Thursday 23 October 2014

Kitchen Garden Notes – Apple Festival at Clumber Park

If there is one date we put in our diaries each year it has to be for the annual Apple Festival weekend at Clumber Park. Since 1990 various Apple Day events have been celebrated up and down the country and the Clumber Park event has now become one of the most famous.
It all takes place in one of my favourite and most visited parts of Clumber Park – the Walled Kitchen Garden. Before we set off on our apple trail I had a quick scout around of the garden to see what was left growing at this time of year. Adding a spot of colour was some purple broccoli.
The leeks are looking are good and I can think of so many recipes to use them in.
Getting ready for those Christmas dinner plates were the Brussels Sprouts. If you ever wondered what becomes of those long stalks they grow on my nan used to have a walking stick made from one of them. Our favourite way to eat Brussels Sprouts is to fry them with sweet chestnuts which we gathered on this weekend from the surrounding parkland.
The first apple activity we had a go at was eating an apple straight off the tree. It didn't take any persuading for the Junior JibberJabbers to scamper up the ladder to pick their apples. Another one to tick off on their 50 things to do before you're 11¾ list.
After that it was time for the competitive streak to kick in with the Bowl-a-rama. Do you go for broke and aim for the 10 or play it safe and stick to the 5s and 6s? Master JibberJabber's throws weren't as long as he hoped and so decided to trot up to the holes and throw the apples directly in!
If such precision wasn't your forte then there was also a chance to shine at the apple peeling. It took patience and concentration to use the mechanical peeler. How long a continuous apple peel could you have managed?
The nifty peeler also cored and cut the apples into one long slice!
After all this hard work it was time for a well earned drink. However on Apple Day you have to help make the juice of course! With wheelbarrows of windfalls at the ready the apples needed to be crushed first before being put into the juicer
In this kitchen garden there is no place for modern electric appliances. All the juicing was done using an old-fashioned press and brute force.
After some liquid refreshment it was time for some more apple tasting. In the Walled Kitchen Garden at Clumber Park they specialise in apples from Nottinghamshire and the neighbouring counties of Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
I'm always amazed at the number of different apple varieties there are. Each of the apple samples had a short history and tasting notes next to it. Do you prefer sweet or sharp apples?
Once we had done with all this eating and drinking it was time to see where the apples had come from in the kitchen garden. There are some fairly young trees. At Clumber they are always keen on preserving heritage varieties and reintroducing fruits and vegetables which are no longer available elsewhere.
In the old orchard there are the more established trees. There are local apples such as Bess Pool which was discovered in Nottinghamshire. It dates from the 1700s and was named after the daughter of a nearby innkeeper. In total Clumber has over 70 varieties of apples and has received National Plant Collection status. It is just one of five collections in the country that are conserving culinary apples.
Before we left I couldn't resist a look at the dahlias and it seems the bees couldn't help themselves as well. I just hope they will be back in the spring as without the bees there won't be so many apples.

Manneskjur
Joining in with the gardening love with Annie at Manneskjur and How Does Your Garden Grow?





23 comments:

  1. Oh my, I want to go to an apple festival! I keep meaning to find out about local one's as we live close to Evesham, but every year it slips my mind until it's too late. This is something I clearly have to fix :)

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  2. What a fab day! Love the final pic and hear, hear to the comment.

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  3. Love Apple Day events and this one looks extra special. I'm on the lookout for a local orchard to take my son to throughout the year - our local fruit farm closed when the owners retired. I'm going to buy some apple trees for my allotment plot too.

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  4. Oh, that looks like so much fun! So many apple activities :) #HDYGG

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  5. And now I fancy a nice hot cider!

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  6. Looks like a fun day and I'm mega impressed with the one giant slice of apple, don't think mine would have been anywhere near that long :) Bet the apple juice tasted fantastic! I need to keep my eyes peeled for an apple festival around here.

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  7. What a fab thing to do. Lovely to visit NT sites anyway, and then this looks fun!

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  8. I can already imagine how much apples' present in this event! Thanks for sharing =) #hdygg

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  9. This looks like a fab day out! I love apples so I wish there was something like this near me!

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  10. As one of the gardening team at the Walled Kitchen Garden at Clumber Park, it's fantastic to receive such positive feedback, and to know that all our passion and hard work is recognised. Thank you!

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  11. Love the apple spiral, looks very cool indeed

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  12. What a lovely sounding day out - that apple spiral is amazing as well, I would love to know how to make those. x

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  13. I love an apple day. We went to one last year and I'll be taking my girls to one next week. Lovely pictures!

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  14. this looks like such a happy fun event! and delicious!

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  15. This looks like a fab event, all those apples, wow x

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  16. Love the bowl-a-rama and your little ones tactic for getting them through the holes :)

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  17. This sounds like a great day out, especially the apple pressing and tasting.

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  18. this post just made me very hungry for apple anything. great pics!

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  19. My grandparents used to take me and my sister to Clumber park when we were small children, this takes me back! The event looks great, what an amazing array of apples

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  20. Oh boy I love the look of this! Only don't let me try and peel an apple post-cider drinking or I'll likely lop off my arm!
    There's something terribly British about apples I feel, and I am coveting that glasshouse in the background of the 3rd shot too...
    Now I am totally hankering apple crumble, if only my kitchen hadn't just be ripped out - I am down to a 2 ring camping stove here for a fortnight - what is to become of me!?
    Thanks for joining in again - and apologies to be so mate visiting, we got home on Friday only to have Kitty come down with a temperature and bad cough, likely only cold but she's got me signed up to cuddle duties which might not sound taxing but is a 'very important job', so she tells me !

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  21. An apple festival?! Wow, that looks amazing especially the curly wurly apple. Brilliant!

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  22. They do one of these locally and I really want to try it but we always seem to be away!

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  23. I would love to visit an apple festival. I love apples and tasting all the different types must be a great experience.

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