When a unique opportunity is presented to you, you don’t question it. You just say yes. This is how we found ourselves sitting in a cherry orchard for the annual Cherry Blossom Long Lazy Lunch in Young.
We started our day at the Young Visitor Centre, sampling some Hilltops Region wines and meeting our fellow diners. With a chilled bottle of Moppity Vineyards, Lock & Key Pinot Chardonnay in hand, we boarded a bus for the short scenic drive to the Young /Harden border arriving at the Batinich Cherrymore Orchard.
It was a beautiful scene – a very, very, very long table set up in between the rows of cherry trees, with white snowball blossoms emerging from the branches. White tablecloths covered the trestle tables, with baskets of vegetable seedlings at each end as table decorations.
The Long Lazy Lunch is a fundraiser for the National Cherry Festival – Cherry Queen entrants, and the region came out to support them. The Guest of Honour for the event, the Consul General of the Republic of Croatia, Mr Hrvoje Petrusic – recognises the significance the Croatian community had in establishing the cherry industry in Young.
With a pie crust so soft it melted in your mouth.
With Canberra jazz band, ‘As Famous as the Moon’ providing the background music, we enjoyed produce from Young and Canberra expertly prepared by members of Hilltops Harvest. Highlights of our meal included a homemade olive dip, spiced sugar plums, baked ricotta and smoked chorizo. And the main feature – cherry pie with cream; with a pie crust so soft it melted in your mouth.
We loved chatting to our lunch companions. We learnt about the different crops grown in the region and the importance of cherry farming to the Young community – bringing in tourism, seasonal workers and for the export market. This is why Young is renowned as the Cherry Capital of Australia.
The location was spectacular. With crops blossoming at different times, the view across the orchard was picturesque, and you can vividly imagine the flavours of the cherries that these trees will grow.
The Cherry Blossom Long Lazy Lunch is organised by Visit Young. With event tickets selling out quickly, we recommend you follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, to find out about this and other regional events before they sell out.
The So Frank team was invited to the Cherry Blossom Long Lazy Lunch as a guest of Visit Young.
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[…] the team at Visit Young suggested So Frank do a weekend road trip to Young, to go to the Cherry Blossom Long Lazy Lunch, we jumped at the chance. With cherry trees blossoming, golden fields of canola, some history and a […]