A taste of autumn at Rosemoor apple festival

AN annual apple festival celebrating the fruit in all its forms and flavours returns for its 30th anniversary at Devon’s RHS Garden Rosemoor this weekend.

With over 50 varieties of rare, local heritage apples on display, live music, cookery demonstrations, locally-produced food and drink, book signings, and a wassail from local Morris Dancers, organisers say the UK’s longest running apple festival is guaranteed to bring some sweetness to the early autumn weekend.

Stand-out elements include an apple mosaic made entirely of fruit from the garden, and insights from apple experts Jim Arbury, Dr Anna Baldwin and Liz Copas.

This year will also see the first crop on many of the trees in the garden’s Devon Orchard, following the planting of 45 cultivars in 2017 as part of an RHS campaign to reverse the rapid disappearance of English orchards. Edibles team leader at RHS Rosemoor, Peter Adams, said: “We’ve been waiting with anticipation to see what varieties such as ‘Hollow Core’, ‘Twenty Pip’ and ‘Pig’s Nose’ actually look, and more importantly, taste like. We’re eager to see if they live up to expectations.”

Compared to many other areas of the UK, 2021 has been a good year for apples at RHS Rosemoor. Experts suggest that the cool and overcast spring enabled the blossom to flower for longer, in turn enabling pollinators to move around more than usual.

The harvest will be put to good use, with a special apple-themed menu available in the café and restaurant throughout October, featuring seasonal items such as Rosemoor’s signature Garden Apple and Almond Cake. Rosemoor’s very own apple juice is also available to buy in the on site shop along with a range of apple and soft fruit trees, plus other apple-themed products.

For further information, visit https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/ rosemoor

RHS gardeners put the finishing touches to a crab apple mosaic. The display took two days to create and contains over 3,000 fruits