Pick your own near Sydney: the Hawkesbury, Bilpin and the Central Coast

Three districts serve Sydney, and they are different enough that it is worth knowing which one suits the crop you want.

Bilpin and the Hawkesbury: apples and stone fruit

Bilpin sits on the Bells Line of Road up towards the Blue Mountains and is apple country: the altitude gives it cold enough winters for the crop. Apples run through autumn, roughly February to May, and the district also carries the largest set of self-pick peach and nectarine orchards on this site, which come in earlier, through summer.

That two-part season makes Bilpin worth two trips. Stone fruit before Christmas and into January, apples from late summer through autumn.

The Sydney Basin: variety, close in

The Sydney Basin farms are nearer and more mixed: strawberries, stone fruit, citrus and vegetables, with a shorter drive and generally easier parking. This is the option for a morning rather than a day.

The Central Coast: berries and citrus

North of the city, the Central Coast carries blueberries and citrus. Its blueberries come in earlier than the Victorian ones, from late winter, which makes the coast the place to go when nothing further south is ready.

Practical notes

The mountains road is the constraint for Bilpin. It is beautiful and slow, it carries weekend traffic, and fog is common in the mornings. Allow more time than the map says.

Autumn is the underrated season here. Most people think of self-pick as a summer activity, but the apple orchards run through to May and are far quieter than the summer berry farms.

Bushfire and smoke can close orchards in a bad summer, and heavy rain closes the Hawkesbury river flats. Both are why checking on the morning matters more in this part of the country than most.

Updated 10 September 2026