What is better than freshly picked, perfectly ripe cherries? We venture to say unlimited freshly picked, perfectly ripe cherries.
That's what you can get at CherryHill Orchards, where you can pick your own cherries just an hour from Melbourne. Entry is $18 for adults and $12 for children, and you can stay as long as you like and eat as many cherries as you want while you are there. Want cherries to take home? Pick 'em yourself, and pay per kilo. You must book in advance.
Food trucks are on site if you want something other than cherries to eat (though why you would, we do not know), and you can also cool off with a bottle of Cherish sparkling cherry juice, alcoholic cherry cider or cherry wine. Cherry ice cream, frozen yoghurt and sorbet are also available.
The season kicks off in late November or December and runs until mid-January. The orchard runs an annual cherry blossom festival, a great day out for the whole family featuring tastings of the orchard's cherry products and of course, photo ops among the spring blossoms.
The orchard is also offers high tea among the cherry trees, including delights like ham-and-brie rolls, chicken-and-avocado rolls, goat cheese tarts, scones with cherry jam, cherry mousse, cherry cheesecake and cherry macarons. After your high tea, you can then pick cherries in a private row at your leisure, and like all of the cherry-picking sessions at CherryHill, you can eat as much as you want while picking.