berries, walnuts, chestnuts, cherries, persimmons | Jan–May, plus autumn nuts | No entrance fee; pay for what you pick |
| Bilpin Fruit Bowl | Apples, peaches, nectarines, persimmons, and a wide range of vegetables | Mid-Nov–end of May | Pay for what you pick; no published entry fee |
| TNT Produce | Apples, persimmons, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, plums, tomatoes, figs, cherries, citrus | Roughly Jan–Jun | Online entry-fee booking; picked produce paid on site |
| Bilpin Springs Orchard | Pears, apples, peaches, blueberries, nashi, quinces, plums, persimmons, figs, citrus | Year-round, crop dependent | Minimum $5 per adult |
| Blueberry Hills on Comleroy | Blueberries | Summer, roughly Nov–Feb | Ticketed sessions via TryBooking |
| Anderson Farm | Oranges, mandarins, lemons | Jun–Aug approx (2026 season opened 6 June) | $5 entry, adults and children 10+ |
| Nutwood Farm | Chestnuts, walnuts | Mar–Apr | $11/kg nuts; free entry |
| Tomah Farm | Chestnuts, walnuts | Autumn, roughly through mid-April | PYO walnuts $10/kg (blemished shells), dried bagged walnuts $16/kg, PYO chestnuts $8/kg |
| Glenbernie Family Farms | Sunflowers, flowers | Summer/autumn, roughly Feb–Apr | Around $10 per adult (reported) |
| Bilpin Country Lodge | Farm stay program (no pick-your-own) | — | Contact the farm direct |
Read down the season column and a rough shape appears: December to February is stone fruit and blueberry territory, February to May is the apple stretch that put Bilpin on the map, March and April add chestnuts and walnuts on top of the tail of the apple season, and Anderson Farm's citrus fills the winter gap the rest of the district goes quiet for. If you're chasing apples specifically, our apple picking guide covers ripening order by variety, the apple picking crop page lists Bilpin alongside every other apple district in the country, and our February and March in-season pages cover what else is ripening nationally during Bilpin's two busiest months.
The Bilpin apple orchards
Five farms along the main strip pick apples as their primary crop, and each has a different way of doing it.
Shields Orchard
Shields Orchard keeps things simple: apples only, free entry, and payment by the kilogram for whatever ends up in your bag. It runs Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 3pm across the Feb–May season, but visits are by appointment, so booking ahead is required rather than optional here — don't plan a spontaneous drive-up.
Bilpin Botanic Orchard
Bilpin Botanic Orchard grows apples and cherries, with the apple season stretching from February through to June depending on variety — one of the longer windows in the district. Pricing isn't published, and booking is recommended rather than compulsory, so a call ahead is worth it to confirm what's ripe before you drive up.
Pine Crest Orchard
Pine Crest Orchard charges no entrance fee at all — you only pay for what you pick — across one of the broadest crop lists in Bilpin: apples, stone fruit, pears, raspberries and mixed berries from January to May, with walnuts and chestnuts joining in autumn. It's open Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 9am to 4pm, and booking isn't required, which makes it an easy add-on to a day that starts at one of the booking-only orchards nearby.
Bilpin Fruit Bowl
Bilpin Fruit Bowl pairs its apple, peach, nectarine and persimmon rows with a wide range of pick-your-own vegetables — beans, corn, tomatoes, capsicums, pumpkins and more. It's open weekends and public holidays from mid-November right through to the end of May, 10am to 4pm, on a pay-for-what-you-pick basis with no separate entry fee published, and it's rated kid-friendly.
TNT Produce
TNT Produce is the most set up for a full day out: apples, persimmons, strawberries, stone fruit, tomatoes, figs, cherries and citrus, plus an onsite cafe and leashed dogs welcome, which is unusual in a district where most farms don't publish a pet policy. Picking runs roughly January to June (the farm notes an approximate late-October or November opening), Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10am to 4pm. Entry is booked and paid online in advance, with whatever you pick charged separately on the day — worth doing a few days ahead, since it books out on weekends in season.
Beyond apples: berries, citrus and Bilpin Springs Orchard
Bilpin Springs Orchard
Bilpin Springs Orchard is the district's most varied single farm, picking pears, apples, peaches, blueberries, nashi, quinces, plums, persimmons, figs and citrus across a general year-round season rather than one short window. It opens early — 7am to 1pm on weekends — with a minimum charge of $5 per adult and no booking required. In our directory it's filed under the wider Sydney Basin region rather than the Bilpin district proper, but it sits close enough to the other orchards on this list to fold into the same trip.
