Coming over a rise of ground, I looked down on Painter's Forstal and got my first clear sight of them - acre upon acre of apple orchards in full springtime blossom. In the clear light of this morning in early May they blazed white, as if some angel had flown low to tip a bag of celestial flour across the Kent Downs.
As I walked from orchard to orchard and village to village, from Scott's Farm to Elverland Farm and from Newnham to Doddington, I spotted the occasional flush of pink cherry blossom - almost at the end of its bloom by now - among the creamy white apple flowers. The scent as the sun warmed the trees was thick and heady. Walking became like swimming, moving in a tide of colour and scent, with a murmurous background of insect hum.
These were not the orchards I remembered from my childhood in Gloucestershire, hedged enclosures haphazardly set with cider apple trees as high as houses. The commercial orchards of Kent are neatly ordered, their trees man-height or lower for ease of picking. But the blossom retains its power to enchant, a richly-hued coat that spring puts on, year in, year out.
My walking companion on this gorgeous spring morning was Frances Clayton, Kent Downs assistant AONB officer. The Kent Downs, she told me as we strolled among the orchards, have been designated AONB, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, thanks to the richness and diversity of their wildlife and the beauty of their landscapes. The Kentish fruit orchards are a vital component, as much in the emotions as in the landscape.
Blossom time, that icon of spring, is lodged deep in our mental picture of the English countryside, along with dappled shade and bird song of summer, and boughs and bushes laden with fruit in autumn. The Vale of Evesham, the Somerset cider apple orchards, Cumbrian damsons and Gloucestershire perry pears are famous for spring blossom. We love our orchards, and mourn their decline over the past few decades under competition from cheap foreign fruit and pressure from development.
A growing number of people, however, are setting about reversing this trend. The Common Ground organisation (see Panel) is leading the charge with its Community Orchards projects. And there are individual orchard enthusiasts determined to revive old strains and restore orchards to prominence in their local landscapes. Stuart Doughty, Doddington's village butcher, is one. The 1987 hurricane wrecked the Doughty family's long-established orchard, and it devastated Stuart. He vowed to replant and restore the apple, plum and cherry trees, working organically, not for profit but for love. Now he's taken his obsession a step further, buying a 12-acre orchard to plant and graft, prune and pick for his own pleasure.
'I'll only grow what I like,' Stuart told Frances and me as he showed us rootstocks and young trees, and ran his fingers lovingly along branches and through blossom. Emneth Early, Brabourne Black, Kidd's Orange Red, Coe's Golden Drop - he murmured the names of the fruit like friends. 'They're beautiful, orchards: they're useful, and they belong in the landscape, don't they?'
I finished my blossom walk at the Carpenter's Arms at Eastling. Sitting in the bar, I saw people smiling at me, and wondered why. I found out when I looked in the mirror - my head and shoulders were flecked with white petals of apple blossom, fallen from the trees I had brushed past that day.
* Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: For details of orchards, blossom walks, wildlife etc., contact Kent Downs AONB Office (Invicta House, Sessions Square, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XX; 01622-221522; kentdowns@kent.gov.uk;www.kentdowns.org.uk) and ask for a copy of Kent Downs AONB's free newspaper The Orchard.
Bursting out all over: Where to find the best blossom in England
1.
Cornwall
Lizard peninsula, Hayle area, Fowey and Tamar valleys: apples. Tamar Valley: old cherry orchards. Carrick Roads and the Fal estuary: Kea plums.
Trelissick Gardens (NT) near Feock, Truro (01872-862090): nearly 100 varieties of Cornish apple, plus quince and medlar with Cornish daffodils planted underneath.
Cotehele (NT) near Calstock in Tamar Valley (01579-351346/352739): 100 Cornish varieties of apple, cherry, pear, plum, medlar.
2.
Devon
Landkey near Barnstaple: famous orchards of Landkey Mazzards (cherries) are being replanted.
Dittisham, north of Dartmouth: Dittisham Ploughman (red plum)
Killerton Estate (NT), Broadclyst near Exeter (01392-881418): big collection of cider apple trees.
Lustleigh Community Orchard, Dartmoor (01647-277496): big old cider orchard at centre of village.
3.
Somerset
Synonymous with cider apples and orchards. Best places are on the Somerset levels around Baltonsborough, Glastonbury, Wedmore and Martock.
Kingsbury Episcopi: orchards of Burrow Hill cider and cider brandy.
Creech St Michael, near Taunton: Charlton Orchards have 30 species of apples, as well as pear, plum, damson. Walk their 45 acres of orchards.
4.
Dorset
Around Bridport in southwest Dorset.
There's a lovely old orchard (with pigs as hoovers) at the Kingcombe Centre, Lower Kingcombe Farm, Toller Porcorum near Maiden Newton (01300-320684).
5.
Hants
The Vyne (NT) at Sherborne St John, Basingstoke (01256-883858) has an orchard with local and Hampshire varieties.
6.
Kent
The 'Garden of England' is full of blossom. Try the Teynham area north of M2 near Faversham; along the Royal Military Canal in Romney Marsh between Hythe and West Hythe; around Newnham (see main read).
No Mans Orchard in Chartham Hatch, near Canterbury - more than 30 species of moss and lichen flourishing on the old blossoming Bramley trees in this Community Orchard on the North Downs Way footpath.
7.
