Mercier Orchards, Blue Ridge

Love it here... Great to visit weekdays or before the fall season... Great pies... They sold 1.3 million of them last year... During their season expect a huge crowd... Hard to get in...hard to get around.. That's to be expected for such a wonderful orchard.. They have great gifts... Alcohol tasting.. Deli for meals.. Good stuff... Pick your own in season.. Hay ride through the orchard.. But again...expect chaos during the fall season!

Great day trip to plan when you are looking for something interesting to do. They offer apple picking for $4/person + $8-$20 per bag to hold apples and they take you out on a wagon to their orchards, where you can fill up your bag and eat all of the apples you want. They have a giant barn/shop that is filled with jams, cider, baked goods, home decor, and really anything else you can think of. They also make their own (hard) cider and wine, which you can do flight tastings. As you can see, it is very hard not want to buy everything in their store. Highly recommended! Just make sure to get their early because it can get pretty crowded, and hot, at midday.

Ate breakfast yesterday. Had good blueberry bread French toast, but the blueberries in the syrup tasted frozen. Still good. Today had lunch. I got a chicken salad stuffed tomato. Pretty good. The meat was almost minced though, I didn't like the texture. My husband got a Reuben. Very tasty. But it was kinda soggy because the bread was too thin I think. We'll go back again and try something else. Fantastic bakery. Free apple Cider Doughnuts with meal. They also have awesome fried pies.

This place is huge! They carry a vast variety of foods, most made with apples. All food items, apple or otherwise, are equally delicious. *The cider donuts are the best!* There is an awesome gift shop packed with lovely and unique gifts. Their customer service is southern hospitality at its best. My family and I enjoy it so much that we drive a couple of hours to shop there at least once a year.

Bakery is really good with a large selection..The prices are high but that is expected in a tourist area such as this. The peaches were huge and there were many free samples which was nice. We even got a sample of their slushes which the grape was delicious. It tasted like grape jelly or juice. The kids had fun exploring and looking at all the different produce. Would definitely recommend stopping here for some goodies.