Lyman Orchards Apple & Pumpkin Picking: A Local Guide

By Erik Hernal, founder & editor

Lyman Orchards is an 1,100-acre family farm at 32 Reeds Gap Road in Middlefield, CT, about ten minutes southwest of downtown Middletown. It's been run by the same family since 1741, and it's the place everyone around here goes to pick fruit. Pick-your-own apples typically run from early September into late October (27 varieties, the start shifts a week or two with the weather), and the pumpkin patch opens later in September and runs through Halloween. Beyond the picking, there's the year-round Apple Barrel market for pies and cider donuts, a charity corn maze in the fall, a sunflower maze in summer, and 45 holes of golf. Always check lymanorchards.com for this year's exact dates, because they move.

Attraction	What it is	When	Good for
Pick-your-own apples	27 varieties, McIntosh to Macoun, picked by the bag	typically early Sept–late Oct	families, fall, a cheap day out
Pick-your-own pumpkins	orange, white, green, and warty goblin pumpkins	mid-September into late October	kids, the Halloween haul
Apple Barrel Farm Market	farm store, famous pies, cider donuts, bakery	open daily, year-round	any time, a quick stop
Corn Maze	themed maze on the farm, a dollar a head to charity	late summer into early November	a fall afternoon, older kids
Sunflower Maze	nearly a mile of paths through 350,000 sunflowers	late July through August	summer, photos, a good cause
Lyman Orchards Golf Club	45 holes: Jones, Player, and the short Apple Nine	spring through fall	golfers, a full morning

Pick-your-own apples and pumpkins

The orchard grows 27 different apple varieties, so you get the New England staples, McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, plus a few oddballs you won't find at the grocery store. Pick-your-own apples typically open in early September and run into late October, but that window slides with the season, so a warm or wet year can push it. Don't trust a hard date from anyone, including me. The farm runs a pick-your-own hotline at 860-349-6015 and posts which orchard is open and what's ripe on its website, and that's the only source worth checking before you drive out.

You pick apples by the bag, which is what makes it a cheap family day rather than a money pit. No reservation needed for the orchard itself, you just show up during open hours, grab a bag, and head out to the rows. The pumpkin patch opens a bit later, usually mid-September, and runs through Halloween. They grow the classic orange ones plus white, green, and a bumpy warty-goblin variety that the kids always grab first. Apples and pumpkins overlap through most of October, so you can do both in one trip.

The Apple Barrel, open every month of the year

The Apple Barrel Farm Market is the part of Lyman Orchards that locals use year-round, not just in the fall. It's open daily, and it's where the bakery lives. The pies are the headliner, the Hi-Top Apple is the famous one, and there are more than twenty other varieties baked from old family recipes right there in the farm kitchen. And the apple cider donuts are the thing people drive over for. Warm, made fresh daily, gone fast on a Saturday. The market also stocks local produce, cheeses, jams, and the kind of farm-store odds and ends that are dangerous to walk past hungry. If you only have twenty minutes, skip the orchard and just hit the Apple Barrel.

The corn maze, the sunflower maze, and the golf

Two of Lyman's best draws are its mazes, and both raise real money for charity. The Corn Maze runs from late summer into early November with a new theme every single year (2025 was a Connecticut-pizza tribute, which is very on-brand for this state). A dollar of every admission goes to charity, and the maze has sent more than $800,000 to the American Cancer Society since 2000. The Sunflower Maze is the summer version, open roughly late July through August, nearly a mile of paths cut through 350,000 sunflowers, with proceeds going to Connecticut Children's. It's raised over $200,000 for kids' cancer care since 2007.

And if your idea of a farm day involves a 7-iron, Lyman Orchards Golf Club is a public 45-hole facility on the property. There are two championship 18s, the Jones Course (Robert Trent Jones Sr., opened 1969) and the Player Course (Gary Player, opened 1995), plus the short par-29 Apple Nine for a quicker round. One more thing while you're in Middlefield: Powder Ridge (99 Powder Hill Road) is barely a mile up the road, a year-round mountain park for skiing and snow tubing in winter and zip lines and mountain biking the rest of the year. Easy to pair the two.

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Common questions about Lyman Orchards

When does apple picking start at Lyman Orchards? Pick-your-own apples typically run from early September into late October, though the start shifts a week or two with the weather each year. Lyman Orchards posts the exact dates and which varieties are ripe on lymanorchards.com, and there's a pick-your-own hotline at 860-349-6015. Pumpkins join the patch later in September.

Where is Lyman Orchards? Lyman Orchards is at 32 Reeds Gap Road in Middlefield, CT, about ten minutes southwest of downtown Middletown. It's an 1,100-acre family farm that's been in the same family since 1741.

Is the Apple Barrel open year-round? Yes. The Apple Barrel Farm Market is open daily, year-round, not just in the fall. It's where the pies, the apple cider donuts, and the rest of the farm bakery come from, and you can stop in any month for them.

Is there a corn maze at Lyman Orchards? Yes. The Lyman Orchards Corn Maze runs from late summer into early November with a new theme every year, and a dollar of every admission goes to charity. The American Cancer Society has received more than $800,000 from it since 2000.

Once you've planned the orchard run, here are the local guides to free things to do in Greater Middletown, things to do with kids, and the farmers markets around town, plus a perfect weekend itinerary. See what's on this week on our events page, browse past issues, or subscribe above for the Thursday rundown.