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 ...
Maybe I should have one of these on the plot to use up some of the rubbishy odds and ends stacked up
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd done this when I had a stack of pallets on the plot.
DeleteI love bug hotels. The grandchildren and I have just made one on the allotment.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea :)
DeleteFantastic idea, it would work well in my garden as bees love my flowers and there is so many of them :)
DeleteThey should indeed! Flighty xx
ReplyDeleteOh it's wonderful. I've been meaning to make some insect friendly things for a while now. This one is the Ritz!
ReplyDeleteThey're really easy to make :)
DeleteSeconded! :)
ReplyDeleteFlighty and Anna - hurrah!
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled that Alys Fowler retweeted this yesterday, saying 'Hear, hear' :)
That is great! I love Alys's approach to gardening :)
DeleteMe too :)
DeleteBrilliant. And Alys approves too!
ReplyDeleteYay!
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