Southwell's Bramley Apple Festival celebrates 25 years
Bramley Apple Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary in Southwell on Saturday.
The festival started at 10am with a parade of Morris dancers and apple-pickers along King Street, Southwell.
Musician Oliver Wheeldon composed a new Bramley wassail song, which he performed at the opening ceremony.
Mrs Ceila Steven, the great granddaughter of Henry Merryweather — the nurseryman who first grew the Bramley apple commercially — said the event was very important to the local area.
"It was set up as part of the programme to attract tourists and has grown over the years," she said.
She has been involved in helping to promote Bramley apples for about 50 years. She now lives in Devon but returned to Southwell for the festival with her Japanese guests.
Special guests at the festival included visitors from Japan, where the Bramley has its own fan club, and an author from the US.
Japanese author Sakuko Kitano, who features the Bramley in several of her books, is back again this year. She is currently doing research for a book looking at the history of the Bramley and its connection to the Women's Institute.
The other Japanese visitor was Kimi Mizuno, who promotes the Bramley in Japan, where there is a Bramley Fan Club which she set up with colleagues.
Mrs Steven said the links with Japan had started 40 years ago when Mr Arai travelled from Japan to England looking for traditional apples.
"One of the ones he chose was the Bramley because it is so versatile," said Mrs Steven.
Mrs Steven said Bramleys were now grown in Japan where they were extremely popular.
A Festival of Food and Drink with cookery demonstrations was held in Southwell Minster. There were more than 30 stalls representing the best of local produce.
The cathedral was also used for a display of apples from John Hempsall’s Heritage Orchard while the Archbishop’s Palace and Education Centre hosted apple-related children’s crafts and trails around the garden.
