The heavens usually open up on Apple Day at our orchard and this year was no different but we had a brilliant day and the best part was of course tasting the different varieties of apples grown here in the UK.
A fantastic range of British apples
Our little community orchard won’t bear fruit for some time. So we had a host of varieties on the stand for a mere 25p per apple.
English apples galore
Cox’s Orange Pippins
Red Pippins
Blenheim Orange – loved this one
Hereford Russets
Egremont Russets
Saturn – perfect combo of sweet and sour
Red Windsors
Ubiquitous Bramleys
A superb team of volunteers
We’ve had a lot of people come and go. Myself included. It’s been hard to keep up with family and food commitments and make it to every volunteering day. But it’s these smiley faces that keep us going back. Friendly, committed and passionate about our little project.
Smiles in the rain
Our community orchard is at Forty Hall Farm, Forty Hill, Enfield. We meet on the last Sunday of every month so do come and say hello if you are local.
Do you volunteer at an orchard? What varieties are you growing? What’s your favourite apple for cooking?
Related articles
- Apple recipes
- Spirit of sharing
- Building common ground (foodiebugle.co.uk)
- Apple Day: luscious apple recipes to try at home (telegraph.co.uk)
- Apple Day and Countryside Live. (margot-and-barbara.com)
Brilliant!! I really need to venture beyond Fujis, bramleys, and granny smiths.
Yes you do! So many varieties it’s a shame the supermarkets don’t sell more really. This is why I love my local market
Oooh I like the look of the Saturns!!!! Amazing how many varieties there are yet we can get so set in our ways of sticking to just a few!
Yes they’re so pretty and a great name too. I brought home a few of everything. Apple overload!
A great project to be involved in by the looks of things – in a few years time all the apples at the apple day will be homegrown! How many varieties have you planted in the orchard?
To be honest I have no idea! We have about 150 trees that have gone into ground this year. Fingers crossed!
Brilliant to see English apples being grown, enjoyed and publicised. So few of them in supermarkets, we need to visit orchards and farm shops more to discover varieties not available commercially in large quantities. Such a fab idea to have a community orchard, great to get people growing fruit and building community spirit.
Thanks Michelle. Our farm has also just started a veg box scheme which is really cool. The veg aren’t all perfect ie they have knobs and are all sorts of funky shapes but I loved the way the chap at the stall was explaining WHY this had happened so people could understand. Nothing wrong with eating them – just planted too close or high etc
Reblogged this on Adithya Entertainment.
One of our local orchards has a farm shop that always has a selection of apples out for customers to taste a slice and it always amazes me how different they are in texture and taste. My favourite apples that we’re picking from our trees at present are Sunset and Spartan – very different but both tasty. Looks as though you had a good day and interesting to read all the labels.
It was indeed. This is the second year we’ve had such a great variety and I hope next year we will see more and also more visitors!
The bloom on those apples warms my heart – if only I could reach in and grab one. My grandparents had a tree with russets – they are a very different eating experience but one to be savoured.
I think all of these varieties are to be savoured lest we forget them. That would be a tragedy but I see it happening one day as the world strives to move faster everyday and towards even more “convenience”