PREPARATIONS are well in hand for this year’s Ely Apple Festival, with hundreds of people expected to join in the fun to celebrate everything to do with our favourite fruit.

There will be a range of competitions, stalls and demonstrations throughout the free festival, taking place on Palace Green, opposite the Cathedral on Saturday October 20, from 11am to 4pm.

The annual festival, which offers something for all the family, has become East Anglia�s biggest celebration of the great British apple. It includes apple and spoon racing, a longest apple peel competition, apple activities and goodies including apple sausages, juices, ciders and cookery demonstrations.

Visitors can bring along apples to be identified, and local traders will be selling a range of apple related produce and products at the apple market.

Mouth watering recipes will be cooked using local apples, and tasters available to sample. Visitors will also be able to watch a wood turning demonstration, while children can enjoyed activities including story telling and an apple shy.

Folk music and morris dancing will add to the carnival atmosphere.

The event, staged by East Cambridgeshire District Council, is supported by juice producers Watergull Orchards, formerly of Sutton.