Essex
Tiptree Heath off A12 - Wilkins & Sons, preserve makers (01621-814524) have orchards that include medlar, mulberry and quince.
Cranham, near Upminster (M25, Jct 29): Broadfields Farm in Pike Lane (01708-641880) has orchards of old Essex varieties of apples and pears.
8.
Hertfordshire
Sawbridgeworth near Bishops Stortford: walks etc, at Rivers Orchard (01279-724503). Cowslips, orchids under the trees.
Tewin Orchard near Welwyn Garden City: unsprayed since 1958, so flower-rich grassland under the trees. Run as a nature reserve.
9.
Chiltern Hills
The Chilterns were once famous for wild cherries. Trees still blossom in many woods, hedges, cottage gardens.
10.
Bedfordshire
Around Bedford try Park Wood Community Orchard in Brick Hill Drive (230 varieties of apple, pear, fig, damson, plum, quince, medlar, walnut) and Old Warden village near Biggleswade (pear blossom in the village gardens). In south Bedfordshire there are old plum orchards around Eaton Bray and Totternhoe (M1, Jct 11).
11.
Gloucestershire
Vale of Berkeley and around Dymock and Newent for perry pear trees. There are 100 varieties of perry pear, including Merrylegs, Bloody Bastard and Lightning (because the perry doesn't stop on the way through!), and 86 species of Gloucestershire apple. Many are to be found at the Ebworth Centre (NT) between Stroud and Birdlip.
Walk the Severn Way south of Gloucester to see the orchards blossoming in Waterend, Elton and Chaxhill; or cycle the old railway between Stonehouse and Stroud to admire the Ebley Linear Orchard. You'll find wild cherries in the woods and hedges of the Wye Valley, and damsons and plums in the hedgerows around Kempley in north-west Gloucestershire.
12.
Worcestershire
The Vale of Evesham is famous for blossom. Drive the Blossom Trails, both starting from Evesham – short route (11 miles) via the Lenches, Charlton, Fladbury and Hinton-on-the-Green, or long route (22 miles) which continues via Pershore, Egdon, Pinvin and Wyre Piddle. Information: 01432-260621.
13.
Herefordshire
Another famous blossom county. Small cider producers are still abundant; also some perry producers. Main areas are around Much Marcle, Tenbury Wells and Bromyard; the Severn and Avon valleys and the Malvern Hills.
The Herefordshire Cider Route (contact 01432-260621) circles through the main cider villages. Dunkerton's Cider Mill near Pembridge (01544-388653) preserves old varieties of cider apple. In early May, and around Apple Day, 21 October, the Big Apple Association organises walks through selected orchards around Much Marcle.
14.
Shropshire
Famous for damsons; many in blossom along the River Severn near Ironbridge.
15.
Cheshire
In North Cheshire, Eddisbury Fruit Farm in Yeld Lane, Kelsall (01829-751188) has apples, pears, plums and damsons.
Willington Fruit Farm in Chapel Lane, Willington, near Tarporley (01829-751216) has 15 varieties of apple.
16.
Norfolk
Cherries were the characteristic Norfolk fruit; nearly 40 varieties of native apple still exist (more information: 01328-701095). See Norfolk fruit species in blossom at Norfolk Rural Life Museum, Gressenhall near East Dereham (01362-860563), and at Swaffham Eco-Tech Centre Orchard (01760-726100).
17.
Lincolnshire
At Cross O'Cliff Hill in Lincoln, Cross O'Cliff Community Orchard contains old pears, plums and apples saved from destruction.
See the blossoming tree (actually a descendant) that dropped the apple that inspired Isaac Newton's Theory of Gravity, at Woolsthorpe Manor (NT) in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, off A11 between Stamford and Grantham (01476-860338).
18.
Yorkshire
Many superb native apple varieties. Large collection of apples, pears, cherries and plums in the walled garden at Beningborough Hall (NT; 01904-470666). There's a historic pear collection - 48 trees of 30 varieties - in the walled garden at Cannon Hall Museum near Barnsley (01226-790270).
19.
Cumbria
The damson county. Orchards along the Lyth and Winster valleys near Kendal.
13 April is Damson Day. Sample damson gin, icecream, pickle, tarts, pies - and damson beer, brewed at the Mason's Arms, Strawberry Bank, Cartmell Fell, Grange-over-Sands (01539-568486).
Panels
Apple Day
Blossom is beautiful - but you can't eat blossom. You can eat apples, though. And you can drink their juice, cook with them, dry them, bob for them and praise them to the skies. Apple Day, 21 October each year, sees events across the UK celebrating this delicious and versatile fruit. For details, log on to www.england-in-particular.info.
Common Ground
This excellent organisation is dedicated to encouraging and celebrating the richness of everyday places, popular culture and local wildlife, buildings and landscapes. Their Community Orchards scheme has seen dozens of orchards revived or newly created by local communities.
Common Ground, Gold Hill House, 21 High Street, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 8JE; 01747-850820; www.commonground.org.uk; www.england-in-particular.info.
When to catch the blossom?
Cultivated plums and damsons can begin blossoming from late March onwards, followed by almonds, pears, perry pears and cherries in April. Apples start in April, and have generally finished by mid-May. Last out are quinces and medlars, until mid-May. Wild fruit trees in woods and hedgerows enjoy a longer blossom season, from March to June.