We had a wonderful evening on Friday when Tuppenny Barn was used as a fund raiser for the Charity Children On the Edge and 70 + people sat down to an Eastern Feast entertained by some Syrian Musicians. There was some impromptu dancing by the waiting staff and much fun had by all raising nearly £2.5k for the Charity. There was a good representation from the Tuppenny community there so thank you to all those that came to support. We will be having the Charity with their Christmas wrapping paper as one of our stalls at the forthcoming Christmas Market on 10th Dec – save the date!

I went to give a presentation this week to the U3A Emsworth Group of about 70 + people. It was heartening to find out that 95% of them had visited Tuppenny Barn at sometime over the last few years. If anyone belongs to a community group that has speakers I am always happy to come along to give the history of the project and what Tuppenny Barn is all about. In addition we do a “Tea and a Tour’ where community Groups come to Tuppenny Barn, have a guided tour and then given a home made cream tea with scones and Tuppenny preserves. We are taking bookings for 2018 so please do let us know if this is of interest.

It looks like that the weather will get somewhat cooler now so we will be bringing in the remainder of our orchard harvest in the next few weeks. There are still plenty of good apples remaining and you will get some of the Howgate Wonder cookers this week. You may or may not be aware that of the 134 fruit trees we have in the orchard, quite a number are heritage varieties. We grow all types of apples, pears, plums, cherries and a single quince tree. Next year, we will be doing a Tuppenny Barn mapping project giving details of the trees and a little about their history. Howgate Wonder parents are Blenheim Orange and Newton Wonder. It was first grown in 1916 at Howgate Lane in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. The original site of the apple tree, 4, Hope Gardens is still there and occupied but unfortunately the original tree was disposed of in 1968. Despite its large size this apple can also be eaten as a dessert apple. Some of you might have seen the very large one we had displayed in the shop several weeks ago. It weighed over 1kg and certainly was the largest apple I have ever seen!