Eucan, well, I did anyhow.

A little while back in the summer I was presented the opportunity by the Wiltshire Orchard Project to head off to Belgium for two weeks paid learning holiday. The deal was simple, participate in Europom '09 - a celebration of Europe's fruit, in particular apples and pears. Thousands of spherical bundles of joy were presented for beard strokers to browse through. The 18 (or so) strong team of Blighty volunteers were on hand to photograph each sample to be recorded for prosterity....and of course taste samples were an unofficial perk.

The remainding time was spent in the competant hands of Paul, our mentor and all round great chap. His 27 years of orchard management experience flowed like the juice of a million apples and we lapped....er....shall we say he gave a good show on pruning apples and other techniques.

We were free most evenings to sample the vast range of Belgium beers on offer and for two weeks nothing less passed my lips...cider had to take a back seat for a while, the Belgians appeared to be non-plussed when it came to good ol' scrumpy, it seems to be the great unmentionable in that neck of the world!

In return for days of pruning, apple collecting, photgraphy and cooking we return the honour by volunteering for a couple of days in an orchard related theme. Also, a written report on the holiday will be submitted.

This experience has been great and like the time I spent in Germany has strongly fixed my conservation sights on great ideas. A few of which are taking shape and are beginning to....fruit, I suppose!

Eucan, well, I did anyhow.