With the festive season upon us and Cherryhill Orchards ripe for the picking, we profile one of Victoria’s oldest cherry farms, Cherryhill Orchards.

When George Riseborough began growing crops in 1940, he perhaps didn’t foresee he, and his progeny after him, would become some of Australia’s leading cherry producers.

In the early days, George tried a range of crops, but found that cherries were the standout product. His cherry crop was so good in fact, that for several decades, George was a supplier of cherry root stocks to fellow cherry growers across Australia.

The business is still family-run today, following a long line of Riseborough’s seeing the business through different phases and decades.

George’s son Cliff was the first to join the family business when he started work at the orchard. Here, he and wife Sylvia stepped the business up a notch by selling fresh cherries direct at Melbourne’s historic Queen Victoria Market. This helped the business figure out exactly what buyers wanted and if a cherry variety wasn’t sweet or didn’t keep well, the trees were replaced.

The next phase of the business happened when Cliff’s son Glenn came to work at the farm and he set his sights on expanding north. A 488-acre patch of land was purchased at Cobram in Northern Victoria and developed into a beautiful, modern cherry orchard.

Glenn’s younger brother Stephen joined the family business when he left school and took up a valuable place in the wholesale fruit and vegetable market.

Today, Glenn and Stephen run the orchard and operate on the philosophy of being committed to bringing their customers the freshest, most delicious Cherryhill Orchards, right through the season.

They’ve established orchards in some of Australia’s premier climatic conditions in the Yarra Valley (since 1940), Murray Valley (since 1992) and Victorian Highlands (since 2004) to produce a longer cherry season.

Their most recent property, Tolmie Orchard in the Victorian Highlands, is what Glenn and Stephen believe to be one of the most unique properties in Victoria’s alpine region. At nearly 1000m above sea level, it’s one of Australia’s latest producing cherry orchards, producing cherries through to March.

Glenn and Stephen are passionate about what they do, traveling the world to find the best varieties, latest innovation, and techniques to ensure their cherries are of world-class quality. They’ve modernized their ordering system by having online ordering available, and orders can be delivered to your door within 24 hours. Cherryhill is one great Australian producer who is paving the way with innovation and passion for quality produce.