Tour Apple Hill Farm near Grandfather Mountain!

Most recently updated July 7th, 2023

Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes

I found Apple Hill Farm  – a working Alpaca textile farm – when I was hiking out in the Grandfather Mountain area  few weeks ago.   

I was looking for an activity to take a break from hiking (uphill!) in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, but was still outdoors.

Apple Hill Farm was the perfect find!   It’s a working textile farm on the site of an old apple orchard that offers farm tours, and even has a fiber gift shop on site.

The farm was started in 2002 by a single Mom (and cancer survivor) with just 2 pregnant female alpacas and one young male.

Today Apple Hill Farm is home to 9 kinds of animals:  alpacas, llamas, angora goats, zebu cattle, horses, pigs, donkeys, chickens, and livestock guardian dogs.

The farm site includes 15 fields, 4 barns, and a farm store on 43 acres of land. 

They’re still a working textile farm, and lucky for us, they now also give visitors educational tours of the farm all year round. 

Read on to learn about my tour, and how you can visit too.

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Apple Hill Farm

Owner Lee Rankin started Apple Hill Farm in 2002  – over 20 years ago! – as a single mother of 1 very young boy, cancer survivor, cookbook author and now novice textile farmer. 

I’ve also been the single mother of a 1 year old, battling chronic illness while trying to make a living.   In my experience, it’s an exhausting, skin-of-your-teeth kind of life.

So I can’t help but wonder – with all this going on already – what on earth possessed Lee to just up and start an Alpaca farm?

How It All Started 

Lee shares her story in her farm blog, and my farm tour guide retold it as well.

The short version is that one day, while pushing her one-year-old son in a stroller at the Kentucky State Fair, Lee was hypnotized by an Alpaca.  

Seriously.  Lee gazed into the fawn-colored eyes of a fuzzy, fuzzy Alpaca and when their gaze broke, was infused with a new sense of purpose.

She needed to do something…. something that involved Alpaca.

People warn you about the spitting, but no one ever mentions the spellbinding power of an Alpaca’s gaze….

All Lee knew at the time was that whatever she did next in her life would involve alpacas.

 

Soon after, with great courage and trust, she took off to North Carolina with her young son, found a mountain, and pursued a totally different way of life.

Over the years, bitter winters, mountain lion attacks, and inevitable farm deaths gave this solo mom her fair share of challenges.

Today, the farm is a great success:  still producing Alpaca and (additionally) Angora fiber, but also giving focus to agritourism.   

The farm is open year-round, hosting educational animal experiences and tours. 

Before I tell you about my tour at Apple Hill Farm, here’s a quick background on alpacas and alpaca farming in the US:

A Brief History of Alpacas

Alpacas were a treasure of the ancient Incan civilization and played a central role in the Incan culture of the high Andean Plateau and mountains of South America.

In ancient Peru, alpaca fleeces were reserved for royalty. 

Alpacas in Peru are still scarce and unique, and the fabrics and yarns produced from their fleeces are in demand at fashion centers all over the world. 

Today, Alpacas still represent the primary source of income for thousands of South Americans.

They roam the countryside in South America, much like wild deer do in the US.  I saw a number of Guanaco herds and lone males when I did a hike on the W Trek in Patagonia, Chile.   

Read more about the history of Alpaca and Alpaca vs Llama here.

Alpaca Farming in North America

That said, the industry’s future is stable and it seems to have caught on like crazy.

There are two main ways to make profits from alpaca farming:

1. 1. 1. Marketing the alpaca’s offspring (cria) or stud fees for herdsires to other farmers.
      2. Harvesting and selling luxurious alpaca fleeces to wool spinners and textile makers.

They also take in Rescue animals. Over time, they become used to farm life and rehabilitated from any injuries they may have.

Some of the rescues are not visited on the farm tour, though, because they have experienced abuse and sadly are not at all trusting of humans.

Alpaca Fiber

Alpaca wool is one of the softest natural fibers and even warmer than sheep’s wool. 

Though similar to sheep’s wool,  it’s not prickly, and has no lanolin (a natural grease) which makes it hypoallergenic.

Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, and is naturally water-repellent, which makes it good material for outer garments.

Fleece Harvesting

Alpacas are shorn once a year, usually in Spring – typically at the very end of April or first week of May.  

Shearing usually takes around five to ten minutes per animal for an experienced alpaca shearer.  

The fleeces are clipped without causing any harm to the animal.

Alpaca fleece is made into products ranging from very simple and inexpensive garments to sophisticated, industrially made and expensive products such as suits. 

Years ago, when I was hiking in the Peruvian highlands, we visited a small Alpaca farm that provided employment spinning and weaving for many of the Highland women. 

