Wassail 2023

DATE: Sunday 22nd January 2023 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm at the Orchard

Greening Chinnor and the Mid Shires Orchard Group invite you and your family to the annual Winter Wassail for the Donkey Lane Community Orchard! 

The Anglo-Saxon ‘wes haile!’ or ‘wase hail!’ was a hearty wish for good health and fortune. We shout ‘Wassail!’ to toast our apple trees, that they may be healthy and fruitful for the coming year and bring us good harvest and bounty. We also make lots of noise to ward off bad luck and mischievous spirits, so they stay away and don’t steal the fruit!

Cross the railway crossing and enter the Donkey Lane Community Orchard via the ancient trackway… Appreciate the lovely vista of the historic 19th century apple trees in this rural Chiltern's landscape. Enjoy the warm scent of apples as the hodgepodge of windfalls are crushed underfoot. Admire the decorated trees that are the King and Queen of the Orchard, hung with all their finery.

The event is lots of fun and we welcome audience participation. Make a din to scare off mischievous spirits, by banging drums, blowing horns, beating pots and pans and joining in the Wassail song . Assembled children (of all ages!) will scatter a festive seed mix, for the wildlife to enjoy

After the main event, congregate around the Refreshments Stall to enjoy more cider, mulled cider, mulled apple juice, apple juice and cake. Small cash donations are welcomed in return for refreshments, for the Orchard. 

Take a tour of the Orchard

• Take a walk around the Donkey Lane Community Orchard with your hosts
• Visit the historic apple and plum trees and learn more about them
• Discover the site of the old well and the cottages
• Learn how you can help keep this orchard flourishing, join in working parties and enjoy orchard events

You’ve read about Wassails in the Parish Pump; now come along and enjoy one for yourself. Bring along some musical instruments, pots, pans and wooden spoons… anything that will make a noise!

For more information about Wassails, check out he excellent article written by Christine Davis on our our Story page