Summer Fruit Preserves

Journey into jam making with Alice Hewkin, renowned Nottingham purveyor of quality jams, preserves, pickles and chutneys.

During this workshop you will have the opportunity to make delicious preserves and learn about how to use a variety of locally-grown soft fruits to delight your friends and impress your family. Kick off the summer with this masterclass, set in our beautiful outdoor kitchen. Whether you like your preserves on toast or scones, come and get jamming.

• Be all set for the upcoming season of soft fruits.
• Have the skills to preserve gooseberries in June right through to the last blackberries of autumn.
• Find your store cupboard full by winter.

Capacity: The maximum group size will be 10 people.

Tickets: The ticket price includes a jar of jam to take home.

Facilities: A compost toilet is available at the Orchard.

Clothing: Please dress for the weather and wear comfortable footwear. The garden is a 5-minute walk from the entrance to the allotments.

Parking: There is plenty of free roadside parking along Ransom Road.

Contact: If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

I have an allotment at St Ann's Allotments, where I grow a variety of fruit, from which I make a wide range of jams, jellies, and chutneys. I reduce the amount of sugar in my jam, to optimise the flavour of the fruit and like to experiment with complementary, seasonal additions, in order to create unique flavour combinations.

All my fruit is produced without the use of pesticides/herbicides, hand picked from plot to pot within a few hours. I love knowing that, for each jar of jam I produce, I can point out exactly where the fruit comes from and what goes into it. As all the fruit is grown on my allotment, there is a limit to the number of preserves I can produce in one season, so you might have to wait a year for the next batch to become available. I also make a range of seasonal cordials.

This workshop will be run from the Community Orchard's beautiful outdoor kitchen. The Community Orchard is a garden maintained by STAA for educational purposes. It features a mix of mature fruit trees and fruit bushes, many of them heritage varieties, and includes a pond and a stream.

St Ann’s Allotments are Grade 2* Listed by Historic England and designated an Area of Importance for Nature Conservation. It is the oldest and largest area of Victorian detached town gardens in the UK, with over 700 years of history, 500 gardens, and 32 miles of hedgerow.

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