Our own Darkes Glenbernie Orchard has been awarded national honours! We were crowned with the inaugural Agritourism Award at the Apple and Pear Australia Ltd (APAL) Awards for Excellence at a function at Federation Square in Melbourne on June 1.
The APAL Awards for Excellence recognise the outstanding contributions of those who’ve helped to shape and influence the Apple and Pear industry across all areas, from researching and growing through to marketing and exporting.
The Agritourism Award recognises businesses that demonstrate excellence in the promotion of apples and pears through programs and initiatives that shine a positive light on the industry. Agritourism is the point of intersection between grower and consumer.
Glenbernie has been a leader in this, driving awareness and educating people about orchard processes and the apple industry through its farm experiences.
This award is a tremendous thrill for our farm family.
Creating connections and understanding about growing food and the value-adding chain is integral to our story. For us, sharing knowledge is as important as sharing our World Cider Award-winning products!
We are pretty proud of our bona fide approach and to have industry peers across Australia recognise our high-quality work in this space is quite special.
Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh congratulated our farm and the family on the award.
“What a terrific result and what a wonderful story the Darkes Glenbernie Orchard is for our region,” Mark said.
“The orchard is a product of their labour and love and it should fill us all with a sense of pride that we have one of the nation’s best orchards right here in Wollongong.”
It’s winter time at the orchard right now but apples, cider and honey are still plentiful in the farm shop and the farm cafe is open for a warm treat when visiting Thursday to Sunday!
Stock up on apples and start practising apple pie or crumble making to enter the annual August Bake-off!
Save the date
Apple Pie Day – Sunday, 27 August
Raising money for Stanwell Park Country Women’s Association
Glenbernie’s AppleShack farm store is open 10am-4.30pm daily in Darkes Forest
Shop online at www.darkes.com.a