Plums & puff balls at Apley Farm Shop

Apley plum trees are dripping with fruit

Our fridge is looking rather purple with Apley Walled Garden purple Teepee beans & aubergines

Apley puff balls – great sliced & fried with butter & garlic

Breath taking panoramic Shropshire views

Autumn’s abundant harvest is all around us in Shropshire right now – our Apley fruit tree branches are bowing with the weight of fruit. We also have Apley figs (50 per each) & from Apley Walled Garden greengages (£2.50 per kg), damsons (£1.50 per kg) & Victoria plums (£1 per kg) – some of the latter from the Courtyard. I’m looking forward to seeing a French-style plum tarte on the Creamery Cafe’s menu this week & some mini plum tartlets for sale in the Shop. Great as an hors-d’oeuvre (starter), try slicing these magnificent puff balls – great fried with loads of butter & Apley Walled Garden hand-smoked purple garlic (well crushed of course !).

After last week’s heavy rain, farmers are everywhere in this glorious September sunshine finishing off their harvesting. On the Apley farms, Adrian has been combining naked oats (for breakfast cereals) & feed wheat (to be fed to animals).  We passed a couple of combines this morning when I took Venetia on a ‘Fun Ride’ over some of Shropshire’s most beautiful countryside, taking in breath taking views which were almost 360 degrees panoramic.

In the meantime, we’re getting ready for our next event – Apley Farm Shop’s Harvest Food Festival (aka the Apley Taste Off), Sat 26 Sept, 9.30-5.30pm where customers can MEET THE PRODUCERS face to face, ask all about how they make their products & sample FREE TASTERS (always worth a trip !). Throughout the day, we’re organising a series of short talks & demonstrations which will hopefully (still tbc) include our butcher, our chef, our gardener, our farm manager, our deer expert, our chief cake baker & 2 local restaurant chefs.