Apple Day in Cumbria 2009

Counties all over the UK are preparing for their Apple Day events to be held throughout the month of October.

Britain has the largest apple heritage in the world, with only a handful of the varieties seen for sale today. Old varieties do exist all over the country with many special National Apple Day events taking place each year to promote these wonderful fruits.

The annual festival is aimed at raising awareness about the importance of preserving traditional apple varieties,

The 2009 Apple Day events in Cumbria will be held on:

28th September - 1st october 2009 - Sizergh Castle & Garden, Kendal, Cumbria.
Guided walks and apple identification. Juicing and tasting. (Identification of apples on Tuesday and Thursday).
Recipe cards and advice available.
Visit Sizergh Castle & Gardens website

Sunday 3rd October 2009 - Wordsworth House, Cockermouth, Cumbria.
Taste some of Cumbria's heritage apples such as the Keswick Codlin, Greenup Pippin and Carlisle Codlin.
Lots of apple games, baking and juicing demonstrations, fun and competitions.
Visit the Wordsworth House website.

Saturday 3rd October - Orchard Barn, 32 Briery Bank, Arnside.
Orchard walks, apple identification, cakes and jams, cookery demonstrations, story-telling, children’s games and much more. 10am - 4pm Organised by the Arnside and Silverdale AONB Partnership

Saturday October 17 &  Sunday 18th - Beetham Nurseries,  Pool Darkin Lane, Beetham CLA7 7AP
Meet Hilary Wilson ‘The Apple Lady’ on Saturday 17th October. Hilary’s  interest in apples, which began when she was a child, led her to research and source varieties suitable for the wet and cold conditions in this area, she is also an expert in the skill of grafting.
Hilary will be on hand to chat and answer your questions. She enjoys helping people to identify their apples.
Attractions to include: Wide selection of apple trees including some unusual varieties;  Enjoy apple tasting and delicious home made ‘fruity food’ in the Tea Room.
Expert advice on pollination, pruning, pests and diseases & tree selection; we will have many other types of fruit trees including: Peaches, Pears, Plums, Kiwis and Cherries. And on Sunday 18th October the Kendal Beekeepers’ Association will be present. They will bring along a glass observation hive with real bees, information on attracting bees into your garden, and a beehive containing photographs so people can see inside ‘safely’, and perhaps even honey to sell.
Visit Beetham Nurseries website.

Sunday 18th October 2009 - Acorn Bank, Temple Sowerby, Penrith, Cumbria.
Games and competitions, advice on growing apples, storytelling, Punch & Judy, Music, dance and pruning demonstrations with the Northern Fruit group, cookery demonstrations with Annette Gibbons. There will be a local food producers' market and country crafts.

Entertainment from Punch and Judy, Crook Morris, The Eden Valley Storytellers and The Eagle Bowmen.
A large number of different varieties of apple are available to buy and to sample, and you are welcome to bring your own apples to be identified (by prior arrangement).
Visit Acorn Bank website.

To find out about Apple Day events all over the country visit The Common ground website.

Old Apples at Dalemain

A tour around the gardens of Dalemain near Penrith, will lead you to an 18th Century walled garden containing some 30 different heritage apple varieties from the 18th and 19th Centuries.

 

Cooking apples include the famous, strongly acidic, Bramley as well as lesser known Howgate Wonder which produces the largest fruits of all cooking apples, Prince Albert with its juicy flesh and red flushed colouring and the Keswick Codlin with it's soft/course rather dry, acid flesh.

 

Newton Wonder and Charles Ross are Dual purpose apples, who's subacidic nature allows them to be used as cooking apples early in the season and mellow to eating apples in the new year. Newton Wonder is thought to be one of the best baking apples available.

Many desert apples line the boundary of the garden and the rose walk.  The famous Laxton can be found here, it's very juicy sweet flesh, reminiscent of a Cox.

 

One of the oldest apple varieties in the garden is Hambledon Deux Ans which is a very firm apple, coarse in texture, rather dry, slightly sweet and acidic with a feint aromatic flavour.
The Allington Pippin (again bred by Thomas Laxton) is a lovely green flushed red apple with a distinct aromatic flavour.  Lady Sudeley and The Duchess of Kent varieties are also found arching their branches over the lawns.

 

At the top left of the walled garden is the apple house, built as a retreat or grotto in the 16th Century, it has been used since Victorian times to store the many apples on specially built shelves.

The Dalemain apples are turned into "Country House" produce, much of which is consumed in the Mediaeval Hall Tearoom and includes such delights as Apple or Apple and Blackcurrant pie and Apple Flapjack Crumble.  Some of the fruits are turned into own recipe chutneys, who's range includes a wonderful Apricot and Apple.

Britain has the largest apple heritage in the world, with only a handful of the varieties seen for sale today but as can be seen from the collection at Dalemain, old varieties do exist all over the country with many special Apple Day events taking place each year to promote these wonderful fruits.