As ever the highlight was Paul Chilton's giant display of heritage varieties of apples and pears; 86 varieties of apple, 24 pear and 25 different types of wild seedling apples found in hedgerows along the Wallingford bypass and on the A4130.
The tastings were very popular. There were 12 different sweet apple varieties to taste including King's Acre Pippin, Golden Pippin, Jonathan, American Mother (a new find in the village), Spartan, Ingrid Marie and Ashmead Kernel, as well as cooking apples Newton Wonder, Blenheim Orange, Norfolk Beefing, Bramley and Howgate Wonder. Visitors were curious and also really surprised that they all tasted so different; some sharp or honeyed, some sweet and perfumed, others just plain weird! This was a great opportunity for them to take some home too - their generosity raised £156 in donations.
We had juice tasting and their was plenty of different ones to try. We did 11 pressings in all; 440 litres! We had people queuing up with their own apples and bottles.
And there was the taste sensation on the jams and chutneys. You could try three different chutneys and choose which one you wanted in your baguette and then there was the challenge to identify the jam bought in the supermarket and the jam made with fruit from the allotment - clear winner every time.
The kids had a great time. You can see just how much melted chocolate, marsh mallows and rice crispies is involved in decorating an apple, and there were apple stick shapes and apple painting as well. Parents seemed happy with the results as they generously gave £55 in donations.
In all we raised £800 for the community orchard and inspired people to enjoy their fruit.
