Is the bakery at Battleview Orchards a “restaurant”? No, not really. But the food and products they offer are so incredibly fresh and delicious that I had to give them a score and inclusion in my master list of reviews. It took 10 days into the month of October for Justin and I to do something fall-related. We are both working different schedules than last October, which is why my blog was then full of festivities. However, a visit to Battleview was a great way to kick off this season for us.

I had wanted to do something more than the usual pumpkin picking. Casola Farms last year was a neat experience, but I wanted an adventure. We drove out to Freehold yesterday with the prospects of doing some apple picking, which I haven’t done since I was a small child and Justin had never done. Battleview has a large orchard with eight or more varieties of apples, ranging from Red Delicious and Granny Smith to Crispin. We stopped at the market, which includes the bakery, before getting back in the car and driving about a half a mile to their orchard and pumpkin-picking area.

As soon as you walk in, you are blown away by the aromas of fresh-baked goods. There is a display case with an array of pastries, cupcakes, muffins, and cookies. Further down are pies. A refrigerator offers homemade apple cider, and there is another area for breads and rolls. It was a difficult decision, but we settled on sharing an apple scone and an apple popover, which was so enormous that it could have fed the both of us. I grabbed a cup of coffee while Justin took a small jug of apple cider and drank it right out of the bottle (it was one of the best we’ve ever had).

The scone was crumbly and delicious. My popover was out of this world—the pastry was flaky and packed with a large amount of apple cinnamon filling. The freshness was apparent, not like the mass-produced compote most places use. It was washed down perfectly with my coffee, as we sat in the car overlooking the orchard before going out to pick apples. Before we left the bakery, we also decided to take home a caramel apple walnut pie, which a customer was standing over and remarked that it was Battleview’s best. After trying some at home later last night, we would agree. It is as good as it looks in the picture below.

Prices for all of these items were more than fair—actually, I thought they were low given some of the prices I have seen at similar locations for food baked on-site. The pie was $9.99 while our individual items were $1.59 and $1.99 respectively. Coffee was $1.50. This did not feel like a tourist trap (which is so easy for such a place to become), but a good, old-fashioned farm market.

My only complaint is of the constructive nature, and that is I wish they had a seating area with some tables and chairs. These baked goods are not just novelty items, but high-quality and good enough to stand alone in a restaurant or dessert shop. Granted, this was a weekday, so maybe they have somewhere to sit on weekends, but I just did not see it. I am going to give them 4 out of 5 stars, which is high marks for a non-restaurant on this blog. All of the employees were friendly and helpful, the selection of prepared foods and goods aside from the bakery was decent, and I am still drooling over that pie. If you are looking for something “fally” to do in Monmouth County, give Battleview Orchards a shot.

Battleview Orchards is located at 91 Wemrock Road in Freehold, NJ. More images from our experience will be featured in a few days as part of our “Photo of the Day” series.