Fall Harvest in the Okemo Valley: Apple Picking, Vermont Cheese, and Maple Near Ludlow
Planning a fall trip to Vermont? Here is your guide to apple picking, farm stands, and the Okemo Valley cheese trail near Ludlow - from pick-your-own orchards to America's oldest cheddar, all within an hour of The Governor's Inn.
Fall Harvest in the Okemo Valley: Apple Picking, Vermont Cheese, and Maple Near Ludlow
There is a smell that arrives in the Okemo Valley around Labor Day: cut hay, cold mornings, and the first pressed cider of the year. Harvest season is the valley's tastiest stretch, when the orchards open their gates, the cheese factories run full tilt, and the sugarhouses fire up the creemee machines. It also happens to be the quiet window before peak foliage crowds arrive. If you are staying at The Governor's Inn in downtown Ludlow, you are parked in the middle of one of Vermont's richest farm-to-table corners. Here is your guide to eating your way through a Vermont fall.
Pick Your Own Apples
The closest orchard to the inn is Wellwood Orchards at 529 Wellwood Orchard Road in Springfield, about a 25-minute drive. This family-run farm runs wagon rides out into the rows during apple season, has a farm store stocked with pies and cider, and keeps a little barnyard of animals the kids can visit. Pick-your-own is open seven days a week, roughly 9 to 5 - call ahead at 802-263-5200 for the day's varieties.
For a bucket-list orchard, point the car south to Scott Farm Orchard at 707 Kipling Road in Dummerston, about 50 minutes away. Scott Farm grows more than 130 varieties of heirloom apples you will never see in a grocery store, plus a seasonal outdoor cafe (Pippin's) and pick-your-own rows. Time your visit for the 23rd Annual Heirloom Apple Day on Sunday, October 11, a free celebration with tastings, live music, and cider.
Farm Stands and Pumpkins
When you want the whole harvest under one roof, Dutton Berry Farm is a southern Vermont institution with stands in Manchester, Newfane, and West Brattleboro, all open daily 8 to 7. By September the stands overflow with apples, sweet cider, mums, winter squash, and their famous pumpkin patch and baked goods - a perfect stop to load up before a picnic on the inn's porch.
The Okemo Valley Cheese Trail
Vermont makes the best cheese in America, and three of its most storied makers sit within a short drive of Ludlow. Start closest: the Grafton Village Cheese Okemo Valley store at 2568 VT Route 103 in Proctorsville, about 10 minutes away, where you can sample cave-aged cheddars (open Thursday through Monday, 10 to 6).
Fifteen minutes up Route 103 in Mount Holly is Crowley Cheese, the oldest cheese factory in the United States, hand-making its distinctive Colby-style raw-milk cheese since 1824. The factory shop is open Monday through Saturday, and if you call ahead (802-259-2340) you can time your visit to a cheese-making day.
Then head north on Route 100 to Plymouth Notch, about 20 minutes from the inn, where Plymouth Artisan Cheese makes America's oldest granular-curd cheddar in the 1890 factory built by President Calvin Coolidge's father. The shop is open daily 11 to 5, and it sits right on the Calvin Coolidge Historic Site - a two-for-one stop of cheese and Vermont history.
Don't Forget the Maple
No Vermont harvest run is complete without maple. Right in Ludlow at 820 Route 100 North, the third-generation Green Mountain Sugar House sells award-winning syrup, maple cream, and candy - and, crucially, a maple creemee that locals swear by. Open seven days, 9 to 6, it is a five-minute detour and the sweetest possible finish to the day.
When to Come
The first color creeps onto the higher slopes in mid-to-late September, and southern Vermont's foliage typically peaks in early-to-mid October, so the whole harvest stretch pairs beautifully with a leaf-peeping drive. Come in late September and you get open orchards, softer pre-peak room rates, and roads that are not yet bumper to bumper. Come in early October and you get the color at its best.
Fill the car with apples, cheese, and syrup, then bring it all home to a rocking chair on the porch.
Book your fall harvest getaway at The Governor's Inn and taste the Okemo Valley at its most delicious.
