Father Ewan Dale is in charge of the Sylvanian orchards, keeping the grass short and the place tidy. He is very proud of his Victoria plums and crisp, crunchy Cox’s pippins but has no time at all for most of the modern varieties.

Mother Barbara Dale is the real family expert on fruit trees of every kind. Her busiest times are late autumn and early spring, when she is in the orchard, pruning and re-shaping all the fruit trees and checking for any problems, very late into the evening.

Brother Winton Dale loves helping his mother and father in the orchard. His favourite job is looking after the bonfire but before he can do this, he has to rake up all the fallen leaves and twigs which he finds a bit boring and doesn’t particularly enjoy. However, he is always very thorough, as he knows that the more he collects, the bigger the bonfire will be!

Sister Iona Dale has been given the very important job of collecting and sorting all the different types of fruit. She much prefers this part-time job than going to school, because she can chew to her heart’s content, without any teacher telling her that it is not allowed!