The flowering of the apple trees in the Cider Region participates in the photography contest 'Spain in Bloom'

• The Asturian cider-producing councils of Bimenes, Cabranes, Colunga, Nava, Sariego and Villaviciosa offered a complete programme of agrotourism activities on 27 and 28 April (www.lacomarcadelasidra.com).

• Visitors were able to send their photographs of apple trees in bloom to flowering.es and win a gift pack from Spain in Bloom.

The Cider Region welcomed spring with one of the most attractive events in Asturias, the Apple Blossom Week. A wonderful natural spectacle that dyes the fruit trees with pink and white colours and for which a wide programme of agrotourism activities was organised on 27 and 28 April.

This year, as a novelty, visitors were able to participate in the photography contest 'Spain in Bloom' by sending their best snapshots of apple trees in bloom to www.floracion.esThey were also able to evaluate their experience of the weekend of the activities organised with the aim of preparing a study on the profile of the visitor to flowering tourism. There will be a raffle for a gift pack among the participants.

The initiative is part of the adhesion of the Mancomunidad de la Comarca de la Sidra y su Floración del Manzano to the agrotourism project Club España en Floración, financed by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain, which aims to promote and enhance experiences related to flowering tourism and its agri-food products throughout the country as a new tourism product.

Cider routes and menus

An Agromarketing team (www.agromarketing.es), responsible for the agrotourism project Spain in Bloom (www.floracion.es) traveled to the Cider Region for the weekend where she was able to enjoy organized activities such as routes through the fields of apple trees in bloom, a visit to the Cortina cider mill to learn about the peculiarities of Asturian cider culture, and a workshop on making jewelry from cider waste.

They tasted some of the special menus with apples and cider as the stars of the restaurants participating in the activities, such as Restaurante Entreviñes and the Restaurante del Palacio del Marqués de Casa Estrada, which included dishes such as cheeks in cider reduction, prawn ceviche with apple trees, or apple stuffed with rice pudding. All of this was accompanied by the DOP Sidra de Asturias.

Agromarketing participated in the activities by recording the agrotourism routes in 360 and conducting reports and interviews to collect audiovisual material on the Apple Blossom for its promotion. It also tried to promote the project Spain in Bloom among visitors to the Apple Blossom.