The Brogdale National Apple Festival in Faversham is to take place this year on the 17th and 18th October. Preserving over 2,200 different varieties of apples and 550 pears in the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale really is the crème-de-la crème of top fruit.
The Apple Display will be the largest yet with hundreds of different varieties flaunting their different sizes, shapes and colours. Visitors are able to sample and buy different varieties over the weekend, and thanks to a good crop, the apples will be in abundance.
Guided walking and tractor trailer tours around the collections will offer visitors an intriguing insight into this unique and vastly interesting collection. The collection originated in the early days of the RHS around two hundred years ago and since 1952 has existed at Brogdale Farm, situated perfectly on the north Kent Fruit Belt. A team of Guides at Brogdale offer a bank of knowledge and facts surrounding the collections giving visitors the opportunity to learn about our fruit heritage.
Dr Joan Morgan, also known as “The Apple Doctor” will be identifying apples and pears over the weekend with her team of experts, offering an unrivalled platform of expertise, rarely available to the public. Dr Morgan will also be launching her new “Book of Pears” to sit alongside the “New Book of Apples”. These books far exceed any other public reference available on varieties of Apples and Pears and represent years of study and recording.
Live local bands playing over the weekend are to include Gone Country and Jumbo Gumbo who have a great reputation at Brogdale for getting the toes tapping! Faversham Mission Brass band are also to appear on Sunday 18th in the afternoon. Cider Makers are to pitch up over the weekend with their rustic bar of their popular warmed ciders and perry. Tiddly Pomme will offer an additional range of local ciders along with Cider Making Demonstrations in their onsite production barn.
Whilst the focus on Apples is prevalent the festival has a range of activities for the little ones to enjoy including crafts, the miniature railway, playpark and climbing wall. Bernie Cranfield, Events and Marketing Manager at Brogdale Collections tell us “the National Apple Festival is an event designed for all ages. We are so privileged to house the National Fruit Collection and are committed to sharing the wide range of benefits with the public”.
Visitors can join horticultural talks in the Greenhouse throughout the weekend covering topics such as Disease and Pest Control, Beekeeping and Growing Top Fruit. The plant centre provide a range of more unusual varieties of trees to purchase along with being able to graft individual varieties from the collection for visitors to grow at home.
A delightful selection of rural craft and produce will be available including homemade preserves, nuts, handmade soaps and woollen scarfs. Ample hot food from rustic chefs and bakers will be on offer along with a pop up vintage tearoom.
Tickets can be purchased online at a discounted price through the website www.brogdalecollections.org.
