This year’s celebration of English apples, orchards and cider will be based on eight venues in and around Much Marcle. For an afternoon, a day or a full weekend – the Big Apple is a special opportunity to enjoy the autumn countryside on the Marcle Ridge. Laurie Lee first described cider as ‘Golden Fire’ and cidermaking will be in full swing for our local producers, each with their own style, scale and method of production. There will be plenty of opportunities to see cider fruit and perry pears being grown, milled and pressed in different orchard settings, at Woodredding, Avenue Cottage, Westons, Gregg’s Pit and even a travelling horse-drawn press which will be making a visit to Awnells Farm.
A new app produced by the Rural Media Company features a number of producers associated with the Big Apple, and at 7pm on Saturday 8th October, the Golden Fire film will be shown at Much Marcle Memorial Hall, together with archive footage from the 1940s and 1970s.
The 2016 programme also features talks on how bees help orchards, how orchards are helping Little Owls and an orchard walk to show how one scientist is using plasticine to explore natural pest control in orchards. On Saturday, sculptor Max Nowell will be at work at Hellens on the last of a trio of three stone perry pears, ultimately destined for the Yew Tree Inn at Peterstow, while printmaker Anneliese Appleby will be inviting families to print apples and pears in the orchard at Gregg’s Pit.
Orchards will provide the setting for music and dancing, with visits from Leominster Morris and ukulele band ‘Uke Can’t be Serious’, and visitors to St Bartholomew’s Church will have a chance to ring the bells. Plenty of home-made and local food on offer – including apple cake of course!
A full programme of events can be found at www.bigapple.org.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigappleherefordshire
Twitter: @TheBigAppleHfd
This is a press release from The Big Apple