I purchased a beautiful woven table runner that is still beautiful to this day.

Apple Hill Farm Fiber Store

The Fiber Store at Apple Hill Farm is a retail and educational space in the upper part of the barn building.

There are lots of products on display, including socks, hats, gloves, scarves, rugs, sweaters and more.   

Many of the products are made from fibers that were grown at the farm, but other products from other vendors are also available.

You don’t have to book a tour to visit the Fiber Store, just drop by.

Fiber Store Open Hours
Daily 10am-4pm.

Call or check out the website for upcoming fiber arts classes, lectures, or other events.

My Tour and Visit to Apple Hill Farm

The farm is pretty easy to find using GPS  – only a 30-40 minute drive from Banner Elk, NC.   

Parking is easy too, with designated spaces in front of the barn building, and an overflow lot a little further down.

When you book your tour, you are instructed to arrive no more than 10 minutes ahead of time.

The tour itself is a guided walking tour on uneven dirt roads with some slight uphills, so you should come prepared with proper footwear and walking sticks for those that might need them.

Your tour will be an educational tour where you learn about the animals who live and play at Apple Hill Farm.

Many of the animals are rescues and have cool back-stories as well! 

If you’d like to learn more, the best thing to do is check out  Lee’s farm blog.   I did, and found a three part story I especially like, the story of Mr. Pickles the Pig.

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The Saga of Mr. Pickles 

This is a 3 part series of posts about a rescued tea-cup pig, Mr. Pickles, going from how he was found, his rescue, and his eventual role on the farm.

To read the beginning of the story,  click here A Pig Rescue Story   

For Part 2 click here:  Mr. Pickles Gets Rescued

And for Part 3 click here:  A Pig with a Purpose

Check out the farm blog for more rescue stories and notices of upcoming farm and community events!

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Also FYI, most of the animals are very friendly, but the farm is not a petting zoo and they let the animals choose if they will interact with the tour or not.

Interactions with animals aren’t guaranteed – but the goats, donkeys, and cows almost always say “yes” to meeting new friends!

The alpacas on the other hand, are a lot like cats so you never know what they might do…..

I parked in front per instructions, about 10 minutes early.   I checked in at the barn, and was told to come back when it was time.

While I waited, I visited with Caspar (an elderly Golden Retriever who allowed me to pet his tummy) and the chickens – who glared at me accusingly, as if I was somehow to blame for whatever had upset them…

When it came time for my tour, I found that I was the only visitor!  So, I got ALL the attention 🙂

We started by going out to the front of the building to see the pigs.

The Apple Hill Farm Animals

After the pigs and the chickens, we walked down hill on the gravel farm road to the nearest alpaca pen, which enclosed a central field with apple trees from the old orchard.

There were adult animals, and youngsters about 6 months old all in the same pen.

The Alpaca don’t normally seek humans out for attention unless they are being offered food, though there are exceptions.

HERD AREAS

The herd gets moved from pen to pen depending on the time of day, to control their grazing, and keep them safe at night.

The next pen down the road is where the alpaca spend most late afternoons, and is shared with a couple of donkeys. 

We walked down to visit them next.

Guard Animals

At Apple Hill Farm, they use llama, donkeys, and Great Pyrenees as guards in each pen, to keep the animals safe from any human intruders, mountain lions, and the growing North Carolina coyote population.

The guards do a good job co-existing with the other farm animals, and are friendly enough, but have been trained not to demand attention from any human visitors that come around. 

After visiting the donkeys, we walked up the hill on the far side of the main pen to visit the Angora goats.

What are Angora Goats?

The Angora goat is famous for its soft fleece that produces mohair – an expensive textile that is made into sweaters, scarves, and other clothing.

Though a relatively recent addition at Apple Hill Farm, Angora goats have been around in the area now known as Turkey for at least 15,000 years. 

They’ve been important to people in that area since about 3,000 B.C., and were a prized product of the Ottoman Empire.

The first Angora goats were imported into the United States in 1849, and today, South Africa and the United States are the largest producers of mohair.

Every year, the adult Angora goat produces 8-16 pounds of mohair, making it one of the most effective fiber-producing animals, and a great addition to Apple Hill Farm!

These easygoing goats are quiet and calm in nature, but do need a certain amount of protection against weather, so they’re provided with some indoor spaces in each pen.

The first goat area we stopped at was a hilly penned field, with a wooden viewing platform, so visitors could appreciate both the goats and the beautiful mountain view!

Further up the hill was a smaller pen with a shelter and some feeding areas.  The goats were demonstrably uninterested in us….

