Picking strawberries and raspberries on Quebec's Île d'Orléans

Saint-Pierre and the first farms over the bridge

Ferme Le Bunker (526 route Prévost) sits 3.8 km from the bridge, a working berry farm wrapped around a concrete Radio-Canada bunker from the Cold War. The bunker is a museum now and you walk into it for free. Strawberries, raspberries and blueberries are all picked here, on ground the same family has farmed for 135 years. Open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from spring to autumn, walk-in. There is a riverside café terrace, games laid out on the grass and a farm shop stacked with jams and pickles, so this is the easiest stop on the circuit to hold a mixed party for a couple of hours.

Bleuetière Gagnon et filles (1814 chemin Royal, Saint-Pierre) is five minutes from the bridge and picks in the back half of the season. The raspberry canes bear from mid-July to mid-August and the low blueberry bushes take over after that. Fruit is priced by container size, so you pay at the gate instead of queueing to be weighed. Fourth-generation farmers work it, the Gagnon daughters in charge, and the farm shop sells artisanal spreads and an island-life clothing line beside the fruit. Nothing needs reserving, and the farm says individuals, couples, families and friends are all welcome in the rows.

Aux trois baies (1854 chemin Royal, Saint-Pierre) grows seven varieties of corymb blueberry in neat irrigated blocks, Duke, Patriot and Bluecrop among them, to ecological methods. The picking window runs late July to late August. Ring before you drive out, because the season dates move with the fruit. Bring your own container and the price comes down. Weekdays are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. A picnic area sits beside a small kiosk selling blueberry sauces, jams and syrups, with flat cardboard baskets at the gate. Leave animals at home; they are not allowed in the fields.

Cassis Monna & Filles at 1225 chemin Royal

Cassis Monna & Filles (1225 chemin Royal, Saint-Pierre) is a blackcurrant estate with a flower-lined terrace looking straight at the Île d'Orléans bridge. The family has distilled for five generations. The boutique, the cellar and an economuseum of copper distilling kit are open year-round with tastings, Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The dairy bar pours a vanilla-blackcurrant soft serve and runs 18 gelato and sorbet flavours, which is what you want after a hot morning bent over the rows. La Monnaguette, the summer restaurant, takes no reservations and seats first come, first served, so a large party should eat at the gelato bar instead.

Strawberry rows at Sainte-Famille

Ferme Guillaume Létourneau (chemin Royal, Sainte-Famille) keeps its kiosk in the middle of the village, where you can park and walk in. Strawberries run 24 June to 22 July and raspberries 22 July to 20 August, so one farm covers both berry windows. Behind the kiosk lie the strawberry and raspberry fields, a 6,500-tap maple bush, pumpkin ground and 86 hectares of open farmland. Open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in season, no reservation. Ask ten people on the island where to pick strawberries and this is the name you get.

Ferme Laval Gagnon (2208 avenue Royale, Sainte-Famille) is seven generations deep and built for a crowd. A tractor and trailer pull visitors out to the strawberry rows, a fenced mini-farm of animals sits beside the kiosk, and apple blocks and sweet corn fill the ground behind. Strawberries come 25 June to 30 July, raspberries 10 July to 10 August. The kiosk opens 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. for daily walk-in picking, and the farm also runs organised visits for school groups, daycares and seniors' groups. Phone ahead to hear what is ripe.

Verger André Blouin (2400 chemin Royal, Sainte-Famille) plants old-fashioned June-bearing strawberries, which gives a window of two or three weeks, 25 June to 20 July. Blueberries follow in early August. The farm supplies three-litre cardboard baskets, stacked at the row ends. Toilets and picnic tables stand behind the field, among the apple and pear blocks. Dogs are not allowed in the strawberry field.

