Everyone knows Milk Pail for the apple cider donuts. Grab a bag on your way through, and it's easy to call the visit complete.
But most apple orchards out here hand you a corn maze. Milk Pail hands you a sunflower maze, right past the pumpkins. People are usually so locked into the donuts and the apple picking that the visit ends before they ever get lost in it.
What to Know Before You Go
The U-Pick Farm at 50 Horsemill Lane in Water Mill opens for the season on September 5th and runs Friday through Sunday, 10am to 5:30pm, through October. This is where the apples, pumpkins, and sunflowers all come together in one visit.
Apples: Over 20 varieties throughout September and October. A peck bag (20-25 apples) admits up to 4 people into the orchard.
Pumpkins: Everything from minis to 150-pounders, plus 60+ varieties of pumpkins, squash, and gourds, mid-September through the end of October.
Sunflowers: U-pick sunflowers and the maze, tucked past the pumpkin patch. Sunflower picking runs through late summer, so don't wait too long into fall to find it in bloom.
Farm Wagon Tours: Available during U-pick season, this is your way out to the orchard, so plan to take it before you circle back toward the maze.
Cider donuts: The Milk Pail's signature, available at the farm store on Montauk Highway. Grab them on your way out, they go fast.
A couple of practical notes: rows are roped off when fruit is still ripening, so don't be surprised if a variety isn't available the day you go, and picking windows shift with weather, so it's worth a quick check of their page or a call before you drive out.
Why It's Worth the Extra Few Minutes
The donuts are the reason most people show up. The sunflower maze is the reason to stay a little longer. It's not hidden, it's right there past the pumpkins, most people just don't think to keep walking once their hands are full.
This fall, do the tractor ride, pick your apples, grab your pumpkins, and then take the extra ten minutes to get lost in the sunflowers before you head to the farm store for donuts on your way out.
📍 Milk Pail U-Pick Farm, 50 Horsemill Lane, Water Mill