Save it for Later

Next stop on my foodie tour of the West Midlands, while here for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, is Hill Close Gardens in Warwick. It’s a set of Victorian gardens that was nearly lost to housing development in the 90’s, only to be rescued through the campaigning work of some dedicated locals. The gardens are now restored and open to visitors, giving an insight into how our forefathers managed a plot of land to feed families with a healthy crop of home grown fruit and vegetables. Additionally, it shows the role gardening played in supporting their wellbeing, through respite from busy lives as merchants and shopkeepers in a growing 19th Century English town. It’s a lesson many of us would do well to remember today.

At this time of year the trees are full of traditional varieties of English apple that you will not find on the shelves of our supermarkets. Golden Delicious? Pink Lady? Jazz? No, nowhere in sight. However, if you’re interested in seeing the likes of Cox’s Orange Pippin, Ross Nonpareil, Laxton’s Epicure or the wonderfully middle-England named Reverend W. Wilkes (shown in the photo above), then this is the place to come. They are here in abundance, weighing down the heavily-laden branches of some very old trees.

The Gardens are managed on a not for profit basis and run largely by volunteers. Other fruit and veg spotted on our trip included beans, plums, courgettes and beetroot, to name a few. It is possible to buy some of the produce, including bags of windfall apples, but I opted for a bottle of juice made from the apples in the gardens. It’s already been chilled and opened, and tastes delicious!

Back at #B2022, since my last post we have attended a couple more events. The Lawn Bowls at Leamington Spa was all about precision, skill and strategy, while the Basketball 3×3 at Smithfield a frenetic and action-packed race for points against a fast beating clock. Both were excellent spectator sports in their own way.

On the musical side, it’s good to see that the soundtrack at events and Fan Festival sites is featuring Birmingham musicians, like Duran Duran, ELO, Slade and Joan Armatrading. My personal favourites are UB40 and The Beat, who have many great tracks. I will get some of these added to the ADK Playlist. By the way, did I mention that we have saved some of that lovely apple juice in the fridge for later?