An eastern Connecticut farm combining PYO with an on-site winery and cidery, but its PYO hours are notably short — just 9am-1pm — compared to many orchards that stay open into the afternoon.
Holmberg Orchards is located at 12 Orchard Lane in Gales Ferry, in New London County’s eastern Connecticut region, with a phone number of (860) 464-7305. PYO apple picking runs Tuesday through Sunday, but only 9am to 1pm — a notably compressed window. The farm market, by contrast, stays open much longer: 9am-6pm daily. A cider mill is confirmed, and the farm also operates an on-site winery and cidery alongside a year-round bakery, positioning it as a more diversified operation than a single-season orchard.
This is the single most important operational detail in the record: PYO picking hours end at 1pm, well before the farm market’s 6pm closing time. That gap matters because a visitor could reasonably assume the whole property, including the picking fields, stays open as long as the market does — and be wrong. Compared to Beardsley’s Cider Mill & Orchard, which limits PYO to weekends only but runs a fuller 10am-5pm window on those days, Holmberg’s constraint is different: it’s available most days of the week, but only in the morning.
The record notes a specific, modern touch: a text-alert system where visitors can text “JOIN” to 877-237-5979 for picking updates. That’s a more direct communication channel than several other orchards in this research, which tend to rely on Instagram or Facebook for day-to-day status, or push callers to a phone hotline as Bishop’s Orchards does. For a visitor who wants same-day confirmation without calling or checking social media, this text system is a genuinely useful option.
Pairing PYO with an active winery and cidery echoes Russell Orchards in Massachusetts, which offers a similar combination. For Holmberg, this suggests a visit could reasonably combine a morning of apple picking (within that 9am-1pm window) with an afternoon at the winery or cidery, since the broader property stays open until 6pm even after PYO hours end.
Holmberg’s compressed morning window is worth setting alongside other eastern and central Connecticut orchards in this research. Rogers Orchards in Southington limits PYO to Friday through Sunday but runs a fuller 10am-5pm day on those dates, while Averill Farm in the Litchfield Hills is open daily with a longer 9:30am-5:30pm window. Holmberg trades day-of-week flexibility (open most of the week) for a much shorter daily window — a tradeoff that suits an early-rising visitor better than someone hoping to fit in an afternoon picking trip after other plans.
No apple variety list is confirmed anywhere in the record, and no PYO pricing structure is available either. No explicit 2026 season-start or season-end date was found — only the standing weekly PYO schedule (Tuesday-Sunday, 9am-1pm) rather than a start-of-season or end-of-season calendar date.
Holmberg Orchards combines genuine agricultural diversity — orchard, winery, cidery, and bakery — with one clear planning constraint: PYO apples close at 1pm even on days the broader farm stays open until evening. A morning arrival is essential for picking here, and the text-alert system (text JOIN to 877-237-5979) is a solid way to confirm current status before making the trip to Gales Ferry.
Not stated specifically in the record for apple varieties, but any visit needs to land within the confirmed 9am-1pm PYO window, Tuesday through Sunday — arriving later in the day would miss picking hours entirely.
you were planning an afternoon or evening visit specifically to pick — PYO closes at 1pm, well before end-of-day for most other orchards in this research.
9am-1pm, Tuesday through Sunday, per the farm's own statement: 'Open 9-1 Tuesday to Sunday.'
9am-6pm daily, a notably longer window than the PYO-specific hours.
Yes — the record describes Holmberg Orchards as combining PYO with an on-site winery, cidery, and year-round farm market and bakery.
The farm runs a text-alert system — text JOIN to 877-237-5979 — for picking updates, per the record.
Not stated in the record. No variety list was found on the page fetched.
2026 dates had not been published when we last checked. In past seasons it has run: Tue-Sun. Check with the orchard before driving out.
Pricing was not published when we last checked.
Yes — it's a pick-your-own orchard, with pre-picked apples at the farm stand too.
12 Orchard Lane, Gales Ferry, CT 06335, in New London County. It is one of 1 orchards we track in Eastern Connecticut.
Map pin is set to the town centre. Navigate to the street address above, not the pin.
holmbergorchards.com
Checked September 2026.