If you've never molested a quince......

... now's your chance. According, that is, to the tour guide at the National Fruit Collections at Brogdale last Sunday. And certainly, the first beginnings of the fruit are furrily tactile; but that wasn't why everyone was there.

This is the season for cherries,and Sunday was their Cherry Festival, with a chance to see, try and buy some of the different varieties of cherry that you don't see in supermarkets, as well as visit their garden centre and various food retailers, or join in the family fun opportunities, like archery and the miniature railway.

It's not quite as impressive as the autumn Apple Festival I visited a few years ago, if only because there just aren't so many varieties of cherry, nor is there the variety of striking names.

Apart, that is, from Napoleon Bigarreau (surely, a criminal mastermind from the 19th century), and Merton Bigarreau (who must be his do-gooding cousin) - and May Duke (the innocent victim of Napoleon's evil intentions).