Cherry Aid: British cherry Day – July 19th 2008

By Mrs Green | July 18, 2008 | 2

the great british cherry - grab it while you canTomorrow is Britain’s first Cherry Day, the aptly named ‘Cherry Aid’. What a fabulous celebration that is! Who can resist biting into a fresh, red cherry from it’s beautiful green stalk, dripping with rich juice?

Unfortunately, Britain’s orchards need our help. We IMPORT 95% of our cherries and over the past 50 years have lost 90% of our cherry trees.


There are some top chefs behind cherry Aid, such as Raymond Blanc and Mark Hix. The aim of the day is to unite chefs, producers and you and me to get the great British cherry back on top of the menu and growing in our beautiful orchards again.

You might not be in a position to plant a cherry tree (please do if you can), but there are plenty of ways to celebrate Cherry Aid.

Source some local cherries and enjoy them. If your local shop doesn’t stock them, then ask them why not and tell them about Cherry Aid.

If you fancy a walk in the green British countryside then why not take a walk through a cherry orchard or go to a pick your own farm and indulge in fresh cherries. You can even rent a cherry tree for a season through some scheme on the Foodlovers website!

If this cold weather keeps up, I’ll be making mine into a comforting clafoutis!

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2 Comments

  1. Fr. Peter on July 21, 2008 at 4:36 am

    Thank you for this, I had no idea that British Cherry day existed and I shall be ready next year.

    We bought some cherries from our local Pick Your Own farm last saturday (I wonder if they knew?)and they were amazing, I had forgotten just what a joy the taste of a *real* cherry was.

    Thank you also for the link to the Foodlovers site, the Rent A cherry Tree operation is fairly near here (a slap on the wrist for me not even knowing about it) so I may well give it a try.

    I hope all is well with Miss G.

    Blessings.



  2. Mrs Green on July 21, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Hi Peter, great to see you!
    I guess you knew on a subconscious level that the cherry was having a special celebration 😉

    I’m glad you enjoyed some fresh cherries; you’re right; we forget how wonderful these gifts from nature can be. Today I ate watercress for lunch and it was an awesome taste explosion.

    Let us know if you rent a cherry tree – I love the idea; it’s so innovative 🙂