@Birdwood Pick YourOwn Cherries

There's a particular pleasure in cherry picking that doesn't involve craning your neck or balancing on a ladder, and that's the promise at Birdwood. The orchard sits on flat ground at Angas Creek Road, under permanent netting that keeps both birds and harsh sun at bay, so the picking happens in comfortable, dappled shade with rolling hills and gums as the backdrop. It's run by Chris and Emily, the same family behind Lenswood Pick Your Own apples, and they've carried the same unfussy, family-first approach across to stone fruit — cherries here, in the short window from mid-December into early January when the Adelaide Hills are at their most languid and holiday-bound.

The system is refreshingly straightforward: entry is prepaid and includes a punnet of cherries to take home, with pricing scaled so the more you pick, the better the value per kilo — no scales-side surprises, no bookings required. That last point matters more than it might sound: buses and large groups are welcome to simply turn up, which makes Birdwood a natural stop for school holiday outings as much as for a family pottering through on a Sunday drive. Picnic tables are scattered about for those who want to linger, there's an ice-cream van for the inevitable post-picking treat, and enough open space that kids can run off energy between rows while the grown-ups fill punnets.

It's a fitting complement to a day in the Hills more broadly — Birdwood itself is a village worth wandering, and the orchard makes an easy anchor for a loop that takes in the wider district's produce and scenery. Come mid-summer, though, the cherries are the drawcard, and the netting-shaded rows make short work of the harvest.