reece apple house

The last two years, my wife and I have taken her elderly mother to pick apples at BJ Reece's. Last year we were delayed by the traffic surrounding the Moonshine Festival in Dawsonville and did not arrive until a few minutes after their posted closing time. Mr. Reece himself had his staff stay late to allow us to pick apples.This year a staff member helped us by pass the long line for my mother-in-law by handling our ticket purchase personally.By the way, the apples were delicious.I believe that the performance and attitude of the staff is a direct reflection of senior management/ownership. BJ Reece's Orchards will always be our first choice as long as Mr. Reece is involved in its operation.

This place was great fun for our little family. They have several activities in addition to picking apples from their orchards, including a petting zoo, pony rides, and several others. The baked goods, jams and other sweets in their shop are amazing as well, and a jug of apple cider makes a refreshing drink for a ride home. Teenagers might get bored, but our three-year old had a wonderful time. The prices are very reasonable, but as a few other reviewers have noted, because there is a charge for everything (as is typical in a place like this), one can feel "nickel-and-dimed" by all the $2 here, $3 there costs. Packages are available which give tickets to all the attraction for one price, though, if that is a concern. Navigation tip: if going on a weekend during the fall, 53 is going to be jammed, period. There is a bit of a shortcut on the last portion, though, as a tiny dirt road near a church runs around a few miles before connecting you back to 53 right by the orchard, which saved us about 15 minutes of stop-and-go driving annoyance. I don't remember the name of the road, but if you use the navigation app Waze (which is very good about adjusting its routes for traffic) to get there on a busy day, listen to it when/if it tells you to turn off down what looks like a sketchy dirt road by a church less than 5 miles from the destination. Totally worth it to avoid a ton of waiting on the last stretch.

The kids wanted to "pick their own" apples so we headed to BJ Reece Apple Orchards because we had stopped by there years ago. I couldn't remember it being so expensive. Each person must pay $5.00 to get in the U-pick part and the bags are two sizes, $6.00 and $11.00. We were there on a weekday and didn't see the racing pigs or the cow milking. The smell from the petting farm was horrible and since there was a separate charge for that, we skipped it. The apples are the main attraction and if you want some to can or cook, you can buy bags of "rejects" much cheaper than the prettier apples. The fried pies were delicious and the other produce they had for sale looked really good. Bottom line: if you want to pick your own be prepared to pay otherwise just buy the ones already picked. You'll get more apples!

We stopped by Reece Apple House on a Saturday afternoon and we really enjoyed looking at all the jams and preserves in their store. I even bought my granddaughter a cute Chevron T shirt. We also bought some Apple Salsa. But you can buy Apple Salsa around all of the places in Ellijay. I did buy some apple sticks that were like rolled up pie crust with apple filling. Those were pretty yummy. Well, my 9 year old granddaughter noticed that there was cow milking and pig races, but we needed to get back to our hotel. So we promised her we would come back the next day. Since we don't break our promises we did just that. First of all, you have to cross the street to get to both parts of Reece Apple House. On the busy highway of Ellijay, next is not an easy feat. Next, it is very expensive for what you actually get to do. It is $5 per person for admission and you have to pay extra if you want to buy a bag for apple picking. I would want it to be top notch for that price and it was not. There are particular times for the pig races so they tell you what time to make it on the cow train to get to the next pig race. We decided to fore go the pig race and decided to pick a few apples and do the cow milking. That was a major disappointment! There were 2 cows in a stable type place, that was pretty nasty.....flies and plenty of cow manure. So you can imagine how bad the smell was. They only had 1 cow for milking. We waited for about 30 minutes for about a 30 second milking. So for me, that was not worth the $21 we spent to do that. When we went to get apples, they only had golden delicious available. My granddaughter didn't even enjoy it that much either. So we left and went on to visit another orchard that we love. If you want to just shop in the store that is worth the trip, but I would not do any of the other kid activities. Now there is a zip line and that is a separate cost, and it looked very scenic. So if you like that type of adventure, I would go for it.But, overall, I don't think we will go back.

Apple Festival may not have been the perfect weekend to visit, but Reece Apple Orchard has the capacity for the crowds. There is room for improvements, and if I could rate a 3.25 that would be more accurate. The negative marks include, no overview or map of the farm on the grounds. You don't know the orchard offerings until you've reached the entry booths. The orchard is divided into two main areas, each with various offerings - picking, pig races, hay rides, Apple cannons and more... But you won't know which orchard until you've reached the entrance. The pricing appeared scattered, and not appealing for our group of seven. The main store front is organized chaos. There are no formal lines, with the exception of the bakery. Great selections of jams, syrup, apples and more, but it's troublesome locating where you check out. Lastly, very limited seating on the grounds. Many families to include ours, looked forward to sampling our fritters, pies and more. If you're pressed for time, you will likely find no seating available.The good, it's a well kept farm. A local deputy assists with traffic direction, key if you arrive or depart after 2pm on a weekend. The experience for children is well worth the wait, but only you can decide how much time is worth a peck of apples. Reece was the most recommended from locals, but we'd consider another orchard if we returned to Ellijay.

