Apple Day at Fenton House

For the last few years we've really looked forward to the Autumn season because this signifies the arrival of one of our favourite fruits, the apple, and more importantly the chance to enjoy Apple Day! Initiated by the Common Ground organisation (whose work I love) twenty-one years ago this is an annual celebration of the fruit that defines England like no other. Somehow these local events strike a real chord with me; the heady combination of history, knowledge handed down the generations, a connection to the land in all of its bounteous variety. Truly mouth-watering.

Now last year we visited Fenton House in truly dismal conditions and the beautiful gardens weren't packed out - although we had a great time anyway. Today though the sun had his hat on and the split-level gardens looked gorgeous. At first it was hard to know what to do first but when we saw a girl apple-bobbing we knew where we needed to be! Joshua was first up and he made strenuous efforts to secure a prize; in the end, just as his time was up, he emerged successful but damp with an apple in his jaws. After a little hesitation I figured that I should take a crack at it too and, to be honest, it's harder than it looks! The apples were sizeable and I was having a lot of trouble until I came up with a method - to thrust my entire head under the water so that I could pin the apples to the floor of the trough. After this there was no stopping me and in the end I retrieved eight apples; double the number anyone else managed it seems.

After this untrammelled excitement we all felt like a rest and so headed down to the apple tasting tables in the orchard. What fun! The crop has been fabulous this year, so I was told, and there were many unusual varieties available to sample; each with their own unique texture, taste and colouration. With a few favourites in the bag we settled down in the deckchairs for a glass (or four) of hot, spiced apple juice in the sunshine. For some reason this proved to be a real hit with Joshua and we spent quite a while doing very little indeed:

Now the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that the children appear to have picked up some sort of war-paint in these pictures (or an unusual rash). Well the truth is that we did make a visit to the face-painting stall, because Christina was desperate, and these pictures were taken when we returned for yet more hot, spiced apple juice! The funny thing about the face-painting is that initially Joshua was very dubious about the whole thing and quite stand-offish. However when he saw how much fun Christina was having, and that you could get non-girly designs, I couldn't beat him out of the artist's chair!

After this, laden with fruit, wine, juice and assorted toys, we nipped over to the Hampstead Heath Extension for a spot of cycling. I'd been racking my brain trying to think of a flat, large and safe area where Christina could practice her nascent cycling skills and then it came to me - the wide-open fields of the extension would provide a perfect venue for such a learner. So with Joshua racing around doing figure-eights I got Christina up to speed and confident enough to make her own progress (on the grass at least). Real success!

Who needs stabilisers anyway?