         
Event: Apple Day in Brightwell cum SotwellEvent: Apple Day in Brightwell cum Sotwell On: Sunday 18th of October, 2009 From: noon to 6 p.m. Contact: Sue Robson Contact email: sue@REMOVE.redlion.biz Contact number: 01491 837373 Venue: Red Lion Pub, Details: Each October many villages and communities take part in an Apple Day, a celebration of apple, orchards and local variety distinctiveness. Brightwell cum Sotwell, in south Oxfordshire, plan to hold an Apple Day at their village pub, the Red Lion, on Sunday 18 October. Brightwell cum Sotwell, just one mile from Wallingford, lies in a fruit-growing line just north of the Berkshire Downs from Harwell in the west to Thame and Chinnor in the east. Although an estimated 60 per cent of traditional orchards around the country have been lost over the past 50 years or so, the local environment group fruit tree survey discovered that there are several old orchards still surviving in gardens or abandoned around the village. The survey found roughly 32% of gardens contain fruit trees with at least 250 apple trees alone. These are the figures from survey returns but in this wonderful season for top fruit it is clear that there are many more trees than have been formally counted. Up to 34 different varieties of apple have been recorded many of which are old favourites such as Cox’s Orange Pippin and Bramleys. There are also others like James Grieve, Laxton’s Superb, Ellison’s Orange and Ashmead Kernel, names rarely if ever found in supermarkets but familiar varieties from the recent past. The Apple Day will showcase the impressive range of apples and orchards in the village. There will be a Sunday menu with an apple theme as well as an opportunity to taste traditional ciders, different apple varieties grown in the village, this season’s apple juice pressed locally, jams, chutneys, honey and more. There will also be fruit swaps. Apart from apples, the village has many other fruits such as figs, pears, walnuts, quince, damsons, plums, medlars and cobnuts. Discover how apples should taste at the Red Lion Apple Day. Contacts: Orchard survey - Alison Bloomfield – acbloomfield[at]googlemail.com – 01491 835408 Apple Day – Sue Robson - Red Lion - www.redlion.biz – 01491 837373 – sue[at]redlion.biz Tags: apples |