A fourth-generation, no-admission-fee orchard on 100 acres with a five-acre corn maze — a good pick if you want to control your own spending, though apple varieties and cider-donut availability aren't confirmed.
No admission fee — pay only for what you pick, do, or buy; containers provided
Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard sits at 170 Stepp Orchard Drive in Hendersonville, part of the Henderson County fruit belt. The clearest, most useful fact in this record is the season opening: the orchard’s own site states plainly, “Opening August 15, 2026,” which is one of the more specific 2026 commitments found among the orchards researched in this batch. Hours run Monday through Thursday 9am to 5:30pm, Friday and Saturday 9am to 6pm, and Sunday 10am to 6pm — a full seven-day operation.
The pricing model here is worth calling out on its own, since it’s genuinely different from most orchards in this research batch: there’s no admission fee at all. Instead, visitors pay only for what they actually pick, do, or buy, and containers are provided at no extra charge. That’s a meaningfully different structure than the flat per-person U-Pick admission charged at places like Apple Hill Orchard in Morganton ($4/person) or Sky Top Orchard’s shared-bag ticket ($30 for up to five people). If you’re not sure how much picking or activity time you want, a pay-as-you-go model like this removes some of the guesswork.
Third-party corroboration (ourstate.com’s Henderson County orchard roundup) backs up the address and activity list, and describes this as a fourth-generation, 100-acre working farm. The headline activity beyond apple picking is a five-acre corn maze that gets a new design each year, plus weekend wagon rides and an apple cannon — a lineup aimed squarely at families looking for a half-day outing rather than a quick bag-of-apples stop.
Two gaps stand out. First, no specific apple varieties are listed anywhere in the sources checked, which makes it impossible to say from this record alone whether Stepp’s leans early-season (Ginger Gold, Zestar), mid-season (Honeycrisp, Gala), or late-season (Fuji, Pink Lady) — or whether it grows across the full spread. Second, cider-donut availability isn’t confirmed either way, which is notable since donuts are confirmed at several nearby Henderson County orchards (Sky Top, Justus, Grandad’s, Coston Farm, Mountain Fresh all confirm them). Neither omission means the answer is “no” — it just means this record doesn’t say, and a call to 828-685-9083 or a check of steppapples.com would settle it before a visit.
There’s also no confirmed season-end date. The August 15 opening is explicit, but nothing in the sourced pages says when picking wraps up, so visitors planning a late-October trip should confirm current status directly rather than assume the orchard is still open.
For a family trying to budget a farm outing, the no-admission-fee structure is a real advantage: there’s no sunk cost if you decide the corn maze isn’t for your group, or if you only want to buy a bag of pre-picked fruit and skip the activities. The tradeoff is that, without a posted U-Pick per-bag or per-pound price, it’s hard to estimate total cost in advance — the record doesn’t give a price_from figure, so first-time visitors should expect to ask at the gate what picking will run.
Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard gives visitors one of the clearer season-opening dates in this Henderson County batch (August 15, 2026) and a pricing model — no admission fee, pay only for what you use — that’s genuinely different from most competitors nearby. The corn maze and wagon rides make it a reasonable half-day family stop. But with no apple varieties and no cider-donut confirmation in the sourced pages, anyone with a specific apple or bakery item in mind should call ahead (828-685-9083) or check steppapples.com before making the drive.
The orchard's own site states an explicit opening date of August 15, 2026, so mid-to-late August is when picking starts; the record doesn't say when the season ends.
you're picking a destination specifically for cider donuts or a named apple variety — neither is confirmed in this record.
The orchard's own site explicitly states 'Opening August 15, 2026.' No closing date is posted.
No. The record states there's no admission fee — you pay only for what you pick, do, or buy, and containers are provided.
Not stated in the record. This wasn't listed on the pages checked.
Not stated in the record — this remains an open question for phone verification.
A corn maze (five acres, a new design each year), wagon rides, and an apple cannon, per the record.
Opens August 15, 2026 (closing date not published). Daily. Hours: Mon-Thu 9am-5:30pm, Fri-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 10am-6pm.
Pricing was not published when we last checked. No admission fee — pay only for what you pick, do, or buy; containers provided
Yes — it's a pick-your-own orchard.
170 Stepp Orchard Drive, Hendersonville, NC 28792, in Henderson County. It is one of 11 orchards we track in Hendersonville Fruit Belt.
We track 11 orchards in Hendersonville Fruit Belt, 8 of which let you pick your own apples. The orchard has not published a starting price, so it cannot be compared on cost — call before you budget.
What sets it apart locally: it has a corn maze, a hayride or wagon ride, which most Hendersonville Fruit Belt orchards on our list do not.
There are 10 other orchards we track in Henderson County. All Hendersonville Fruit Belt orchards →
Map pin is set to the town centre. Navigate to the street address above, not the pin.
steppapples.com · ourstate.com
Checked September 2026.