Spending a summer picking fruit is hard but satisfying work. As many European studies have found over this and the previous summers Broadwater farm is a great place to earn some money and use as a base to explore the UK.

Broadwater Farm in England is a traditional UK Fruit Farm, set in the beautiful Kent countryside. The farm produces crops of Bramley and Gala apples, pears, cherries and plums. This top quality fruit is supplied to retailers throughout the UK. During the summer months (June, July, August, September and October) students arrive from many European countries to spend their summer holiday fruit picking and experience living and working in the UK.

Accommodation is provided in well-appointed mobile homes. For evening entertainment there is a television lounge and a broadband internet connection. The farm is one hour by train from London and 10 minutes’ walk from the town of West Malling for supermarkets, pubs and restaurants. Nightclubs and shopping in Maidstone are a short train or bus journey away.

Broadwater Farm has invested in a fruit picking train – a system which has proved popular with the farmers and workers, following a trial in 2007. To attract students to farm work a website has been set up which enables potential applicants to see what apple picking in the UK is all about. Photos of current and previous harvesters, their accommodation and the farm itself illustrate the opportunities far more clearly than words.

Their website does more than attract students to the summer farm work. It provides useful checklists of things to do before leaving home and on arrival at the farm in the UK. After a summer of fruit picking and apple harvesting they can reminisce over photos of their colleagues and read up-to-date news of activity on the Farm.