Last year, especially at Snowshill Manor, was a record year for fruit But this year as most of the UK knows has been very poor for apples. The constant wet weather in the Spring and throughout 2012 impacted the pollinating insects and there is always a drop in fruit production after a ‘bumper ‘ year. So there was a certain amount of trepidation as to whether the apple weekend at Snowshill could go ahead. Of course this didn’t reckon on the determination of the founder of this special event, Linda the head gardener at Snowshill for over 21 years! So although the quantity and quality of apples was significantly down on last year an amazing 427 varieties were available for exhibition with enough local samples for sale , peeling and pressing.
Of course, and under the leadership of Linda, us garden volunteers and notable Manor staff provided vital support in goods, labour and good cheer to setup for the Apple weekend. Also worthy of mentioning was the work by Toni and staff at the Pipers Grove end of Snowshill, with the ‘farmers market’.
Once again the weather for Apple weekend was good with the Sunday being especially sunny. On the Saturday I operated the new Apple press with Chris {expert} & his wife, it proved to be a big success and a steady stream {over 500} of customers enjoyed a taste of the unique Snowshill apple juice blend. On Sunday I had to manage without Chris but Katie ,Reg and Marge stood up to the challenge. I ought to add that a good deal of the labour was provided by the children who thrived on operating the press and ‘scratter’ with their parents permission and our supervision of course. We saw an increase of 50% of customers on the Sunday with a fair number of Europeans, Americans and Antipodeans in the mix. My french was certainly not up to explaining the process of producing apple juice but luckily the french parents were good translators.
So inspite of initial worries this apple celebration was a success for all involved and judging by the smiles of the public an enjoyable day out for all.
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