a.j. gross & sons orchard

I despise GMO's and chemical mutations to food and if you are like me this is the place to go! The apples are delicious, organic and fresh! The farm is huge, the owners and workers are extremely friendly, offering us recipes, advice and inviting us to a local barn yard fundraiser for a town nearby. They made us feel right at home, had tons of options for food, sauces, candy, honey, sugars, plums, vegetables, chips, and all types of goodies! Make this a stop on your trip in Bedford!

Mr. Gross and his family offer a wide variety of apples, peaches and other fresh produce in their country store. They also sell canned jams, jellies and relishes. Mr. Gross is usually around, always smiling and willing to give his expert advice on which type of apples you might need for certain recipes.In the spring, they open their farm to local vendors & musicians for the "Apple Blossom Festival" and in the fall they sponsor the "Apple Harvest Festival". It is a fun time for all!

We attended the 3rd annual Apple Blossom festival. The trees were in bloom and they had music and incredible food available to purchase. They offered wagon rides through the orchard for $3 a person- which was fun. There were tons of vendors offering their wares and then the store was open for business also. The year-round store offers tons of local food items as well as a lot of canned food made there at the orchard and then of course the apples. I plan to go back out there to get gifts for birthdays, etc. Everyone was very nice- which made it so much fun to be there. The only issue that I had was that we had to park in the orchard because of the quantity of people there and a tree branch that I was directed to pass by in order to park ended up putting 3 deep scratches on the roof of my van from front to back. During non-festival days you could just park in the lot in front of the store- but that was not the case on this day. They had port-a-potties sitting out- so I am not sure what the bathroom facilities will be like on non-festival days. If you decide to attend one of their festivals make sure and bring your money because you are going to want to go home with a lot of local fresh food! We definitely plan on attending the fall festival that they offer. They can be found on facebook and they give updates on what they are offering in the near future. It was a fun day. The food was delicious! We are still talking about it days later!

Get away and ease stress at this farm - it is family run and you're treated like family....we have a very enjoyable experience each time we visit - prices very reasonable and all the food is great!!

We rented a nearby cabin and the owner recommended this orchard to visit. He said they were a 4th generation family operation. Apples on hand on August 20 were Gala and Honey Crisp, both outstanding, @$24/half bushel. You could pick your own, but only save $4 that way. They were just beginning to pick Red and Golden Delicious, so can't comment on them. They still had peaches and they were wonderful. Not as sweet as Carolina peaches, but large and very very good. $20/half bushel i think. As another had said, their cider was also great. And in the store, there were several interesting sauces and syrups. A small "craft fair" sets up alongside their front entrance, but we did not check it out. Anyway, it's worth a stop if you are near the Peaks of Otter or Bedford, VA.

While on vacation in Virginia, we decided we wanted to look for cider at some orchards as we headed up to the Peaks of Otter. After trying a different orchard first that had no cider, we decided to find this place which is a bit more off the beaten path. Boy were we glad we did.They had a bunch of varieties of apples in season and a large supply of apple and fruit products.As for the cider, they had not only raw and pasteurized apple cider available. But they also had some cherry apple cider that was outstanding. We loaded up a gallon bottles of each for our long road trip home to Texas.Next time we are in Virginia, we will make an effort to go out of our way to return to Gross' Orchard.