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Brogdale
News:
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January
2008
Letter to Editor of The Daily Telegraph from the Trust
Chairmen
click
here
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6th
July 2007
LETTER FROM THE TRUST CHAIRMAN
click here
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Notice
of Special General Meeting
to be held on 28th April 2007
click here
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February
2007
Message from the Chairmen of the Trust and Friends
click here
Please direct all press enquiry’s to Jane Garrett, Chief
Executive Officer on 01795 537083 |
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24/01/2007
Information
about the new defra contract has now been advertised, details
can be found in the following document. click
here.
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The
Brogdale Apple Festival
Despite
some periods of wet weather the apple festival here at Brogdale
was a great success. The weekends attracted 4,326 visitors
and the week was busy.
Brogdale
supplied apples for events throughout England and was directly
represented at the Kew Gardens Apple Days, with an exhibition
of over 600 of our varieties in the White Peaks Pavilion.
We were also present at the National Trust’s Apple Weekends,
overlooking the port at Dover in their White Cliffs Centre.
Brogdale apples have appeared in special October menus in
top London restaurants where chefs have appreciated the chance
to work with unusual varieties, and many schools have taken
apples for their own displays.
Our
Apple Week also marked the appearance of heritage varieties
in a number of Tesco stores. Through our relationship with
Tesco, interviews, announcements on BBC Radio Kent and much
effort by ourselves locally, the profile of the National Fruit
Collection and our work at Brogdale has been taken to the
public, who are reminded of the vast array of apples and pears
to be enjoyed.
As
usual a display in the great barn was one of the highlights
of our festival. Visitors delighted in inspecting the range
of varieties and reading their history. There were opportunities
to taste and buy some of the rare, tasty fruit. Dr. Joan Morgan
was kept busy throughout the week identifying apples that
were brought in by people with odd varieties in their gardens.
The
tea room continues to serve tasty dishes which often feature
our apples. A new theme this year was Halloween, when the
tea room was attractively decorated with fruit in orange and
black. We hope visitors approved of the spiders!
During
Apple Week guided walks continued to be popular. The late
apples have cropped well and there was still plenty to admire.
With the warm weather a number of the Continental pears have
given excellent yields and looked most attractive. The regular
guided tours cease on November 5th 2006 and resume in March
2007.
Apples
and pears from the collection continue to be on sale in the
shop. The apple display will also remain for a short time.
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2006 winner of the Brogdale Horticultural
Trust Trophy was Louise Rountree.
The award is given to the RHS General Student at Hadlow College,
Canterbury, who achieves the highest marks.
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"Voted
the Best ......
The
best fruit juice
The Brogdale Horticultural Trust, Kent
These
150 acres of orchards beside the M2 in Kent are home to Britain's
National Fruit Collections, the world's most extensive set
of fruit tree varieties. Brogdale pomologists - that's people
specialising in the study of fruit - look after more than
2,300 kinds of apple, 550 pear, 350 plum, 220 cherry and 320
bush fruits. You can inspect these on tours of the site, and
afterwards have tea - or juice - in the tearoom. The shop
sells a range of juices made from specific varieties of apple
and bottled by the Brogdale Trust itself."
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...from the BMW Good Food Ride published
in the Observer |
OUR
HERITAGE OF FRUIT
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Renewed interest in fruit growing under Henry VIII resulted
in his gardener, Richard Harris, establishing a fruit garden
of imported stock near Teynham, Kent. It is from this that
we can date the beginnings of the ‘Garden of England’
in Kent and the proliferation of varieties suited to the English
climate. The apple which fell from Newton’s apple tree
and which gave rise to his notion of gravitation is believed
to have been the variety Flower of Kent, which would have
arisen from these original lines. This variety is now grown
as a tribute to the great man at many physical laboratories
around the world and can be sourced from Brogdale.
click
here for more information
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GROWS
THE FUTURE OF BRITISH APPLES BY PRESERVING THE PAST
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Tesco
has revealed ambitious plans to double the amount of English apples
it sells, within three years.
In another boost to the apple industry the supermarket has also
announced it is to help preserve England’s unique apple heritage
by becoming the principal sponsor of Brogdale Horticultural Trust
who are dedicated to the conservation education and research of
fruit and in particular the Defra National Fruit Collection. The
Collections are housed here at Faversham, in Kent.
Click
here to view the Tesco News Release
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Blossom
at Brogdale
This year the blossom has been spectacular in the National
Collections as much of it opened at the same time. Later than
the last few years there is the advantage that there has been
no frost.
Unfortunately
heavy rain coincided with the weekends which meant that fewer
visitors than expected were able to appreciate the beauty.
The
new cherry collection looked particularly splendid. Most collections
were eight or ten days later than usual in flowering but some
plums and the apricots were twenty days later than recently.
Interestingly the pear blossom peaked at about 22nd April
whereas many varieties in recent years were fully out by the
start of April. It appears that 20th April is in fact normal
but blossom peak was certainly later than in the last decade.
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Of
the apples, Upton Pyne and Braeburn
attracted attention for colourful and dense blossom. As usual of
the early varieties Arthur Turner was fine and of
the later ones Sandringham and Edward VII
looked good. Unlike last year Miller's Seedling again
was covered with flowers. The new quince orchard was a picture with
the large pinkish-white flowers and pretty pale green foliage. Several
cowslips provided interest in the quince orchard.
Some
blossom was still in the apples by 22nd May, mostly in the late
varieties but Belle de France in row 16 looked good.
The
blossom has attracted especially large numbers of finches this year
with chaffinch and goldfinch being very common. The cuckoo was heard
during the first week in May.
Educational
Groups Visit Brogdale
Already
this year several educational groups have been received. Pupils,
forming mixed-age groups from schools in Gravesend and Meopham spent
three days at Brogdale. Each student took part in scientific and
creative work. They found the experience of spending an hour under
the cherry trees very inspirational and produced both individual
and collective poetry. Pupils from Murston school also spend a day
on site.
Considerable
numbers of enquiries, plant orders and some visitors followed an
hour long broadcast on BBC2. The collections have been visited by
several photographers so look out for Brogdale in newspapers and
magazines in the coming months or when blossom is out next year.
A 'Pride and
Prejudice' theme on the Brogdale Horticultural Trust stand at the
National Fruit Show 19th and 20th October 2005 at the Kent County
Showground, Detling, Kent.
'Canterbury
Tales' - Brogdale Horticultural Trust fruit display at Canterbury
October 2005.
BROGDALE – ‘THE HOTTEST PLACE IN BRITAIN 2003!’
Brogdale
has made history by being officially named as the hottest spot in
Britain in the Summer of 2003 following Met. Office verification.
Brogdale’s weather station recorded an all time U.K. high temperature
of 38.5°C (101.3°F) for Sunday 10th August.
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