Blueberry Hills on Comleroy
A short drive away at Kurrajong, Blueberry Hills on Comleroy runs ticketed blueberry picking sessions through summer, roughly November to February, booked via TryBooking rather than a casual gate entry. Booking ahead is required, so lock in a session before you drive out — turning up on spec isn't an option here.
Anderson Farm
At Sackville North, Anderson Farm covers the part of the year the rest of Bilpin goes quiet: winter citrus. Oranges, mandarins and lemons run roughly June to August — the 2026 season opened 6 June — with $5 entry for adults and children aged 10 and over, weekends 10am to 4pm through the season.
Autumn nuts and Kurmond's sunflowers
Nutwood Farm and Tomah Farm
Up at Mount Irvine and Mount Tomah, two farms specialise in a crop most of Bilpin only offers as a side note: chestnuts and walnuts, both ready in March and April. Nutwood Farm opens for just five or six weekends a year through the season, charging $11 a kilogram for nuts with free entry. Tomah Farm runs seasonal autumn weekends through to around mid-April, with pick-your-own walnuts at $10 a kilogram for blemished shells, dried bagged walnuts at $16 a kilogram, and pick-your-own chestnuts at $8 a kilogram. Both are narrow, short-season farms rather than day-trip drawcards, so check each farm's site for open weekends before making the drive.
Glenbernie Family Farms
At Kurmond, Glenbernie Family Farms swaps fruit for sunflowers and cut flowers, with seasonal picking days — including twilight sessions — running through summer and autumn, roughly February to April. Entry is reported at around $10 per adult, and booking is recommended given how quickly sunflower sessions can sell out once a field comes into bloom.
Getting to Bilpin from Sydney
Bilpin is about 90 minutes from the Sydney CBD by car, via the M2 and M7 to Windsor, then north-west along Bells Line of Road through Kurrajong and Kurmond — the same road that continues on to Mount Tomah Botanic Garden and eventually Lithgow. It's a scenic route with a fair share of bends once you're climbing into the foothills, so it isn't the fastest way to the Central West, but it puts most of the farms on this list within a few minutes of each other. There's no train option; a car (or an organised tour) is the only practical way to string more than one orchard together in a day. If a Bilpin loop doesn't fit your dates, our Bilpin vs Orange orchard day comparison weighs it up against the bigger apple season further west in New South Wales.
Cafes, apple pies and staying over
Bilpin's roadside stalls and honesty boxes are as much a part of the drive as the orchards themselves, and the district's cafes and produce stores — several of them attached to the orchards above — are well known around Sydney for apple pie, cider and fresh-pressed juice sold straight off the farm. Treat any specific prices as approximate and worth confirming on the day, since stall stock and hours move with the season and the weather. If you'd rather make a weekend of it than a day trip, Bilpin Country Lodge runs a farm-stay program in the district — worth contacting directly, since it doesn't publish pick-your-own pricing or a crop list the way the orchards above do.
What to bring and how to book
Most of Bilpin's booking-required farms — Shields Orchard, TNT Produce, Blueberry Hills on Comleroy — take bookings online or by appointment, and it's worth doing a few days ahead in season rather than on the morning of. Others, including Pine Crest Orchard and Bilpin Springs Orchard, don't require it and sit alongside similar walk-up orchards elsewhere in the country on our no-booking farms page. Whichever farms you're visiting, pack for a working orchard rather than a manicured attraction:
- Closed shoes and old clothes — Bilpin's rows sit on sloped, sometimes muddy ground.
- A jumper even in the warmer months — the elevation keeps Bilpin noticeably cooler than the Sydney basin.
- Cash as a backup for the smaller stalls and honesty boxes along Bells Line of Road.
- A box or crate in the boot so apples and stone fruit don't bruise on the drive home.
- Sun protection — orchard rows offer little shade even on a mild day.
For a fuller packing list see our what to bring fruit picking guide, and if you're travelling with young kids, our fruit picking with kids guide has age-specific advice — most Bilpin orchards are rated kid-friendly, and TNT Produce welcomes leashed dogs if you're bringing the family pet too. Seasons and opening days shift with the weather. Call ahead to confirm a farm is open and picking before you make the drive.