Allen's Orchard - Marion IA

Our first time here: Parking was easy to locate and seemed plenty big. Welcomed with friendliness at the main building. Given clear guidance about orchard and fun things to do there. No cost for parking or picking or hay ride or petting goats or playing on the equipment. $3/lb. for both apples and pears. That is cheaper than where we used to pick in southern MO. VERY happy with the price here! The best part…the ripe apple varieties are put on a paper with their ribbon color/pattern. The same ribbon is tied onto the tree, or row of trees, that is that variety of ripe apples/pears/grapes. Genius!!! Super easy to navigate the orchard. Building is well laid out inside. Yes, there was a line of people at the two registers, but it didn’t take long to go through. Realistically, they were processing people quickly yet efficiently. The building, aka gift shop, was full of apple orchard treasures. Some pre-picked apples were there as well as the doughnuts, slushies, T-shirts, apple cider, etc. etc. etc. Yes, we drove three hours for this. Yes, we are planning on coming again, maybe even in a few weeks. It’s worth it. I also love the story of the original owner’s idea of a patchwork quilt type of apple orchard and how they have had to organize that idea for their customers convenience. Oh, they have picking poles for you to use, which we did and were glad to have available.

This beautiful orchard offers a country experience within easy reach of Marion, Hiawatha, and Cedar Rapids. It's just a short distance from Linn Mar HS. We visited on a weekday in August, where we found a list of seven or eight apple varieties ready to pick. The orchard house looks new and has a bit of everything from apples and cider donuts to jam, syrup, tote bags, cute children's books, etc. A super helpful employee guided us in how to pick, where to find the apples we wanted, and the orchard rules. Purchase by the weight as you pick into a wood slat basket you carry along. Please note that for those who may not desire the walk through orchards, there is a good selection of pre picked apples available for purchase. Everyone we spoke to was smiling and friendly. There is a pretty picnic area where you could take your donuts and beverage to relax. A swing is set in the front of the orchard house for the little ones to enjoy. I can well imagine that on weekends in the fall, this sweet destination is full of families enjoying the old-fashioned experience of harvesting your own apples. On this day, there were few around. So we were able to walk the lanes of trees laden with apples enjoying the heavenly fragrance while soaking up the sun with only the sounds of nature. I will return again and again to pick the changing variety of apples.

I have never been to an orchard. I work part-time at a store and they asked me to pick up a few cases of donuts for the store. I didn't have time to shop or look around but I thought it would be fun to bring my 13-year-old son. He went to a different orchard on a school trip when he was much younger, but I've never taken him. So today I told him I wanted to take him and he was looking forward to it. We had a wonderful time together picking apples, talking about who we'd give some to, watching the goats gobble up pumpkins and checking out the fire truck. The young gal at the register was so kind and sweet. My son picked out several honey sticks and was trying to keep the flavors separate. She offered to put them in little bags and label them for him - wow! We had a great afternoon. Highly recommend!!

Great Apple Orchard! Fantastic apples & overall experience in the orchard picking apples!! 🍎🍏 Was our 2nd season visiting, and was not busy on a weekday at all. Love the ease we had wandering around with my 3yr old picking apples. Also, yummy apple cider donuts!!! Great experience and will look forward to visiting every fall now.

Awesome variety of apples and apple slushy. Has a shop and 70 rows of apples. Quality costs so bring your card. ;)