The cherry blossom

The cherry blossom is one of the major tourist attractions of the Jerte Valley. The region has more than two million cherry trees. During the Spring, when they bloom, they create a real natural show. The slopes across the region dress in white.

In the Jerte Valley, the cherry blossom announces the arrival of the first cherries if the season. However, it does not occur on a current date, as it depends on the weather conditions. The cherry blossom usually lasts between twelve and fourteen days, and it occurs in the last weeks of March.

On these dates, the region celebrates the Cherry Blossom Festival, declared an event of National Tourism Interest. Alternately, the villages of Valle del Jerte welcome the opening and the closing events of a festival that has been held for more than four decades. For local farmers, it symbolizes the arrival of a new crop.

Artisanal farming

In the Valle del Jerte, cherry trees are grown on the slopes of the mountain, on terraces. To flower, they need to accumulate between 800 and 1,000 cold hours during the winter, supporting temperatures between zero and six degrees centigrade. They must wait for the frosts to finish to show their flower.

The cherry blossom does not reach the Jerte Valley in a homogeneous way. It is due to the arrangement of the trees on the mountainside and the variety of trees. The Jerte Picota and Burlat cherries are the ones that need to accumulate more hours of cold. Likewise, low areas flourish before higher ones.