Despite a terrible year for farmers and growers, and a lack of fruit in many Herefordshire orchards, Leominster’s 14th annual Apple Fair is going ahead and will be held on Saturday, 27th October (10am-4pm) at the Priory Church.

This event was originally established by the Green Party to increase awareness and appreciation of locally grown food, and support for local producers, and to encourage an interest in the huge variety of apples still grown in Herefordshire and adjoining counties.

There will be stalls selling local apples, cider, apple juice, local beers, cakes, jams, cheeses, honey and Fair Trade products, with an opportunity to taste many of these, as well as cards, prints,crafts and delicious refreshments.  There will also be demonstrations of hurdle making, basket making, botanical art, focusing on apples, felt making, and weaving. Advice and apple identification will be available from members of the Marcher Apple Network (11 – 1 and 2 – 4), as well as displays and exhibitions, dancing from Jenny Pipes Morris at 12 noon, and Leominster Town Band who will be playing at 1pm.

Felicity Norman, the Fair’s organiser said “ We are always on the lookout for unusual or rare varieties of apples to display, and particularly this year, when some orchards have no apples, so we would ask anyone with interesting varieties in their orchard or garden to get in touch if they can spare three or four apples for our display. We know this is one of the most popular parts of the Fair with a huge interest in the names and origins of the many different varieties.

There will be plenty to interest children again this year with art activities, collage, peg loom weaving, storytelling and competitions. We have invited local children through their schools to take part in an Apple Art competition and will have the winning entries on display before they go up in the library”