AWESOME ORCHARDS DAY

 16^th October 2021 – our  ‘Awesome Orchards’ event.

Heavy rain fell as we pitched up in the first hour! We had agreed to cancel the event should there be rain . . . but we didn’t listen to our own advice.

We convinced ourselves to carry on and that drier weather would follow. Luckily it did.  And we had an enjoyable event. 

Sadly all our orchard apples had been stripped from their trees in July and August, months before they were ripe and tasty, and none remained for us to use.

As in previous years, we received apples donated from gardens including Red Delicious and others with made up names such as Tilmaston Tipple, Burghill Bounties and Moss Mayhem (a pear variety!). FOMP also purchased named varieties from the local greengrocer to be sure of enough varieties for tasting:  Spartan, Russet, Cox, Braeburn, Granny Smith and Gala. 

Apples lined up for tasting

Some donated apple varieties

Bought in named varieties

Our apple tasting activity proved popular. Who would have thought apples could come in different shapes, sizes and tastes? The most popular apple by taste turned out to be the unknown variety given the name Burghill Bounties.

Tasting apples

Another popular activity was the children’s treasure hunt. Children visited orchard trees to find letter clues that would spell a word. When they worked out the word, each child won a small prize.

Pippa’s apple cake and pear loaf were very popular refreshments.

Thanks to Nathalia for researching and making rather attractive orchard fruit tree labels to tie to the tree guards.

Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers and visitors who joined us in celebration of orchards. Around 50 people attended.