Apple Picking, Fall Living & Why New England Feels Like Home

There is something about fall in New England that makes you appreciate exactly where you live.

Cooler mornings, changing leaves, farm stands overflowing with pumpkins, apple cider donuts that somehow count as breakfast, and weekends spent wandering through an orchard are all part of the season. For those of us who live in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, these aren't just fall activities. They're part of the lifestyle that makes calling New England home so special.

And apple picking season has officially arrived.

Apple Picking in New Hampshire

Granite Post recently shared a great roundup of seven New Hampshire orchards for apple picking, baked goods and fall fun, with destinations stretching from Southern New Hampshire to the Seacoast and beyond.

Their list includes:

Mack's Apples in Londonderry
A longtime New Hampshire favorite offering pick your own fruit, a farm market, cider donuts, ice cream and a fall corn maze.

Carter Hill Orchard in Concord
Apple picking is just the beginning here. You'll also find homemade cider, maple syrup, baked goods and a country store.

Meadow Ledge Farm in Loudon
If cider donuts are high on your fall priority list, this one deserves a spot on the itinerary. You'll also find apples, pies, local vegetables, cheeses, honey and other New Hampshire products.

Washburn's Windy Hill Farm in Greenville
A particularly fun option for families, with apple picking, a five acre corn maze, hayrides, farm animals, pumpkins, cider donuts and more.

Riverview Farm in Plainfield
With approximately 2,000 apple trees and 14 varieties, Riverview offers plenty to pick along with seasonal events such as harvest dinners, wreath making and a haunted corn maze.

McKenzie's Farm in Milton
Pick your own apples are joined by a farm stand filled with local meat, cheese, milk, honey, maple syrup, baked goods and other locally made items.

Applecrest Farm Orchards in Hampton Falls
A Seacoast favorite offering apples, pumpkins and other pick your own crops along with baked goods, ice cream and a fall festival featuring live music and a corn maze.

You can find all seven farms, along with current details and links for planning your visit, in Granite Post's article, "7 orchards in New Hampshire perfect for apple-picking, baked goods, & fall fun."

It's More Than Apple Picking. It's the New Hampshire Lifestyle.

As real estate professionals serving New Hampshire and Massachusetts, we spend a lot of time talking about houses: square footage, bedrooms, acreage, school districts, commute times and property taxes.

But choosing where to live is about so much more than the house.

When buyers tell us they're considering moving to New Hampshire, many are looking for a lifestyle that feels a little less hectic. They want space, access to the outdoors and communities where local farms, small businesses and seasonal traditions are still part of everyday life.

That's especially true throughout Southern New Hampshire, where towns such as Hollis, Brookline, Amherst, Milford, Merrimack and Bedford offer convenient access to Massachusetts while maintaining much of the small town New England character buyers are searching for.

You can commute south for work and still spend Saturday morning at a farm stand, hike a local trail in the afternoon and be home before the Patriots game starts.

That's a pretty good weekend.

Fall Is Also a Great Time to Explore New Hampshire Communities

If you're thinking about buying a home in New Hampshire, fall is actually a wonderful time to explore different towns.

Instead of simply driving through a neighborhood and looking at houses, spend a few hours experiencing the community.

Visit the town center. Stop at a local coffee shop. Walk a trail. Browse a farm stand. Attend a fall festival. Drive the roads you would use for your daily commute.

Those experiences can tell you a lot about whether a community actually feels like home.

For Massachusetts buyers considering a move north, exploring New Hampshire this way can be particularly helpful. The distance between communities may look small on a map, but the character of each town can be very different.

Thinking About Moving Between NH and MA?

The New Hampshire and Massachusetts real estate markets are closely connected. We regularly see buyers and sellers whose real estate plans cross the state line, whether they're selling a home in Massachusetts and moving to New Hampshire, relocating for work, searching for more land or simply looking for a different pace of life.

Understanding both markets can make that transition considerably easier.

We are licensed in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts and helps buyers and sellers navigate the process on either side of the border.

So while you're out enjoying apple season, take a look around.

You might just be enjoying one of the reasons so many people love living here in the first place.

And if your fall plans happen to include a new address, we'd be happy to help you find the right place to call home.