In his wonderful Cider Chronicles elsewhere on this site, my old friend Tim Bannerman has been mentioning the annual tree fair at Lisieux. Indeed, in his last post he gave us something of the event’s long history - and most fascinating it all is.  

What is amazing is how much more together and organised the French are - and continue to be - when it comes to their orchards than we seem to be. Which is a pity, as South West England has such a rich heritage when it comes to apple-growing.

That is a sentiment I took to Normandy nearly 30 years ago after I’d been commissioned by Somerset County Council to make an hour long video on orchards, apple growing and the cider industry. 

The video was duly made and launched at a big event at Taunton’s Brewhouse Theatre. I imagine someone at the council will still have the master-tape of the video - but I have a great many rushes which I filmed above and beyond the basic remit of the contract - and before they literally rot on the old magnetic tape, I have decided to digitise some of the material.

Which I is why I proudly present the first in a short series looking at the Apple Tree Fair in Lisieux from all those years ago. Dear old Tim was living close to the town with his wife Gill and family at the time - and we spent a couple of days filming in and around the fair with Tim acting as an unpaid presenter and translator. 

It was all fascinating stuff and if you like cider, or apples, or apple trees or orchards - or the whole fermented caboodle - please have a watch and hopefully enjoy the material.

No doubt Tim will be able to add some of his own notes which can sit beside the next digitised video offering from 29 years ago.... But here’s what I filmed on the first day we were in France.