Variety is the spice of apple weekend

Apple Days are here again at the National Botanic Garden of Wales on Saturday and Sunday October 20-21.

There’s plenty to try, taste and buy at the ever-popular Apple Weekend with a stunning display of 100s of varieties of everyone’s favourite fruit at the core of the two-day event.

As well as a rich array of fabulous fruit, there will be stalls selling apple-related products from pies and pork, cheese and chutney, to cider and squash. In addition, there will be lots of family activities such as apple pressing to make your own juice, badge making, apron designing, special quizzes, musical entertainment and a special chutney-making demonstration.

Garden experts will be on hand to offer tips on choosing, training and pruning your fruit trees and the ever-popular ‘identification table’ will again be in operation to help you identify that mystery variety of apple growing in your garden.

If you want your fruit identified, please bring along three typical examples of each variety of your apples with stalks and eye intact. Any additional information you can supply – e.g. if it’s a ‘cooker’, how does it cook? and how well does the variety keep? – would be appreciated.

The Garden is open from 10am until 4.30pm. For more information on Garden news and events, go to www.gardenofwales.org.uk email info@gardenofwales.org.uk or call 01558 667149.

STOP (apple) PRESS

The Garden’s resident apple experts tell us:

“Despite the bad weather this year we can assure visitors of another amazing display of apples at our Apple Weekend. Many orchards have been visited and apples collected to ensure visitors are not disappointed – and we’re on course for another display well in excess of 300 varieties. Apples to taste and apples to buy might be in short supply, but all the other stalls and attractions will be as usual.”