Fruittuin van West: Attraction in Tuinen van West, Amsterdam

★★★★★ 4.8

Fruittuin van West is a biodynamic fruit farm in the Tuinen van West, on the western edge of Amsterdam, about 8 km from the city centre. You come to pick your own fruit in season, wander the orchard, shop for organic food and eat apple pie in the garden cafe. Entry is free. The orchard covers 6.5 hectares with around 30 kinds of fruit, and the picking season usually runs from mid-June to mid-October. Yellow flags show which rows are open, you pay by weight at the till, and the site posts what can be picked each day. Mushrooms and chicory are grown all year, and chickens scratch between the trees as part of the farm's cycle, while around twenty Hereford cows graze nearby. The Tuincafé opens onto the orchard terrace and a covered inner garden, and is known for an apple pie made from Dutch apples with a blemish. Wil and Lisan Sturkenboom sold their biodynamic orchard in Dronten in 2014 to start something closer to city people. They bought a bare, wet meadow, laid drainage and planted the orchard, partly with mature trees from other growers, and the first visitors were picking apples and pears that September. They then built a kind of earthship with a 400-square-metre inner garden, which holds the shop, a mushroom cave and the cafe. The farm is certified by Skal and Demeter. Dogs are not allowed, apart from assistance dogs.