Forty-five minutes into the Perth Hills, a fruit shed on Bracken Road has stayed in the same family since 1953, passed down through three generations of growers. Depending on the time of year there are oranges, mandarins, apples and pears to pick straight from the trees, plus vegetables, raw honey and farm-fresh eggs sold from the shed alongside homemade preserves, sauces and apple pies made to old family recipes. Entry runs $5 for adults and $2 for children, with picked fruit charged at $3 a kilo; picking hours are typically 10am to 2pm, with the shed trading later. The orchard closes over winter and reopens in late spring, timing its picking weekends to the season's long weekends and posting exact dates on Facebook rather than running a website. It's the sort of stop that anchors the Pickering Brook fruit-growing district for Perth families, more farm shed than attraction, and better for it.