I've been looking for an Apple Orchard that has everything I was hoping for and I've finally found a few of them. There are a ton of them out there but they all seem to be missing this or missing that. I wanted a hayride of course, apples, food, pick your own pumkins, and a petting zoo. So I found 2 orchards that have all of these things and more. Carlson's Bakery & Restaurant in Winsted, MN, located 45 miles west of Minneapolis. I think this one was on the news last year around this time on "Finding Minnesota". It's kinda far away, but it may work for some of you who live closer to it so I wanted to add it in this blog. The other one I found is a little closer to the cities, it's called Minnetonka Orchards. This is about 29 miles from Minneapolis. I have added the websites and addresses for these two orchards below. I have also added the web--address to Minnesota Grown, which is where they have a list of like 100 different orchards in Minnesota. We will be going to The Minnetonka Orchards this week and I will post some more photos once we get back!
Carlsons Orchard Bakery & Restaurant
1 1/2 hrs away from Mpls
11893 Montgomery Ave SW
Winsted, Minnesota
320 485-3704
Winsted, Minnesota
320 485-3704
45 mins away from Mpls
6530 County Road 26
Minnetrista , MN 55364
Minnetrista , MN 55364
763-479-6530
Minnesota Grown
So here is my review from our visit to Minnetonka Orchards on 10/18/08.
We went to Minnetonka Orchards a few weeks ago. My son had a great time!
Basically, it is a big open field with things randomly placed here and there. Now my son is 3, and I think that is a perfect age. If he was any older, I think he would have been bored. They had a wooden train to play on, which my son played on for I swear a good 30 mins. Then we went over to the "Corn Crib" which is like a climbing house. The hay mountain was another favorite of his. I think the funnest part for me was the corn maze- it was hilarious to take off into the corn stalks and jump out at him. Hahaha. So over all I'm glad we went because my son had fun.
My personal opinion on this place is that is was mediocre. It seemed unorganized. And don't think that because the entry is only $4 that you won't be spending much- unless you do not plan on buying anything (food, pumpkins, etc..). I ended up spending waaaay more than I was expecting to, but it was my son's birthday weekend so I decided that he gets whatever he wants. So we ate food and had !delicous! homeade donuts, drank apple cider, he got his face painted, and we did get a pumpkin from the pumkin patch. Now- Do NoT buy pumpkins here! I paid $8 for a pumpkin I could have got at the grocery store for $4 and it was half rotted. Yuck! The hay ride was very short and kind of dumb. Overall my personal experience wasn't that great and I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. But my son loved it so that made it all worth it. Like I said, if you have smaller kids, this place is great but personally, I will probably not go there again. The rotten pumpkin thing really pissed me off. They have a very nice website and my expectations from the photos were high. Unfortunatly, their photos, I feel, do not accuratly depict the orchard. To see pictures from our visit, visit my photo albums.
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