Cherry pick a perfect day out The collection at Brogdale in Faversham is open every day from 10am till 5pm, from Easter weekend to October 31. The centre holds special plum, apple and cider weekends, strawberry fairs, Easter parades and educational workshops, but the public can visit the orchards and nursery, and picnic in the grounds any day during the season. For further information, see brogdalecollections.co.uk or telephone 01795 536250. Visit nearby Terry's Cherries at School Farm, Graveney Road, Faversham ME13 8UP. High summer and it's cherry season again in the garden of England. Eye-catching farm-gate stalls pop up along Kent roads and I'm tempted to the National Fruit Collection, a cornucopia of fruity things at Brogdale in Faversham, which is holding a festival to celebrate all things cherry. This is a small charity with an enormous task - to keep hundreds of varieties of fruit trees alive and available to us all. Native bumblebees (bombus terrestris) are active at lower temperatures and earlier in the year than honeybees, just in time for the cherry blossom, so if you want to grow these juicy gems, better to lure bees into your spring garden with plenty of pulmonaria, bluebells, aubretia, crocus, hazel, primroses, forget-me-nots and winter heather, and lots of undisturbed areas of habitat. Distracted by invitations to take part in a Guinness world record attempt at cherry stone spitting, a cherry pie eating contest and Karen Mansfield's pretty cherry bunting (karenmansfield.co.uk), I finally succumbed to the temptations of the food tent. There, I sampled cherries dipped in dark, raw Ecuadorean chocolate and popping candy from chocolatier Jake Lawy (thechocolution.com), and chef Gerry McCorriston's warm duck salad with cherry sauce and his Eton mess with caramelised cherries (see recipe, right). Fortified, I went to glean advice from the specialist fruit tree nursery Grow at Brogdale, which offers grafting and pruning information (email fruit@brogdaleonline.co.uk, call 01795 531888 or you could attend a workshop) on more than 2,000 apple varieties, 500 pears, 300 cherry and plum varieties, plus berries, nuts, currants and vines. Its new range of cherries includes popular dark-fruiting Stella and Sunburst, and white Kentish Napoleon and Merton Glories. These are maiden trees on small rootstock growing to just 10ft, so are suitable for pots. Trees can also be grown on G5 half-standard or Colt rootstock at 25ft. The assistant manager Chris Williams told me that cherries suffer from blackfly - bad this year (wash off by hand with a hose) - and bacterial canker (cut off and burn affected branches). Cherries are short-lived and like a well-drained soil, so why did Henry VIII think this part of clay-bound Kent was the best place to grow them, I wonder? If Kent is too far from you, Aspley Guise Cherries near Milton Keynes MK17 8HY will be harvesting over the next five weeks. It sells gift boxes of cherries from its website englishcherry.co.uk or by phone on 01908 587070. From cherry festival to village fete, from food swap to harvest festival. Remember to let us know about your harvest celebration by the end of September. Judges will be looking for events that involve the entire community, wherever you live. They can take place in the beer garden of your local pub, village hall or town square, allotments or place of work, or even in your own garden with friends and family. For details on how to enter see the box above. Melt 150g/5oz butter with 150g/5oz sugar in a pan. Add 200ml/7floz double cream to create a caramel sauce. Pop in the stoned cherries and leave to rest. Take 500g/1lb of strawberries, purée half and chop the rest. Whip 400ml/14fl oz double cream, fold in the purée, plus 250g/½lb raspberries and three crushed meringue nests. Add the strawberries. Spoon equal amounts of the mixture into four cold wine glasses. Cover with cherry sauce and garnish with sprigs of mint.