Hall Showgrounds

Just to the north west of Canberra, but still within the ACT border, is the village of Hall. Named after Henry Hall, who settled in the area in 1833 - just seven years after the first European explorers came through. The Hall family actually lived in a homestead in what is currently the suburb of Fraser, and their property was named 'Charnwood' - now the name of another Canberra suburb.

The village was gazetted in 1882, although there had been a hotel since 1864.

Today's photo is looking from Victoria Street across part of the Hall Showgrounds, with the barbecue shed in the background. I don't know how old the shed is, but with it's rough-hewn poles and corrugated iron roof, it would have been typical of early buildings in the area. The local show was held annually at Hall Showgrounds between 1925 and 1964, when it moved to the Exhibition Park in Canberra. Today the grounds are used for various sports, National Sheepdog Trials, functions and the very popular monthly Hall Markets.

An apple a day

If you take a right turn off the Barton Highway, not far past the village of Hall on Canberra's outskirts, you might find yourself at an organic orchard called Loriendale. Today was the annual Apple Day at Loriendale, so we (and several hundred other Canberrans) decided to head out of town for a few hours.

The orchard was established by Owen and Noreen Pidgeon in 1982. My children were especially keen to visit as, up until her retirement at the end of last year, Noreen was the librarian at their school.

Apples aren't their only crop - they also have quinces, pears, hazelnuts, potatoes, stone fruits and tomatoes, and we saw some rows of strawberries hiding in there too. There are other berries in summer, bantam hens loose in the orchard, and sheep.

You can visit and buy their produce at other times of the year, but on Apple Day there are all sorts of things for sale, including fruit pies, fruit and potatoes. You can see apples pressed for fresh juice (and then buy the juice by the cup or bottle), sit on the lawn and be entertained by local musicians, and the kids had fun in the wire & hessian maze.