Apple & Orchard day

Who would benefit from this course? Are you lucky enough to have an old orchard that needs rejuvenating, or are you thinking about planting your very first orchard? Are you wondering what to plant or how to make the best of what’s already growing on your land? Do you want to produce your own fruit, juice, jams, chutneys and cider?

Our orchard is just under two acres with seventy fruit trees of various ages, from mature standard trees of between 70 and 100 years old, to youngsters planted five years ago. We have a bountiful mix of cider, culinary and dessert apples, plums, gages and damsons, medlars, mulberries, pears and cherries. Many of the trees are traditional Devon varieties such as the Ice Apple, Quench, Devon Crimson Queen, Oaken Pin, Landkey Yellow gage and Dittisham damson.

Course content: This one day course will be very hands on – we will investigate the orchard and its trees, looking at planting and layout, protecting the trees to allow orchard grazing, choice of variety and size, and pruning to maintain vigour. We will pick, mill and press apples to make cider and juice (and you will be able to take home some of your juice to remind you of your day). We allow time to answer a raft of questions and aim to leave you feeling confident in making the best of your orchard.

10.00 Introductions. What do you want to achieve from your orchard?
In the orchard: planting, layout, protection, grazing, pruning, choosing varieties
Tools and equipment for juicing, cider making, chutneys and jams
Picking fruit
Lunch
Milling and pressing – single varieties and blends
Preserving, freezing and pasteurising
Cream tea and Q+A. Sourcing trees and picking up on all those questions you really want answers to
4.45 Feedback and finish

This course is limited to eight people. Do bring: outdoor clothes, clean wellies, waterproofs and probably a change of clothes if it looks like rain. There’s quite a lot of water involved in pressing for juice and cider!

Cost: £115 per person including homemade lunch, Devon cream tea and refreshments.

Dates:
Saturday 20th October 2012
For current availability on any particular date, please check our course dates page.

Booking: Booking is simple. Just send us your name, address, phone number and email address indicating which course you want to book with your preferred date, and we’ll send you an invoice (payment is required in advance), directions to the farm and any other information you might need. And don’t forget to tell us if you have any dietary restrictions.