Visitors to Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, last weekend certainly found out the English apple and pear industry is alive and well.
Following the National Fruit Show in Kent, a large proportion of the fruit that was exhibited there, along with farm-pressed apple juices and Kentish cobnuts, was transported en-masse to Chatsworth.
“It was undoubtedly our most successful exercise of bringing British top fruit to a wider public audience,” said Robert Mitchell, chairman of the Marden Fruit Show Society. “There is a feeling that English fruit doesn’t seem to get as far as Derbyshire and further north. We showed the visitors our main dessert and culinary varieties and the new ones coming on stream such as Braeburn, Cameo and Jazz.”
An estimate of over 8,000 people visited Chatsworth and saw the exhibition, which was supported by growers, suppliers, marketers and UK number one retailer, Tesco.
The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire was given a tray of Braeburn dessert apples, which won the most eatable apple competition at the show and Ian Webster, head gardener at Chatsworth, was presented with a traditional Derbyshire variety, Newton Wonder, donated by the Brogdale Trust.
Last year, fruit from the show was taken to Kew Gardens and the year before to Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire.
