Let's Connect with Andrew & Helen at Willayoung Orchard
"Fruit that tastes like the fruit we ate when we were children”
Willayoung Orchard – Fresh, Quality Stonefruit at an Affordable Price
Tucked into the rich fruit-growing country just outside Young, Willayoung Orchard is the kind of place where flavour still comes first. For Andrew and Helen Ricketts, the orchard isn’t just a business — it’s the continuation of more than a century of family roots in the Hilltops. Both sides of their families have called the district home for around 100 years, and that connection to place shapes everything they grow, harvest, and share with the community.
Their journey into direct farm-gate sales began simply: a desire to diversify, to offer their fruit in a way that allowed people to taste the difference that careful growing makes.
“Fruit that tastes like the fruit we ate when we were children” is the phrase customers most often repeat — and it’s exactly the kind of feedback that keeps Andrew and Helen going.
The orchard shop has its own charm — small, friendly, and full of the colours of the season. Among the boxes of peaches, nectarines, cherries, and plums sits a little display of old-time cherry memorabilia, a nod to the long history of fruit-growing in Young. It’s the sort of surprise that makes visitors smile, especially those who remember the days when orchards dotted every backroad.
Growing flavour is an artform here. Andrew and Helen plant varieties known for their taste rather than their shelf life, offering white and yellow peaches, nectarines, plums, and a standout favourite — their white cherries. These special cherries develop a soft blush when ripe, with a crisp bite and a flavour customers look forward to every year. They’re typically ready from the first week of December, and they don’t last long.
Of course, orchard life comes with its moments, and some of the best become part of local legend.
Andrew still laughs about the very busy day, an endless stream of customers had him jokingly ask a friend to “please close the front gate.” Minutes later, the phone rang — another customer wanting to know when they’d reopen because the gate was shut. Word travels fast in a small town, and even faster when fresh, delicious fruit is involved.
What really anchors Willayoung Orchard, though, is the sense of continuity — family, land, and community woven together. When they’re not tending the orchard or welcoming visitors, Helen is working on patchwork quilting, Andrew is writing or playing billiards, and together they volunteer for Meals on Wheels. It’s all part of the fabric of Hilltops life.
More than anything, Andrew and Helen hope that when people walk into their shop, they immediately know they’ve found something special — fruit that tastes the way it should, lovingly grown and honestly priced.
Real Hilltops flavour from a family who’s been part of this region for generations.
Visit Willayoung Orchard at 191 Willlawong Street, Young. Daily 10am – 5pm for the freshest, tastiest fruit in town.
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