For Apple Day: Eat your way to the river
It's Apple Day, one of my favourite days of the year and what better way to celebrate than to tell you about my recent trip to Longney, where Gloucestershire Orchard Trust have 18 acres of apple orchard under their tender care. Here you'll find older orchards with some trees well over a century old, plus their newer plantings of around 94 Gloucestershire cultivars which have just acquired national plant collection status at Plant Heritage . The jury's out on the actual number as DNA testing has revealed at least one locally named variety is actually a more well known one: Ribston Pippin in this case. Don't worry, there are dozens there which definitely have their origins rooted firmly in Gloucestershire and their cultivation at Longney is vital to their continued presence and preservation. There were around 200 local varieties at one time and today it's around 100 still in existence. Steve Mason - the Trust's Curator - was our knowledgeable guide who invited ...
Sounds like you had a fantastic time! My parents did the same last year - spent about five weeks visiting friends and family in Australia and New Zealand.
ReplyDeleteLovely and great to have friends and family to see - I think you get a better feel for the country that way. Luckily we have friends in Sydney and have just found some distant relatives in Melbourne. I can't wait to go back to meet them. NZ's on my list of must see countries too - my parents nearly emigrated there when I was little and I could never understand why they didn't go.
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