The south shore from Saint-Laurent to Saint-Jean

Ferme François Gosselin (7549 chemin Royal, Saint-Laurent) puts its strawberry rows on a high shelf of land with a panoramic drop to the river, seven generations on the same ground. Strawberries run mid-June to mid-July, then the low raspberry shelters carry the season into September, with blackberries under tunnels in August. A small roadside kiosk sells maple products. Picking is open-field and walk-in, with no reservation and both cash and cards taken.

OhBio – Ferme Jean-Pierre Plante (7441 chemin Royal) is the one certified-organic pick-your-own on the circuit, worked by the fourth generation of the Plante family. You can eat the fruit straight off the plant. A wooden farm kiosk and a small terrace of picnic tables look out over open farmland to the river, and you can order online as well as walk in. Cash, debit, Visa and Mastercard.

Ferme Léonce Plante (7385 chemin Royal) runs its strawberries and raspberries across steep green hillsides that fall away to the St. Lawrence, three generations of picking off what the family calls magnificent hills overlooking the river. The farm stand out front sells asparagus and maple syrup. Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., no booking. Payment is cash only, so bring Canadian notes.

Ferme Onésime Pouliot has grown berries at Saint-Jean since 1957 and employs more than 150 staff, with huge open fields running down to the St. Lawrence. The rows are straw-mulched under white plastic covers, rank after rank of greenhouse tunnels standing behind them. Picking covers the Charlotte, Yamaska and Albion varieties, which is why the fruit keeps coming here long after the short-season farms have finished. Nothing needs booking, and the scale takes extended families and coach parties without strain.

Currants, vinegar and jam at Saint-Jean and Saint-Laurent

Du Capitaine – Ferme, Vinaigrerie, Distillerie (4734 chemin Royal, Saint-Jean) grows organic blackcurrants and redcurrants in rows reached by a private farm track off Côte Blais. You pick your own from 25 July to 10 August. The cellar tour takes 45 to 60 minutes and walks you through more than 20 artisanal vinegars and a dozen blackcurrant spirits, past an aging cellar lined with barrels. Reservation is mandatory: groups up to 12 book through the online calendar, and parties of 14 to 48 are arranged by phone or email. This is the stop on the island that handles a 40-strong group properly.

Confiturerie Tigidou (7007 chemin Royal, Saint-Laurent) makes jam with fruit grown on Île d'Orléans and nothing else, sweetened with organic fair-trade sugar and finished with garden herbs and northern Quebec spices. Strawberry-basil and spicy strawberry jelly are among them, and the hand-labelled jars are laid out on the shelves for self-guided tasting. The same business paints up the Tea House at 5508 chemin Royal in Saint-Jean. The workshop opens Tuesday to Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., the café Wednesday to Sunday, from 1 May to 25 December. Guided tours are bought in advance, and a visit by more than a few people needs arranging first.

Sainte-Pétronille at the western tip

Marché Plante / Polyculture Plante (8683 chemin Royal, Sainte-Pétronille) is an open-sided farm market on a panoramic rise 3.9 km from the bridge, facing Montmorency Falls across the channel. Trays of island strawberries are stacked beside breads and vegetables, which spares you bending over a row. Parking is at the roadside and no booking applies. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at weekends. It is your first stop or your last one, depending which way round you drive the island.

Chocolaterie de l'Île d'Orléans (8330 chemin Royal, Sainte-Pétronille) works out of a 200-year-old house on the western tip, older than Canada, and has made Belgian chocolate by hand daily since 1998. At the counter, soft ice cream goes into a bowl of molten chocolate and comes out dipped, which is the order to make here. Québec City's skyline sits across the water. Food and ice cream are served from the end of March to mid-October, daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no bookings taken. The historic rooms are small, so people carry their cones onto the lawn.

Dates, days and what to book

Tigidou is shut on Mondays and closed for the year after 25 December, the Chocolaterie stops serving in mid-October, and the only things on the circuit you must reserve are the cellar tours at Du Capitaine and a guided tasting at Tigidou. Ring Aux trois baies and Ferme Laval Gagnon before a long drive, and carry notes for Ferme Léonce Plante.

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