Pratt Orchard and Garden Center

Growing up, you knew it wasn’t fall until you were in the apple orchard picking apples. I lived in Northern NJ and every year the thing I looked forward to the most was going apple picking with my family. When I was old enough to get a job, I went to work at the same apple orchard we picked at every year. Apple picking is in my blood.
Now that I am a mother it is important to me that my children have the same wonderful memories and traditions. Two years ago my husband and I brought them to Pratt’s to pick apples and were so delighted! We picked two bags of juicy, crisp apples for around $ 1/​pound. Very handy! They also offer pre-​picked apples at a higher price in case you aren’t able to, or don’t want to, pick your own. They have many wagons that you can take with you throughout the orchard to carry children and baskets of apples.
If memory serves me correctly I believe they offer Crispin/​Mutsu (my favorite and a hard to find variety), Golden Delicious, Gala, Winesap and Arkansas Reds. They also offer peaches in the summer though we have never been there in time for those. Call or check their Facebook page for current hours and availability. The apple picking season in Middle Tennessee is about a month earlier than it is for NY/​NJ so you will need to be aware of this and keep checking for when they say the apples are ready.
They are located conveniently to the highway and it is a pleasant drive through the country to get there. We do not mind the drive from West Nashville at all. It is easy to find using conventional directions or a GPS and there is a happy little apple sign at the end of the driveway to mark where to turn.
The orchard is much smaller than any other orchard I have ever been to, but for their size they have a nice variety. I think that this is actually a benefit for families with small children because you do not have to walk as far to get a good variety of apples. The terrain of the orchard can be hilly and bumpy in places. The grass can be tall and it can be muddy.
Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are absolutely wonderful people. They are sweet and kind. The first year we picked there Mr. Pratt showed us a beautiful flowering vine that he grew next to the porch of the orchard store. They just seem like the kind of people that you would love to pull up a rocking chair with and listen to their life story. This is important to our family because almost all of the reviews for other orchards around Nashville mention that the orchard owners are grumpy and sometimes do not even allow children into the orchard. This is not true for Pratt’s. If you want to make apple picking a favorite family tradition, you must make sure to find an orchard where your children are welcome.
That being said, please remember that if you are bringing your children to a pick-​your-​own orchard or farm that you take the time to teach them proper picking procedures so they do not damage the plants or trees. Also respect any directions the farmer/​owner gives you. If you had an orchard that provided a needed source of income for your family think of how you would want your customers to behave while picking and conduct yourself accordingly. When we visited again this year to pick apples we found that some of the varieties had been picked out early because people did not follow directions and picked apples before they were ready. I spoke to Mr. and Mrs. Pratt about this and they said that this is common every year.