Apple Days

Apple Days seem to be growing in popularity over the last few years. I keep hearing about them, I’ve even tried a few kids crafts on my blog but we’ve never made it to an event – until today. In between ballet lessons and birthday parties we headed over to Hughenden Manor, a lovely National Trust property near High Wycombe for the afternoon.

There is so much to do at Hughenden Manor. There’s a beautiful historic house, once the home of Benjamin Disraeli, gardens, woods, a walled garden, a lovely cafe and they hold some great events. Since our last visit they have expanded the car park so you get to walk through the woods to the property. There were dens to explore, trees to climb over and conkers and leaves to examine. Our visit got off to a great start.

The old orchard was full of stalls where you could find out more about the different varieties of apples.

The children straight away wanted to try the old apple press. They grabbed handfuls of apples, placed them in the press, and helped turn the handle to produce the most delicious fresh  apple juice. We adults tried the home made mulled cider 🙂

We learnt about apple gifting which has something to do with decorating apples and giving them as gifts. A volunteer helped us add sticks to the bottom of each apple so they would stand up. Then leaves, twigs and pinecones were pressed in to decorate them. The children made some wonderful creations and when they had finished flour was sprinkled on top.

We took photographs of each one before placing them in a box so we could pick them up on the way out.

The volunteers were wonderfully patient with all the children, especially when it came to the apple bobbing. Small apples had been hung up from different lengths of string. The children had a go at trying to catch them with their mouths, there may have been some hands involved 🙂

We couldn’t believe how many different types of apples we could taste.

There was also a large box of windfall apples which you could help yourself.

After all the apple activities we looked around the house and had a delicious lunch too. We definitely learnt all about apples and had a great day out too.

If you’re looking for some easy Apple Day crafts then you may be interested in our cardboard tube apples and cork print apple wreath.