Fruit, vegetable and flower picking around Paris and the Ile-de-France region

Picking is an outing that everyone can agree on; it's an opportunity to leave the city for a day to breathe in the fresh air and discover natural places where you can learn all about the techniques and methods used to grow your favorite fruits, vegetables, andflowers.

With children, it's also the ideal free outing to enjoy in spring,summer, or evenfall (especially for all the squash!), in addition to spending a beautiful day in the countryside with your hands in the dirt. And that's great, because many farms, fields, and other places that produce fruit, vegetables, and flowers invite you to come and pick them yourself for part of the year.

Freshness is guaranteed for these products that you harvest straight from the ground (or from the tree), but above all, you (finally) have the opportunity to eat locally at attractive prices, since you pay by the kilo for what you harvest.

Most fields reopen forpicking in April and close to the public in October or November,but some places are open all year round in Île-de-France. So, put on some good shoes and clothes you don't mind getting dirty, and let's go for some quality picking!

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Pick-your-own locations in Seine-et-Marne (77):

• Cueillette de La Grange: open every day of the week from March 21. Located not far from Brie-Comte-Robert and the Château de Vaux le Vicomte, Cueillette de la Grange welcomes you to its 35 hectares of land where you can pick and gather more than 50 fruits and vegetables. Depending on the season, you will find strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, cabbage, zucchini, beans, peas, apples, raspberries, plums, cherries, etc. In winter, the farm is closed, but the Lemarié family offers baskets that can be picked up at the drive-through.
  
  
• Cueillette du Plessis in Lumigny/Chanteloup: open Wednesdays and Saturdays from April onwards. La Cueillette de Chanteloup is a small family farm near Val d'Europe. It grows a range of fruit and vegetables across 8 hectares, with 2 hectares of orchards open in September. The farm is also closed in winter, but a market remains open all year round. The family also offers baskets containing 7 to 9 products for €15, which can be picked up in Lumigny, Chanteloup or at Roissy en Brie station. 

• Cueillette de Rutel: open Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Sundays from April onwards. Near Meaux, Rutel's pick-your-own farm offers 20 hectares of fields on the edge of the woods. These fields and the Dujardin family farm have been open to the public since 1976, but the family has been tending these fields for six generations. There are more than 70 varieties of fruit and vegetables, selected for their taste and grown in accordance with sustainable agriculture practices. An adjoining store sells fruit and vegetables harvested from the fields, free-range poultry, beef, veal, pork, and lamb raised traditionally on neighboring farms, artisanal cheeses, and a selection of artisanal products.

• Cueillette de Servigny: open Tuesday through Saturday. La Cueillette de Servigny was founded in the 1980s. For nearly 40 years now, the Signolle family has been offering residents of the Paris region the opportunity to pick their own fruit, vegetables, and flowers near Sénart. A shop offers tempting regional specialties from local producers all year round: cheeses, charcuterie, fruit juices, honeys, lemonades, wines, terrines, and more.

• Cueillettes de Compans: open Wednesday through Saturday.InCompans, near Roissy, there are not one, but two pick-your-own farms, on Rue de Mitry and Rue de l'Église. From April to November, visitors can come and harvest fruit, vegetables, and flowers every day on more than 20 hectares. An adjoining store also sells fruit and vegetables harvested from the fields, free-range poultry, farm eggs, fruit juices, and cookies. La Cueillette de Compans has even set up a drive-through that is open all year round!

• Cueillette de Voisenon: open Wednesday through Saturday all year round. La Cueillette de Voisenon is a young farm that opened in 2006 near Melun. Since then, the family has offered more than 62 hectares of fruit, vegetables, and flowers. There are more than 40 vegetables, as well as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants, and melons. An adjoining store sells meat and cheese, as well as local products all year round. New to La Cueillette de Voisenon is a vending machine offering fruit and vegetables 24 hours a day at 1 rue des Closeaux in Voisenon.

• Cueillette de Nolongues: scheduled to open in mid-May. Near Coulommiers, Cueillette de Nolongues is open from May to October for picking and harvesting fruit and vegetables grown using sustainable farming methods. This farm offers nine varieties of apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, raspberries, cherries, and mirabelle plums, as well as potatoes, pumpkins, green beans, carrots, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and celery.

Pick-your-own locations in Essonne (91):

• Cueillette de Torfou: opening Saturday, April 6. La Cueillette de Torfou is located in the Juine Valley, between Arpajon and Etréchy, on 20 hectares of land that has belonged to the Poupinel family for four generations. In winter, early vegetables, radishes, lettuces, strawberries grown in open fields, and spinach await curious visitors, followed by tomatoes, potatoes, lilies, strawberries grown in hanging gardens in June, raspberries, redcurrants, and from mid-August, you can discover the first apples and several varieties of plums in the orchards. More than 60 varieties of fruit and vegetables await us.

• Viltain picking: opens April 6. The Viltain Farm is a sure bet. Since 1954, the same family has welcomed us to their livestock farm, dairy, and 50-hectare picking area near Jouy-en-Josas and Saclay. The pick-your-own farm is open from April to October, offering tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, green beans, carrots, onions, cucumbers, gherkins, parsnips, pumpkins, strawberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, raspberries, and blackberries, as well as tulips, irises, carnations, lilies, and fragrant roses, depending on the season. The Viltain market hall sells dairy products (we particularly love their yogurts), artisanal products, poultry, charcuterie, biscuits, cheeses, and jams, all selected for their taste.

Pick-your-own locations in Yvelines (78):

• Cueillette de Gally: open from the Easter holidays. La Cueillette de Gally, which is free to enter, offers 60 hectares of fields near Versailles where children can pick their own fruit and vegetables. Strawberries, apples, tomatoes, lettuce, and potatoes—you're sure to find seasonal produce depending on the time of year you visit. An adjoining store sells more than 2,500 products from producers and artisans whose work is admired by Les Fermes de Gally all year round. And next to all this, an educational farm (admission fee applies) allows you to walk among goats, Alpine goats, chickens, sheep, donkeys, and even an Andalusian horse.

• La Ferme du Logis: scheduled to open in the spring. La Ferme du Logis, located in Jumeauville near Thoiry, claims to be a traditional grain farm. It began selling its produce in 1977. It offers more than 40 fruits and vegetables on some 65 hectares reserved for picking, as well as chicken coops and processed products made from the harvest, including fruit juices, fruit jellies, and rapeseed oil. Please note that there is a €5 entrance fee for everyone, including children, which is refunded at the exit by deducting the cost of any purchases.

Pick-your-own locations in Val d'Oise (95):

• Cueillette de Cergy: open Tuesday through Saturday starting in May. La Cueillette de Cergy is open from May to October on a 40-hectare farm located behind the Cergy-le-Haut train station, offering strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, apples, plums, tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, potatoes, beans, and more. In addition, tulips, gladioli, dahlias, roses, and wildflowers are also available for picking. In Cergy, the Marché de Caroline also offers local products, including farmhouse cheeses, artisanal charcuterie, free-range poultry, jams, honeys, and craft beers.

• Cueillette de la Croix Verte: open from May 15 to November 12. Not far from Domont and L'Isle Adam, Cueillette de la Croix-Blanche has been inviting curious visitors to pick and gather fruit, vegetables, and flowers since 1981. Nearly 40 products are available in the 54 hectares of fields, and building on the success of its open farm, the family has purchased neighboring fields, expanding from 33 hectares to 54 hectares of picking areas. In addition to picking, baskets are available for purchase to take away from May to November.

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