Moving along up the hill, at the top of the loop, we stopped to visit the Zebu Cattle. 

They were more friendly than the goats, as long as you bribed them with snacks 🙂

What are Zebu Cattle?

Zebu cattle, or humped cattle, originate from India and are used for their meat and milk, as well as being used as draft animals. 

The Zebu is one of the smallest breeds of cow in the world, standing up to only 3.5 ft. tall at the shoulder, and weigh up to 600 lbs. or more. 

Miniature Zebu cattle are the world’s smallest breed of miniature cattle and one of the oldest, dating back to 6000 BC.  They are native to India, Africa, and Southeast Asia. 

Zebu like to be on pasture with grass, are easy to care for, and  can thrive on smaller acreage like the pastures at Apple Hill Farm.

After visiting with the Zebu, we followed the road down the back side, visiting more Angora goats along the way, and finished up back at the Fiber Store.

The whole tour took maybe an hour, with my guide explaining about each of the different penned groups as we went along. 

This would be a fun thing to do with kids – it’s not a very long walk, lots of animals, is educational and absolutely safe for all ages.

How You Can Visit Apple Hill Farm

 Important Tour Information: 

• • • Advanced tickets are required. 
    • Tours are limited to groups of 12 people or less, including infants.
    • The tour is a 45-60 minute long guided walking tour outdoors. 
    • The pathway is generally flat and gravelly, but there are a few hills. 
    • Tours leave RAIN OR SHINE, but we will not take a tour out until there has been no lightning within 10 miles of the farm for 30 minutes.
    • We do not offer apple picking – but we are happy to refer you to farms that do offer apples!
    • Bring your camera, and have lots of fun!

You can schedule a guided tour of the farm (see below), but no picnicking or pets are allowed on the farm. 

• Adults (ages 11-54): $17
• Seniors (55+) & Military: $15

• Children (ages 4-10): $12
• Infants (ages 3 & under): $3

To book a tour  you must  schedule online IN ADVANCE.

Depending on the group size, class fees, or other situations as they arise, the Farm  may require prepayment.

FARM Address:

400 Apple Hill Road, Banner Elk, NC 28604

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What about the Apples?

Apple Hill Farm is on the site of an old apple orchard (hence the name) but they don’t harvest the apples, though there are many working orchards in the area.

The Pilgrims who settled in (modern) Massachusetts in 1620 brought young apple trees from England and planted seedling orchards throughout New England. 

By the mid-1600s, there were many orchards growing in North Carolina and Virginia.  Early settlers needed apples to help feed their large families. 

Apples were eaten fresh, fried, stewed, and baked; made into cider, vinegar and brandy; dried in the sun, and made into preserves and apple butter.

Even the worst of the fruit was useful as livestock feed, and that’s how they’re used at Apple Hill Farm – the alpaca love them right off the ground!

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No picnicking is allowed at Apple Hill Farm, but  there are many beautiful parks just minutes away, to picnic, hike, or see some other area attractions.

While you’re in the area, take time to visit some of these other nearby attractions.

Linville Falls – Just down the Blue Ridge Parkway at Marker 316, you’ll find Linville Falls. 

With many views of the pretty Falls, and short, smooth and not-so-steep trails,  this is a great spot for families and casual hikers to spend some time or stretch their legs. 

See more info on the   NPS Linville Falls info page.  

Grandfather Mountain State Park is also pretty close by – and every hike is a great hike! 

I’ll write more about my hikes there soon, but meanwhile you can  get more details on the NC State Parks Grandfather Mountain page.

The Mile-High Swinging Bridge at Grandfather Mountain  is nearby too – and not to be confused with the State Park.  This attraction requires a paid ticket for entrance, but in addition to the bridge, you’ll get access to some convenient trailheads and parking with your fee. 

NOTE:   Tickets to see the Swinging Bridge must be purchased online.

Moses H. Cone Memorial Park – Just along the Parkway, you’ll find Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, the site of the Cone Estate, including 25 miles of carriage roads for hiking and horseback riding, plus the restored Flat Top Manor and the remnants of the Cone apple orchards. 

Read about the hike to the Flat Top Observation Tower and other things you can see at the Park.   

Apple Hill Farm is a great place for family photos, a low-key activity as a break from hiking uphill in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains (!!) or a kids outdoor activity anytime. 

The fiber store is also  a good place to get started on shopping for your Christmas list!

I had a great time on my visit, and I hope you do, too.   Thanks for stopping by – see you next time!  LJ

If you can’t make it out to Apple Hill Farm with your kids this season, maybe you could try a llama trek, or a visit to a Tiger Rescue,  or even a local rescue and Petting Zoo instead?

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