Apple day at Stanmer Park

Sunday 22 September 2013
11am - 5pm

A seasonal celebration in and around the orchards at Stanmer Park.

Have a thoroughly apple-themed day at our annual seasonal celebration!

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2012 Programme

Here's a rundown of what went on during the last Apple Day. Laura Parr writes about her experience of the day here.

10.30 onwards: Smoothie Bike
11.00: Cookery demo: Nibbles
11.30: Sussex Apple Play
12.00: Orchard tour • So Last Century Stringband • Mayoral visit and book launch
12.30: Sussex Apple Play • Cookery demo: Main dishes
1.00: Tour of both orchards • Morris dancing
1.15: Timely Tales storytelling
2.00: Tour of both orchards
2.30: Sussex Apple Play • Quiz with prizes
3.00: Tour of both orchards • Timely Tales storytelling • Juicing
4.00: Sussex Apple Play
4.30: Cookery demo: Desserts

2012 Talks:

At or leaving from Stanmer House

1.00: Community Orchard - London Road Brighton Station FILM (10 mins) by Madeleine Cary describing the transformation of London Road Station into a thriving food growing space Conference room Amelia, 1st floor

1.30: Mara Crippa, Harvest Growing Officer, Selecting and looking after fruit trees Insights from the food growing advisor of Harvest Brighton & Hove, about how to choose and care for fruit trees, including a visit to the orchard (30 mins) Meet at Stanmer House entrance

2.00: Peter May, Orchard expert and co-author of Apples and Orchards in Sussex. Sussex Apples and a Sussex Orchard will describe and illustrate some of the apple varieties which are closely linked to Sussex; as well as the orchards of the Ashdown Land Company which until the 1980s grew fruit at Horsted Keynes (20 mins) Conference room Amelia, 1st floor

3.30: Mara Crippa, Harvest Growing Officer, Selecting and looking after fruit trees : Insights from the food growing advisor of Harvest Brighton & Hove, about how to choose and care for fruit trees, including a visit to the orchard (30 mins) Meet at Stanmer House entrance

4.30: Bryn Thomas, Brighton Permaculture Trust founder Fruit, forest gardening and permaculture making the links between local fruit, food forests and the sustainable design systems of Permaculture (30 mins)

Things to see at 2012 Apple Day

Throughout the day, you'll enjoy:

The ever popular Apple Cafés – staffed and cooked for by volunteers, using fruit we scrumped from around Brighton & Hove and quality ingredients donated by Infinity. Get your apple crumble, soup, apple chutney, ploughman's and more!
Orchard tours throughout the day
Book launch of Apples and Orchards in Sussex, with signed copies available
Display of Sussex apple varieties
Freshly picked apples from our own and local orchards for sale
Traditional press - help juice apples and pears from the orchards and scrumped from Brighton & Hove
Smoothie bike - make your own fruit smoothies
Apple juice and cider
Children's activities in an expanded area
Rare Sussex apple trees for sale - trees of five local Sussex apple varieties will be available for sale at on the day. Find out more here.
The Sussex Apple Play performed by Brighton Mummers, featuring a giant apple, a worm and a sausage king
Storytelling corner in the Orchard
Live acoustic music and choir
Apple identification by leading UK expert Joan Morgan (see below)
Fruit growing advice
Info on birds and other wildlife in orchards
Seared plums, mushrooms stuffed with barley squash and feta, chilli tofu with apple sambal, roast pear and blue cheese frittata ... getting hungry yet? Enjoy cookery demonstrations by the Community Chef with free tasters and recipes - see the menu here.
Local producers of fruit, nuts, vegetables, wood products and other things!

Admission free but please note PARKING FEE £3

Children must be supervised by an adult. Dogs must be kept on a lead.

Location and Travel

Apple Day activities take place near the church and in the orchard behind the farm house. Please use public transport if you can. There will be a parking fee of £3.

By bus: Bus 78 is hourly from Brighton via Brighton Station to Stanmer Village. Bus 23, which runs every 30 minutes on Sundays, brings people direct from the Marina, Eastern Road, Queens Park Road and Elm Grove areas to the Stanmer Park entrance. Bus 25 from Hove Palmeira Square, Western Road, Old Steine and Lewes Road runs every 12 minutes to the park entrance. For detailed bus directions, click here.

By train: Trains to Falmer, 1 mile away. For more details about getting to Stanmer by train, click here.

By bike: The Bike Train will be travelling from The Level in Central Brighton at 11am and noon, and returning from 3pm and 5pm.. For information about cycle paths and cycle hire, click here.

By car: To find out how to get to Stanmer Park by car, click here.

To find out how to locate us once you get to Stanmer Park, or for more general directions information, click here.

Apple identification

If you want to know what the old apple tree in your garden is, then you can ask the expert pomologist and fruit historians. Dr Joan Morgan, author of The New Book of Apples, will be on hand to identify apples. From each tree, bring three or more ripe fruits and a shoot with representative leaves; all must be strong and healthy. The fruit should be in good condition, as damaged, misshapen or poor specimens are very difficult to name. If possible, the fruit should be mature and show the characteristic size, shape and colour.

Stalls at Apple Day 2012

The stalls for our last event included:

Black Pig orchards
Brighton & Hove Food Partnership / Harvest Brighton & Hove
Brighton Compassion in World Farming
Cityparks
Face painting
FareShare Brighton
Greenman Garden Services
Honey and Herb beauty products
Infinity Foods
Kids' Activities - Fork and Dig It/Brighton Permaculture Trust
Massage stall
Mother Bhumi
Moveable Feasts
Oscars Kitchen
Physic Garden
Plumpton College
RSPB
Ruth's of Cooksbridge (bespoke cupcakes)
Spots and Stripes
Sussex Wildlife Trust
Wild Flower Lawns & Meadows
Wild Sussex (used to be Heritage Conservation)
Wooden toys stall

Funders

Thank you to the following organisations who also contributed to making Apple Day 2012 possible:

National Lottery's Local Food Fund

Supporters

Thank you to the following organisations who also contributed to making Apple Day 2012 possible:

Volunteers

A massive thank you to the many dedicated volunteers who make this event possible.

Event organisers

Contact us

For further information, please contact us.

Apple Day