Apples fruit show

Some of the apples entered at the show

Two growers swept the board at the prize-giving second day of the National Fruit Show.

Bardsley Farms and RD Apple Growers won a number of awards each at the Show, held at the Kent Showground in Detling.

Fruit Show chair Sarah Calcutt said the show had gone 'absolutely brilliantly'.

Another winner at the event was Kate Langridge, of the family-owned Mallions Farm business in Goudhurst.

Her prizes included several in the under-26 category for Mallions' Galaxy Gala apples. The 19-year-old said: 'It feels great to have won, as I'm very competitive, and winning puts us on the map.

'It's also a reward for all the work and care taken in growing over the course of a year.'

David Stevens, of L Stevens and Sons in Sittingbourne, also bagged several prizes for his produce, including heaviest pear (0.71kg).

He said: 'I'm proud of winning, as we grow them using an old-fashioned system, and it's good to be recognised that you're growing your produce to the best of your ability.'

Meanwhile, Calcutt, who is now in her fourth year as chair of the show, added: 'I feel this year's show has gone absolutely brilliantly. We've got more people here than we've ever had before on the stands, we've had more visitors here than we've ever had before, and we have also seen a change, more of a mixture, to the stands on offer.

'I'm also pleased with the fact lots of different people have won this year too; so, you have the usual winners, like Bardsley Farms, but then you also have Robert Thompson, who's not won silverware before, taking home nine prizes. That's just fantastic.'

Calcutt is already looking forward to next year's show, which will be housed in a new building at the Showground, and which will provide 15 per cent more exhibition space.