Visitors to Carhampton Community Orchard’s Apple Day on Saturday (October 16) enjoyed an all-outdoor event for the second year running, following the success of last year’s Covid-safe day.

Apple stalls heaped with more than a dozen varieties from this season’s harvest were complemented by produce and refreshments stalls while the freshly-pressed orchard juice was so popular that visitors were queuing to buy the next-batch-but-one!

An open-air information centre provided visitors with background about the orchard, and among the trees and between the stalls were detailed descriptions and photographs of each variety on the permanent labels sponsored by local residents.

Among newcomers to the apple day were members of the South West Herbal School attending their monthly seminar at Carhampton Rec and Village Hall.

They and other visitors sampled a wide variety of apple flavours never to be found on the supermarket shelves, including the Ellison’s Orange with its hint of aniseed, the late-cropping Bess Pool and the nutty Blenheim Orange and Orleans Reinette.

And the orchard also has a part to play in protecting the planet: even this tiny group of 50 trees in its 1.5-acre site can absorb 15 to 30 tonnes of CO2 and release more than 20 tonnes of oxygen each year.

Traditional orchards of this sort help to preserve a rich and varied gene pool and harbour a wide range of wildlife as well as native plants, lichens and fungi, giving them an important role in the global Biodiversity Action Plan.

Most of this year’s apple crop, a smaller one than usual, was sold out at Apple Day, but there will still be an opportunity to buy the orchard’s Bramleys from Toucan Wholefoods and Stuart Lowen Farm Shop in Minehead – this will be the last of this year’s Carhampton crop.

The proceeds from this year’s Apple Day, in addition to going towards maintenance costs, will pay to replace the orchard’s damaged Christmas lights. The new lights will be unveiled at a special turn-on event on Friday, December 3. For more information about Carhampton Orchard events, or to join the Orchard Friends email list, contact Elizabeth Atkinson and Emily Feldberg on 01643 821756 or email [email protected]