We took the family here on a Sunday and were surprised at how large and popular B.J. Reece Orchards is. We mainly went for the apple picking (bought the $5/person ticket so we could go to the orchards on both sides of the road). Unfortunately, many of the red apple varieties we were looking for weren't available this late in the season. If we had known that, the $2 ticket for one side would have sufficed. We also bought the $5 tickets for the kids to shoot apples from the cannon. If you plan on doing this, bring your patience. The line is long and it doesn't move quickly. The kids had fun but our 30 minute wait was just about as much as we could take. As for the apple picking, we were able to find plenty of really nice apples. We also spent some time in the store because it gets incredibly crowded also. The lines for the pies was pretty long. We bought some of the individual pies, which were average. But, the apple cider donuts are definitely worth purchasing. I might have to go back up there just for those. Overall, it was a nice family outing. Kids of all ages will enjoy.

I bought a Groupon for the BJ Reece Apple House. It was much better than I had expected going in. They have a large parking lot, and I was pleasantly surprised to see "real" bathrooms (You can only see the porta-potties from the parking lot). If you can, get the Groupon, otherwise, you'll feel nickel and dimed ($3 for petting zoo, $3, for cow milking, etc). Activities included: Wagon ride, the cow train, pig race, apple picking, jumpy thing, petting zoo, cow milking and apple cannon.The activities are split - half on each side of the road. You do have to cross the road to get to all of the attractions, but they have a police officer there to stop the traffic for you to cross. The staff is mostly teenagers, who only know their specific "job". They also sell fired pies, breads and assorted jellies. Outside, they have hot dogs, funnel cakes, BBQ, etc - and it was very tasty as well.Overall - this was much better than I expected - I will definitely go back next year.

Our grown children and us visited B J Reece on a Saturday in late September. It is like other similar orchards in the area in that they have a store selling apples and similar items. We came to go to the orchard and pick apples. Their orchards are on both sides of the highway and you have the option of picking apples on one or both sides of the road. We chose to pick on only one side of the road and it cost $2 each to enter the orchard. This is much less than another local orchard we visited. We also purchased a bag to pick apples. It was probably more expensive than just buying the apples, but it was more fun. There were three varieties of apples in the orchard we were in and we could mix and match apples as we wanted. The trees on on rolling hills, the weather was great and it was fun. We didn't have any small children with us but we could look over the fence to see the children interacting with animals. This was fun as well and better arranged than another local orchard where this would not have been possible. Overall it was a good visit.One thing that needs to be improved is employee knowledge of the total operation. We asked a lady at a cash register inside the store about the apple picking side of the business. She knew nothing other than where it was.

We try to come here each Fall. We make the drive from Atlanta and hit Burt's pumpkins in the morning, then here in the afternoon. It's gotten a bit more touristy and costly for everything, but there are lots of fun things for the kids to do besides picking apples. The different baked goods they have are great, and we always take some apple bread and pies home to freeze for later.

My family and I love to go to Reece Apple House. They have many activities for a family fun day and have the best fries pies you will ever put in your mouth. They are a busy place because they offer good personal service and once you visit once you want to go back. They allow you to roam and visit the farm but help is always there if you need it. Visit them if you are in the area, plan to have a good time. Don't forget to try the cider, fried pies and apple cider donuts. The apples and vegetables are always fresh.

My family and I stopped at the orchard during a visit from California. We have gone apple picking before at numerous locations in California but none have the views or scenery as JB Reece. They offered packaged deals that were all inclusive or you could each purchase individual activities. We chose to purchase individual activities to best suit our desires. For less than $25. We were able to Go in the petting zoo, milk a cow, shoot the Apple Cannons, ride the Cow train, as well as purchase some delicious cider. Not bad for 4ppl.that's roughly $6 per person. The farm is 120acres of beautiful views. We will definitely come back next time we visit Georgia

We visited the orchard yesterday and had an amazing time. We picked apples, pet animals, rode on the hay ride and my sun pounced on the bouncy pillow. We also bought some pumpkin rolls and apple pies that were super tasty. The drive up the road to the orchard was so beautiful and the scenery around orchard was sooooo beautiful. My 4 year old son enjoyed himself a lot and this has now been added to our list of annual family trips. I used a Groupon for this visit so it made it more affordable but had I not it still is not an expensive outing in my opinion. It's way cheaper than buying apples at the grocery store and you only pay for what you want to do if you don't have a groupon that includes many of the activities.

Had a great time with my girlfriend! I have been multiple times and so has she and we both love it. It is kind of expensive, but that is to be expected because it is a tourist attraction. but all in all it is great fun! we got our tickets on groupon and felt like it was a great deal! I would recommend this to any family or couple!

We are a family owned and operated business and want to provide a positive experience for all our visitors. We offer discounted packages that include all the activities available on the weekends but in addition we offer individual ticket prices for activities as well. If you are only interested in picking apples, you can do that for $2 per person (ages 3 and up) plus the apples. We are allowing people to pick for less than $1 per pound, compared to $1.50-$2.00 in the grocery stores. We feel like this is a bargain! It takes lots of time, money and effort to produce quality fruit and we strive to keep the prices as low as possible.

We had a nice trip up through the mountains to get some of the best apples around. We got September Wonders and they have a very short season. It was the start of the apple season and the next weekend was to be filled with activities for the kids. The apples are fresh and very good. We have purchased apples several years from them. We will go back again.