If coziness was a place, it would be Amesbury’s Cider Hill Farm. You feel it in the farm store, filled with the warm, sugary scent of apple cider donuts, crates of farm-grown fruits and veggies, and pretty shelves of jams, honey, home décor, and gifts. You feel it in the fruit orchards and tulip field; in the fall pumpkin stand and at the Pitchfork Food Truck; and in the play areas, where kids can feed chickens, play in a giant sandbox, and ride horse-shaped tire swings. Most of all, you feel it in the sense of community and family that infuses everything, from the farm festivals to the weekly CSA. It’s all about celebrating and savoring life’s “simple joys,” like choosing the perfect pumpkin on a fall day.
Family Effort
“It’s just a pumpkin, right? But it’s more than that,” says farm general manager and co-owner Jenny Durocher. “Simple joys create much larger memories and traditions. To be a part of so many families’ traditions is such an honor and a privilege.” That sense of family didn’t happen by accident. The farm has been in the Cook family since 1978, when Eleanor and Ed Cook first purchased Battis Dairy Farm. A few years later, their son, Glenn, and his wife, Karen, purchased an adjoining farm, and a decade after that, the two farms merged to create Cider Hill.
Since then, Cider Hill Farm has grown from a simple orchard, farm, and store to a full-blown destination nearly all year long, with classic farm activities like pick-your-own fruit and flowers and hayrides happening alongside events like farm yoga and fitness classes, live music and food trucks, markets featuring local artisans, and festivals that celebrate the farm’s bounty throughout every growing season. They launched Cider Hill Cellars, which makes award-winning hard cider; continue to expand their land cultivation and plantings, including a new cherry orchard; added sustainability features like wind and solar power; and opened the Battis Room for social and corporate gatherings.
Risky Business
Every move the Cook family has made not only adds to Cider Hill’s activities and experiences, but also helps to ensure its future, especially as farms grow scarcer through the region, state, and beyond. Massachusetts lost 113,000 acres of farmland between 1997 and 2022, according to U.S. Agricultural Census data. Moreover, farming itself is a risky business, where entire crops can be lost and a whole season can be washed out by rain. Expanding and diversifying offerings means that farms aren’t wholly dependent on the success of just one or two crops.
“Farming is definitely a game of gambling because there is so much out of your control,” Durocher says. “From very early on it was about creating other experiences that we had a little bit more control over, while still keeping pick-your-own and agriculture at the heart of everything we do.” That eye toward ensuring the farm’s continued success extended to bringing Durocher and her husband, Chris, onboard as co-owners in 2025 along with Karen and Glenn Cook.
“Their roots are truly in the sustainability of the farm and the future of the farm,” Durocher says of the Cooks. “They’ve always said that they’re simply caretakers of this land, and they truly mean that and they live that. To move this farm into the next decade is really exciting.” In the meantime, the farm will be as bustling as ever this fall and holiday season. “November and December is still jampacked with things to do on the farm,” says Valerie Rosenberg, Cider Hill’s program director.
Holiday Events
In addition to staples like free hard cider tastings, fall orchard walks, fitness classes, and Christmas trees, the farm turns into a holiday wonderland through December 14, when it closes for the season. On Small Business Saturday, visitors can shop hundreds of local products while enjoying free food samples, a hot cocoa bar, and a free Winter Wonderland photo op. The festivities continue with the beloved Story Time with Mrs. Claus, which invites kids to the farm on multiple dates in November and December to listen to stories, take photos, sip hot cocoa, and write letters to Santa. “It’s really fun and honestly so super wholesome,” Rosenberg says. “We try to make it as magical as possible.”
That magic continues year after year as the farm moves through the rhythms of the seasons and continues to grow and evolve. “It’s very rare where you get to go to a place where everyone cares tremendously, about not just the day or the year, but the future, and also staying true to the mission of being able to create a space where families and friends can come and create their own memories,” Rosenberg says.