Great turnout for first ever apple orchard festival for Oxfordshire town

Wild about Wallingford put on the community event on Saturday (January 25) evening, in Radnor Road community orchard.

A wassail is a centuries-old tradition that stems from the cider-making regions out southern England, involving singing, dancing and celebrating the orchards to promote apple growth and ward off “evil spirits”.

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Wallingford hosted its first-ever wassail event, and saw a great turn out of enthusiasts participating in the folklore event.

A spokesperson for Wild about Wallingford said: “Our first ever wassail was a great success, with more than 45 people joining in with the celebrations, many of whom were local and had helped to plant the fruit trees in 2021 and 2022.

Wallingford people came out to celebrate the wassail at the weekend (Image: Ed Nix) “Rachel Holmes from Uplift Choir led the singing with several well-known wassail songs.

“Participants enjoyed homemade apple and pear cakes and warm spiced apple juice as they walked around the orchards, lit the homemade paper lanterns, and ‘blessed’ the trees with a traditional offering of cider – in this case, diluted apple juice!”

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The event was supported with funding from Everyone Active from South Oxfordshire District Council.

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The community group added that they’re keen to make the festival an annual occurrence and “welcome suggestions for how we can make it an even better and unique event next year”.

Find out more about Wild about Wallingford on the group’s Facebook page or at [email protected].

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