Last Updated:
18 October 2008

‘The Perfect Spot!’

Cherry Day a Resounding Success (with photo gallery)

Saturday 16th July dawned clear and cloud-free. By the afternoon, the Community Cherry Orchard at  Park Farm, Lynsted, was bathed in hot summer sunshine. Celebrity Television Chef Michael Barry launched Cherry Day with a few encouraging words, and then got down to the business of inspecting and sampling the twenty-two cherry dishes prepared by parishioners for the Recipe Competition.  Over sixty visitors circulated around the craft and produce stalls and the display of traditional harvesting equipment. The array of cherry-themed delicacies in the Competition tent was duly admired. Many took advantage of an irresistible ‘pick your own cherries from the fruit-laden trees’ offer, and the tasty output of the Disney barbecue.

Cherry expert Gavin Maclennan took repeated, and enthralled, parties on a fact-packed guided tour of the six-acre orchard. He explained the history, husbandry, varieties and harvesting of the cherry – that quintessential Kentish crop.  Stephen Finlay and his band regaled all with selections of tunes from the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

Donald, the scarecrow constructed by Willow Class at Lynsted with Norton Primary School, made a guest appearance. He felt so at home, he decided to stay on in the Orchard on a ‘working’ basis! 

Mr Barry was clearly impressed by the sheer quality of the cooked entries, but plumped, after much consideration, for Paul Berry’s cherry bread as the outright winner.  Event organiser Julie Barrett accepted , on Paul’s behalf, the winning prize of a specially inscribed glass bowl. Orchard owner Pip Neaves generously filled the bowl with ripe cherries as a final touch.

Michael Barry, exhausted by his adjudication duties, relaxed in a garden chair and remarked:  ‘Reclining in an easy chair under the dappled shade of a magnificent old cherry tree, with gorgeous ripe fruit within reach – this is surely the perfect place to be on a hot Kentish summer’s day!’

Everyone considered the Day to have been a resounding success. The Parish Council’s Orchard Group would like to thank everyone who put so much effort into making the event go with such a swing. Cherry Day was part of  programme of events within the Park Farm Cherry Orchard Project supported by the Local Heritage Initiative.

For more information on the Community Orchard and its events please visit: www.lynsted-orchard.org.uk. 
The gallery of images has been provided by Tom English, Chairman of the Parish Council

Bob Baxter.

Reclining Figure Displays Celebrity Chef Pick Your Own

Pancakes for all! Competition entries Winner Announced Presentation

Senior moment