Press Release

Kew's Autumn Harvest Festival makes learning about food fun!

7 – 29 October 2006
Supported by Ocean Spray

At the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's Autumn Festival children will have the chance to learn about the origins, cultivation, harvest and uses of autumnal fruits in a colourful and creative way – from red cranberries, to orange pumpkins, yellow squashes, and green apples…

5.3 Million Cranberries

The 2006 autumn festival, supported by Ocean Spray, will see them bring to life their spectacular cranberry harvesting scenes typical to New England . In the wet harvesting of cranberries the fields are flooded and machines like eggbeaters dislodge the berries, allowing them to float to the surface creating huge swathes of red. Booms are then used to gather the cranberries from the water surface. This process will be recreated in an exciting display in the Palm House pond by floating over 5.3 million cranberries within booms. Sample the end product in cranberry juice tasting sessions every weekend.

30 Tonnes of Pumpkin

Back by popular demand this year is Kew's spectacular display of cucurbits in the Waterlily House. 30 tonnes of pumpkins, gourds and squashes will be arranged into a spiralling tower. Learn how these strange looking fruits earned their place in folklore traditions such as pumpkin lanterns at Halloween. Elsewhere, there will be a 6 metre figure of a running man constructed from pumpkins. A selection of different sized pumpkin varieties, including Rocket, Racer and Howden Big Boy, will be cleverly used to carefully create his athletic form.

200 Varieties of Apple

This autumn you can discover some of the amazing diversity in apple varieties in a display of over two hundred types, in association with Brogdale, the national fruit collection. Children can explore how cultivation has led to such huge range of flavours, colours and smells through tasting sessions and can take shelter in the giant green oak apple shelter, kindly on loan from Handspring Design.

Whilst at Kew, children can also take the time to explore the steamy Palm House, which contains a whole host of tropical plants used to make treats such as chocolate and vanilla ice cream! Cocoa pods, bananas, and the vanilla orchid are amongst just some of the plants growing. See which others you can spot!

Making Monsters

Between 21 and 28 October there will be free half-term fruit-based craft activities in the Climbers and Creepers play zone. Aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 9, the sessions at 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm daily, will include making monsters out of fruit and vegetables, spooky mask making, and ‘cranberry art'! Each morning, between 11.00am and 12.30pm there will be fruit themed colouring and drawing. On Sunday 29 October there will be special Halloween fun and games, including face-painting. These sessions will start at 1pm , 2pm and 3pm.

Halloween Ghost Train

Listen to ghostly tales of Kew whilst you sit aboard the Kew Explorer Ghost Train and journey around the magnificent ancient Gardens on 28 and 29 October, at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm from Victoria Gate.

Press Diary Date

Visit Kew at a special preview of Kew's Autumn Harvest Festival on Thursday, 5th October. See the stunning recreation of the cranberry harvest, join an Ocean Spray cranberry grower in the Palm House Pond (in waders, naturally!), discover why North American Indians valued cranberries, how the fruit is grown, the different ways of harvesting and the health benefits associated with cranberries.

Further Information

For further information on Kew's Autumn Festival please contact Lauren Bird, Oliver Basciano or Anna Quenby in the Kew Gardens Press Office. E-mail pr@kew.org, telephone 020 8332 5607.

For information regarding Ocean Spray please contact Geraldine McNally or Siobhan Meaker at Field McNally Leathes. E-mail gerri@fml-pr.co.uk / Siobhan@fml-pr.co.uk or tel 01273 834716.

Notes to Editors:

Kew Gardens opens daily during the autumn festival at 9.30am and closes at 6.00pm . Please note that the closing time will change on October 29 2006 in accordance with GMT. Glasshouses close 30 minutes prior to, and restaurants 1 hour prior to closing time. Adult admission £11.75, concessions £8.75, children under 17 FREE.

Climbers and Creepers sessions last for 20 minutes. There is a maximum of 20 children in each session and places are bookable on a first come first served basis with a member of Climbers & Creepers staff on the day. All activities are intended for children 3-9yrs old - some of the materials used are not suitable for those under 3. Children must be accompanied by an adult during the activities, as they must during all of their time in Climbers & Creepers. All activities are FREE

Explorer Ghost Train tours last 35 minutes. Tickets must be purchased from the driver. Adults £3.50 and children £1.00.

Ocean Spray Cranberry Growers

Nestled among the towns and villages of US and Canada are more than 17,000 acres of cranberry bogs – the workplace for nearly 600 farming families. For six generations these families have nurtured and cultivated the wetlands; provided shelter and habitat for native plants and animals; and helped to preserve the spectacular New England countryside.

Last year the growers from Ocean Spray celebrated 75 years as an agricultural cooperative. In that time farmers have brought about many improvements in cultivation including the ingenious method of wet harvesting, introduced during the 1950s. Significant strides were also made in the marketing of the crop. Independent scientific research into the health benefits of cranberries supported by the Ocean Spray growers has helped unlock many amazing facts, which has given it its well-deserved super fruit status.

Ocean Spray - awash with goodness. www.oceanspray.co.uk.

Royal Botanic Gardens , Kew

Kew Gardens is a major international visitor attraction and its 132 hectares of landscaped gardens attract over one million visitors per year. Kew was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and represents over 250 years of historical landscape. The site houses over 40 listed buildings and other structures including the Palm House, Temperate House, Orangery and Pagoda as well as two ancient monuments, Queen Charlotte's Cottage and Kew Palace . RBG, Kew is a world famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding living collection of plants and world-class herbarium as well as its scientific expertise in plant diversity, conservation and sustainable development in the UK and around the world. www.kew.org.

For further Press information please contact: