Brookdale Fruit Farm at 41 Broad Street and Lull Farm at 65 Broad Street share the same road, and they keep different hours. Brookdale's orchard picking was listed Wednesday through Sunday, and its corn maze, ice cream stand and barbecue run mostly on weekends. Lull's market is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, all year. For anyone who lives along Route 130 or drives it every day, the day of the week does more to decide which farm you visit than the apples do.
That split shapes Hollis's whole fall. Brookdale runs the busy weekend in the orchard. Lull handles the Tuesday-evening errand. Once the trees are picked over, the town calendar picks up the slack, moving from Monument Square to Stefanowicz Farm to Lawrence Barn on Depot Road.
Brookdale's Weekend Is Built Around the Orchard
Edward Hardy founded Brookdale in 1847, and the farm calls itself a seven-generation family operation. At 41 Broad Street, the scale of the orchard is the draw. On September 30, 2026, the farm posted that 27 apple varieties were ready to pick.
That list ran from old New England names like Baldwin, Northern Spy and Rome, through the familiar McIntosh, Cortland and Macoun, to newer varieties such as SnowSweet, Crimson Crisp, Firecracker and Amarillo Soul. Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala, Pink Lady and Ambrosia were on it too. The same post said EverCrisp, Ludacrisp and Rosalee were still to come, with opening updates to follow. Those three late varieties are the reason Brookdale's orchard keeps going into October.
Here is how the farm laid out its offerings that week:
- Apple picking: Wednesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., last entry 30 minutes before close. $40 per half-bushel or $2.50 per pound. No admission, no reservations.
- Raspberries and flowers: Red and golden raspberries at $6 a pint. Pick-your-own flowers at $15 a container, including zinnias, dahlias, celosia, gomphrena, snapdragons and asters.
- Corn maze and hayride: Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. One $5 ticket covers both.
- Ice cream stand: Weekends, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with cider slushies and apple pie ice cream.
- T-Roy's BBQ: Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Brookdale's farm stand is open every day, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. At the end of September it was stocked with sweet corn, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, pumpkins, gourds, eggs, mums, cornstalks and fall décor. It also had apple cider donuts, cider and sparkling cider, plus photos with the Pumpkin Man. New Hampshire Magazine's September 2 roundup adds honey, specialty foods, baked goods and other local items to the store's shelves.
So a Saturday at Brookdale fills most of a day: orchard in the morning, maze and hayride after lunch, barbecue and ice cream before you leave. A Monday visit gets you the farm stand and not much else.
Lull Farm Is the Weekday Stop
Lull Farm is the younger of the two. Hollis native David Orde started the current farm in 1980, according to Freedom's Way, and named it for a former landowner, Grace Lull. Where Brookdale's October is about the orchard, Lull's is about the market at 65 Broad Street, with the same 7-to-7 hours in October that it keeps in February.
Lull's picking list is shorter on purpose. The farm's page, updated September 12, 2026, lists seven varieties: Macintosh, Cortland, Macoun, Spencer, Mutzu, Yellow Delicious and Red Delicious. It says plainly that Granny Smith, Gala and Fuji are not available for picking. Bags are $25 a peck and $40 a half-bushel.
That $40 half-bushel matches Brookdale's price exactly. The two farms split on the smaller sizes: Lull sells a $25 peck, and Brookdale charges $2.50 a pound. For a household that wants a bag of Macouns and Cortlands for the week, either farm works. For a family that wants a Pink Lady or a Northern Spy, Brookdale's list is the one that had them at the end of September.
What sets Lull apart is the kitchen. The farm describes daily production of breads, pastries, pies, soups, muffins, desserts and prepared meals. Its seasonal page lists the farm's own apple cider, cider donuts and pumpkins. The cases carry farm-raised beef, free-range chicken, heritage pork, farm eggs and duck eggs, and the farm raises holiday turkeys too. Among the outside makers on its shelves is EJ's Bakery, which bakes its made-from-scratch goods in Lyndeborough.
That makes Lull the stop for a weeknight: soup and bread for dinner, eggs for the morning, a peck of apples if there's time before dark. Lull's Halloween page sends visitors to its Facebook page for seasonal updates. Its turkey page still carried 2025 order details when we checked, so confirm this year's Thanksgiving timing at the stand.
When the Orchard Clock Runs Down
Brookdale's own FAQ puts apple picking at mid-September through mid-October. Its pick-your-own calendar also carries pumpkins, late raspberries and field flowers into October. The late varieties still to come may shift those dates a little either way, and conditions change week to week. Call the farm at 603-465-2240 before you load the car.
Once the trees are finished, the two farms move to their winter routines. Brookdale's FAQ lists a reduced schedule from New Year's through mid-March: Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lull keeps its daily 7-to-7 market. The weekday half of Broad Street barely changes. The weekend half slows down.
Where the Calendar Goes Next
As picking ends, Hollis's fall moves off Broad Street and into the town's own spaces. These are the dates on the books:
- Sunday, October 4, 2 to 4 p.m.: Hollis Apple Festival and Band Concert, Monument Square. The Hollis Town Band plays a free concert of music by American composers, and one raffle winner gets to conduct "Stars and Stripes Forever." Hollis Brookline Rebels Cheerleading performs at intermission. Band members bake apple pies, and apple crisp and Doc Davis ice cream are sold by the serving, with proceeds split between the band and the Rebels. Bring a lawn chair or blanket. In bad weather the event moves to Hollis Brookline Middle School.
- Wednesday, October 14, 7 p.m.: Hollis Arts Society meeting, Lawrence Barn, 28 Depot Road. The agenda includes details on the November show and writing holiday cards for troops. First-time visitors attend free.
- Saturday, October 17, 11 a.m. to noon: Tom Dufresne memorial bench dedication, Stefanowicz Farm. Enter from Nartoff Road, opposite Elnathans Way.
- Saturday, October 31, 3 to 5 p.m.: Trunk or Treat, Hollis Social Library parking lot. Organizers say more details are coming.
- Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Hollis Arts Society Art Show & Sale, Lawrence Barn. The society says this is the show's 19th year. The town calendar lists the show at Lawrence Barn.
The Apple Festival ties the two halves of the season together. It takes the fruit coming off Broad Street, turns it into pie baked by the Town Band, and serves it on the Common at the start of October. Five weeks later the season ends indoors at Lawrence Barn, around the time Lull's bakery switches to its Thanksgiving menu and Brookdale's stand moves on from apples.
Lydia Foley and the team at Purple Finch Properties live and work in Hollis, and Broad Street is part of our week too. If a fall drive down Route 130 has you wondering what your own Hollis home might be worth this season, ask us for a free home valuation. We'll walk you through it as neighbors.