Get pickin': cherry festival is 70 years Young

Cherry season is in full swing in Young, where the first cherries were picked last week, and different varieties will ready for harvest over the summer.

For those who want to go a step further than inspecting the cherries at Woolies, the National Cherry Festival is less than a month away.

Running from Friday December 6 to Sunday December 8 in Young, two hours drive from Canberra, the weekend is at the height of cherry-picking season.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 people are expected to visit Young across the weekend, and as it's the 70^th year of the festival, a bumper list of attractions is planned.

The Hilltops region has just the right climate for cherries - 439 metres above sea level and with enough cold days over winter to help the fruit set. Most varieties of cherries need 1400 "chill" hours at seven degrees or lower while growing.

And while the town is famous for the handful of pick-your-own orchards and a few more where you can buy from the farm gate, the festival itself includes more ways to get involved.

There's a cherry pie eating competition, a pip-spit competition, and a competition to name the Cherry King and Queen, if an ambitious spirit overtakes you.

But if you're feeling like you need to walk off all the cherries you've picked and then consumed, there's markets and live music as well.

Funnily enough, the growers who put all the work in to creating the bountiful cherries the festival is all about will barely see any of the events.

Peter and Cath Mullany at Ballinaclash Orchard say it's been a while since they've enjoyed the festival - for them the first weekend in December, and most weekends during cherry season - are flat out welcoming visitors to their farm and even ferrying people around to get to the best spots on their land.

The Mullanys are second-generation cherry-growers, after Peter's dad originally immigrated from Ireland and started the cherry and stone fruit orchard in 1965.

Peter and Cath took over in 1997, and some of their six children are still involved in the day to day running of the orchard, which now includes a vineyard producing award-winning reds and whites.

Once the Mullanys started diversifying with wine, they haven't stopped - adding new fruits and new offerings, like cherry ice cream and cherry pie making classes.

"We're always trying something new," Cath Mullany said.

"You never get there, you're constantly thinking 'what will we do?' What's the next thing?'

The Mullanys aren't the only ones growing grapes in Young, and not even the only Mullanys - Peter's brother Brian and his wife Sue run Grove Estate wines on the other side of town.

Young's climate not only lends itself to cherries, but to Portugese, Spanish and Italian varietals, including nebbiolo and zinfandel. The Grove Estate cellar door has recently been upgraded, giving visitors the opportunity to sit and look out over the vines while tasting the wines.

Both the Mullanys' vineyards contribute grapes that Canberrans would already be familiar with - shiraz from both vineyards goes into Clonakilla's famous Hilltops Shiraz.

In recent years Grove Estate wines have been making their way to China - Brian Mullany traveled to China three times this winter alone.

Rupert Hyde, who has owned Allambie Orchard with his wife for 22 years, says the experience of picking the cherries is just as important as the fruit itself - and he has tips to get the best experience and the best cherries.

"We're in the people business, not the cherry-exporting business," he says while explaining that all cherries grown on his land will be picked by visitors, not by professionals.

Keen cherry-pickers should come prepared for a hot day in the country, he said, and ready to go slow and put some time in.

Cherries should be picked when they're already ripe, as they don't ripen further off the tree.

The fruit lasts better if it's picked with the stalk still attached - and the stalk should be separated from the tree gently, by rolling it between your finger and thumb instead of yanking them off the tree.

It also pays to walk to the end of the block or the row - you'll get a better yield than those not willing to go the distance.

And if at the end of the day, full of cherries and wine you need a luxurious place to stay - Clifton House and Gardens on the edge of town is a 127 year old homestead with attached "function centre" (actually a beautifully looked after 128 year old barn).

Rebecca and David McMillan bought the property when it was being used as a private residence, and now as well as running cattle, have opened the house for all manner of occasions - everything from book clubs to extravagant weddings and receptions.

Staying in the house kind of feels like living in an Australian version of Downton Abbey, but with the family business charm that comes from every interaction in Young