The English countryside is so much part of our lives that it is often taken for granted. In autumn we are spoilt for choices with our wonderful English apples, pears and plums. Yet supermarkets are still bombarding us with imports of unripe and tasteless fruits from overseas.

Because many orchards and fruit producers are struggling to sell their produce, some of them have come together to form the Food Community of UK Apples and Cider Producers. This is just one of thousands of such communities, which form a network of people who exchange knowledge and experience and meet every two years in Turin, Italy, at Terra Madre, another exciting creation of Slow Food to restore dignity to the work of farmers, fisher folk, breeders and artisan food producers all around the world.

Slow Food Cambridgeshire recently organised a Plum Festival at The Heath, 60 acres of fertile land reclaimed from the sea that is home to many wild plants and animals.just north of Cambridge. Here almost 75 per cent of the orchards which existed in the 1930s - a time when traditional orchards formed the landscape - have been lost.

The Wallis family has been fruit growers for three generations and Mr Wallis has been running the orchard for more than 55 years now, employing people mainly from the village. His method of managing The Heath is one of low intensity. The trees have plenty of space to stretch out their arms and reach for the sun. Most of them are very old, their trunks carpeted with mosses and lichens. Their roots have had time to reach deep into the Cambridgeshire soil. In return, the fruits are as colourful, huge and delicious as you could possible imagine.

The Heath is open to the public daily from 10am to 5pm and you can choose your favourite fruit from more than 30 apple varieties, 20 different pears, 12 plums or gages and 30 single fruit juices produced by Watergull Orchards.

Local fruit, such as Griddled Pork Chop with a warm Bean Salad and Creamy Cider Sauce and Apple Crumble with Creme Anglaise, features on the menu at the Anchor Inn in Sutton Gault, an award-winning restaurant that thoughtfully sources its ingredients and plans its menu according to the seasons. Though a little remote, The Anchor is ideally situated for exploring East Anglia.

Another remarkable member of the "UK Apple and Cider Community” is the Dragon Orchard in Putley, Herefordshire, where Ann and Norman Stanier have come up with an extraordinary idea: the crop-sharing scheme.

Dragon Orchard Cropsharers has been conceived and launched to re-establish links between producers and consumers. For an annual subscription cropsharers are invited to visit the farm for a weekend during each season to see how the orchard develops and grows over the year. In the autumn they take home a generous share of the orchard produce. This is a form of community supported agriculture whereby the grower and consumers share the rewards and responsibilities of farming.

The produce includes home-made jams, chutneys and juices and, with huge excitement, the Staniers have announced that they are going to produce their own cider with the help of a winemaker who recently moved to the village. Years ago the orchard had been used to grow cider apples, which were sold to major cider making businesses. When this contract expired, Norman’s father faced a problem with the selling of his fruit. Now the Staniers have managed to sustain this picturesque orchard with this award winning scheme, whose motto is: Share the Crop, Share the Countryside.

The orchard has two amazing features; one is, of course, the dragon staring down at you, and the second is a u-shaped seated area made of straw and covered with limestone and called “The Big Hug”.

After a visit to the Dragon Orchard you might want to retreat to the Scrumpy House or the Lough Pool Inn for well-cooked food. Then stay in The Feathers in Ledbury over night before visiting the gorgeous Severn & Wye Smokery. Our favourite was the locally produced and smoked cheese as well as hazelnut and smoked venison pate.

Another different approach of producing apples and cider more sustainably and attractively for the consumer is the Oakwood Farm in Robertsbridge, East Sussex (01580 830 893).

The orchard has been in the Wilson family since the late 1940s and organic certified with the Soil Association since 1999. The Wilsons are involved in projects to develop English varieties that can be grown without pesticides. They plant old English apple and pear varieties on 40 acres and produce cider and perry.

They have very close links to many other growers and are continuously striving to work with and for the nature. They are an invaluable source of knowledge. Their produce can be ordered from their farm and purchased at local farmers markets as well as farm shops. A very clever idea of them is to send their produce to the north of the UK, where hardly any apple trees are growing and the people are desperate for these fruits.

For more information on fruit varieties: www.brogdale.org

www.applesandorchards.org.uk

www.commonground.org.uk

Andrea Falter is convivium leader of Slow Food Cambridgeshire

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