Two-day celebration of apples to take place at Kington's Hergest Croft Gardens (From Hereford Times)
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Two-day celebration of apples to take place at Kington's Hergest Croft Gardens
7:00am Wednesday 12th October 2011 in Kington
James Marsden is on the shortlist for the Pomona Award for orchards with Greggs Pit, pictured.
A TWO-day celebration of apples takes place at Kington’s Hergest Croft Gardens on October 15 and 16 with more than 400 varieties of the fruit on display.
The Royal Horticultural Society will be present, displaying its collection of apples alongside those of Frank P Matthews of Tenbury and the Marcher Apple Network.
Jim Arbury, head of fruit cultivation at the RHS’s Wisley gardens, will also be on hand to answer questions and identify visitors’ apples and pears.
Over the weekend, a programme of talks and demonstrations will be given, celebrating the apple, orchards and the forgotten horticultural hero Thomas Andrew Knight, Herefordshire’s first president of the RHS.
Hergest Croft Gardens will also be hosting its annual plant and food fair with a wide variety of stalls with rare plants, local produce and crafts.
Other highlights include a garden tour of Hergest Croft led by the home’s owner and RHS president Elizabeth Banks.
Sunday’s programme features the announcement of the winners of the first RHS Pomona Award for orchards.
There are currently 14 orchards in the running to receive a gold, silver gilt, silver or bronze medal.
There will also be an overall winner which will receive a special award at the Flavours of Herefordshire dinner in October.
Mrs Banks said she had been delighted by the high number and quality of entries received from all corners of the county which have included commercial bush orchards and seven traditional standard orchards.
“We also received many entries from walled gardens in the county and are considering creating a new category for these in the future,” she added.
“Some of these traditional varieties were first cultivated by Thomas Andrew Knight who, like me, was a Herefordian and president of the Royal Horticultural Society.”
For further information on the weekend contact Katie Eastaugh on 01568 708232 or Melanie Lloyd on 01544 230160.
