We had a lovely day last Saturday, with an Apple Day alongside Blackmoor Orchards, who provided a fine variety of their homegrown apples & pears alongside their juice, cider, perry and sparkling Cyder. It was all available to taste, with apple juicing for family enthusiasts.
We now have Blackmoor apples and pears available in the shop all at £1.99/kg as well as their cider, perry and Gospel Green Cyder.
You can select from Cox, Opal, Lord Lambourne, and Gala apples, with Comice, Concorde and Conference pears.
There are a number of great reasons to buy local apples – you are supporting a local orchard and local jobs, and you are also supporting the biodiversity that thrives in an orchard, which is regarded as a priority habitat. Fruit trees age relatively quickly, developing veteran features such as hollow trunks, dead wood and holes that support an amazing abundance of invertebrates. The spring blossom provides nectar for bees and polinators, and you can find out how the Blackmoor Estate in particular is working hard to support biodiversity in this clip.
Blackmoor Orchards is one of the last remaining commercial ‘top-fruit’ growers in Hampshire, growing a wide variety of apples, pears and cherries for supermarket and local customers. The cool climate and altitude in this part of the South Downs National Park produces top quality English apples with full flavour and a crisp texture.
The estate and orchards are situated close to Gilbert White’s house in Selborne, and have worked on a range of environmental projects to encourage biodiversity. They are doing such a good job that you can find almost the same number of different species as was found in Gilbert White’s day. So, if you buy local apples, you are supporting an orchard’s biodiversity.