| Where: | Bolney, Sussex at Old Mill Farm |
| When: | 1st Saturday in January after New Year |
| Time: | 3pm onwards |
Apple Howling is a revival of the ancient tradition of wassailing, the ritual to encourage the apple trees to produce a bumper crop – Howling is the local variant of the custom. A torchlight procession winds its way down the lane to the orchard ; the wassailers surround the oldest tree and cake and cider are offered up before the tree is beaten with sticks to awaken it from its winter slumbers and shots are fired into the branches. Special wassailing songs are sung, morris dances performed and cider and cake are consumed.
Helpful Hints
In 2025 it should be on Saturday 4th January at Old Mill Farm (to be confirmed – prior to 2024 it was later at 6pm so double-check the time before setting out).
The event is organised by the Chanctonbury Ring Morris Men and has been well established now for over half a century – it’s a family friendly event. Follow the link to their website for the full programme including words for the songs. Wear boots or wellies- some of the windfalls are slippery underfoot in the orchard. In cases of extreme weather the event will be cancelled so keep an eye on the organisers’ Facebook page for up-to-date information (link below).
There’s a small but well stocked shop at the farm selling cider & apple juice.
Click here for the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Chanctonbury-Ring-Morris-Men-358140227176/
Click here for the event website : http://www.crmm.org.uk/
We wassail the oldest orchard in the London Borough of Waltham Forest on the Saturday evening nearest to Old Twelvey Night.
It’s 6pm at the Ferry Boat Inn, Walthamstow N17. EH Listed 17th C inn with open log fires surrounded by UN designated World Wetland Site.
Cannot see any way to advertisevit on your site!
2015 it’s 17th Jan. Two morris sides, lots of fun, mulled cider and big singaround after.
Thanks for that Katy! I can put a message up on our Facebook page over the next few days – sounds like a good night. There are now so many wassailing events all over the place that I can’t include them all on my site – we need a wassail enthusiast to run a dedicated website (like Master Mummers for wassailers!). Have you come across Colin Cater’s book on Wassailing (2013) – it’s very recent and they reckon on over 200 events currently running which is great news, especially considering how it’s not long ago that it all nearly died out.Wassail!
Best wishes,
Averil