Apple Blossom Time in Armagh
County Armagh in Northern Ireland is known as Orchard County, and every year Ireland's oldest city celebrates its apples with festivals and apple tours.
Jan 31, 2007
Take a look at the Calendar of Events for Armagh in Northern Ireland and you're in no doubt what the finest fruit of their soil is. During the course of the year they celebrate the Apple Blossom Festival with Apple Blossom Tours, the Apple Harvest Festival and National Apple Day.
The Apple Blossom Tours usually take place in May. They take in the lovely orchards and equally lovely old houses of Armagh, at a time when the hills are alive with the pink of blossom. Hopefully. The Festival itself is, naturally, dependent on their being some apple blossom to celebrate. If the weather’s bad and there’s a late frost, it can mean no blossom and no Festival, but the tours will still go ahead. The Festival takes place all over Armagh, with fairs, concerts, food, cider, discos and other activities in towns throughout the region.
Apples have been grown in Britain since the time of the Romans, when they were probably taken over to Ireland too. Legend has it – and this will surprise no-one – that the first apple tree in Ulster was planted at the ancient settlement of Ceangoba near Armagh by St Patrick himself. Who else? The first documented evidence, though, is not till 1156 when the obituary of the head of a local tribe praises him for the strong drink he made for the use of his tribesmen. Yes, cider it was.
In the 17th century most large houses had their own orchards, and it’s interesting that a large orchard was considered to be about 20 trees. By the late 19th century there were over a hundred apple varieties being grown in Ulster, with delightful names like Widow’s Whelps, Irish Peach, Angel’s Bites and Strawberry Cheeks. These days one variety predominates, as it does in many apple-growing areas, the ubiquitous Bramley. Only created in the late 19th century by a Mr Bramley of Nottinghamshire, this variety can account for as much as 80-90 percent of apple production.
In October there's National Apple Day, Apple Week, Apple Harvest Week and, if that's not enough, a Gourmet Food and Wine Festival. Apples might just be on the menu. Yes, in Armagh they are definitely apple-lovers to the core!
For more details on Armagh and its apple celebrations, click here.
Read abou Britain's Food Festivals in 2007 by clicking here.
Read about tours of Northern Ireland by clicking here.
