An sell-out evening to promote Manx produce has been held at Smeale Farm in Andreas.

’Blossom to Bottle’ was a walk, talk and tasting event involving a collaboration between Smeale Farm, the Apple Orphanage, Isle of Man Creamery and the Cook Shack to celebrate some of the island’s delicious local produce.

The evening was fully booked and, after a brief introduction to Smeale Farm from Steve Martin who farms here with his brother Chris, everyone strolled down to the apple orchard which was established in 1970s.

Here Charlotte Traynor of the Apple Orphanage, producers of apple juice and other fruit drinks sourced from local produce, gave an informative talk on how to manage apple trees to be productive.

Standing among the blossoming trees Charlotte taught those gathered about pruning techniques, fertilisers (natural where possible), diseases, mulching, pollinating ’windows’ and other apple facts.

Smeale Farm has been bringing surplus apples from the orchard to the Apple Orphanage for many years, hence the event’s name ’blossom to bottle’.

Then it was time to head back to the visitor information shed for a juice tasting of five different varieties of apple accompanied by six of the Isle of Man Creamery’s range of speciality cheeses.

Charlotte described the different nuances in apple varietal flavours and chose the best cheese to enjoy with each juice.

Beth Martin added a short talk about the different methods used at the Creamery to produce the selection of cheeses.

To round off the evening, Georgie Revill of the Cook Shack, run by Vivaldi Catering from Bride, had donated a platter of her flapjacks for everyone to sample.

Environmental sciences graduate Esme Cullen, visiting from Bristol, commented that the ’using local’ message made sense and she was delighted to see that principle operating so well on the island.

Steve and Beth thanked all those who attended and made the evening such an enjoyable event.

For more information on Smeale Farm visit www.manxfarmhols.com. To learn more about the Apple Orphanage visit www.appleorphanage.com

For more details about the Cook Shack visit www.vivaldi-catering.co.uk

For more information about the Isle of Man Creamery visit www.isleofmancreamery.com