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 ...
Neat!
ReplyDeleteInteresting!
ReplyDeleteI can hear that tree scream from here !
ReplyDeleteOuch!
ReplyDeleteOh my! Fences don't make good neighbors...to trees!
ReplyDeleteWhy, oh why, oh why???
ReplyDeleteHi everyone, I'm more intrigued by how one of the branches has its own hole in the fence to poke through. It does look rather magnificent overall, though perhaps the owners didn't realise how big it was going to grow when they planted - a problem in waiting they've set up for the current house owners.
ReplyDeleteFrom Zoe who emails:
ReplyDeleteMinute I saw the photo it took me straight back to Highgrove and the bonkers hobbit house HRH has on the lawn in front of the house. Why do people do these things to trees?
The neighbour would be within their rights to saw the branch off!
Zoe - it hangs over a public footpath, so there's no neighbours. From a distance, which is how most people see it, it's a rather magnificent tree. It's only when you get closer, that you see there's a bit of a problem. I suspect the people who planted it decades ago didn't know there'd be a problem and the current owners are probably in a bit of a dilemma re what to do for the best.