Orchards helping to revive our ‘lost’ varieties
FROM Bramley to Cox to Worcester Pearmain, apples are one of the few fruits that actually grow well in Britain’s cloudy climes.
But many varieties had been feared lost, as vast swathes of our orchards have been wiped out since the Second World War.
Now, though, hundreds of forgotten types are being rediscovered thanks to the efforts of community projects and apple enthusiasts, causing a boom in British apples.
Many local orchards have been cropping up across the country and have found a niche in growing heritage varieties. Enthusiasts have also been tracking down types that were thought to have been lost forever, using old books and modern DNA testing.
Steve Oram, apple diversity officer at the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, said: ‘We are adding new orchards to the register all the time. Some are in allot- ments, others in schools and housing developments. After the post-war years of neglect and destruction, when 90 per cent of the UK’s orchards were lost and supermarkets sold only a few varieties and imported 70 to 80 per cent of their apples, it is very exciting.’
John Hancox, of Scottish Orchards, helps people develop their own community orchards.
He said: ‘I’ve been working on community orchards and school orchards for ten years.
‘It’s gone from me being one of a couple of people saying it seems a good idea to being something that’s buzzing with lots of people.
‘There are lots of community orchards right across Scotland. It’s gone from a lot of orchards and fruit varieties being lost to people being really interested.’
Explaining the phenomenon he said: ‘People just love the colours and smells of apples.
‘The other nice thing about orchards is that it’s very communal, very sharing. Everybody picks the fruit together. It’s different from a lot of gardening activities which are quite solitary.’
Apple enthusiasts are helping to track down, test and revive lost varieties. In one case, bright yellow apples on an old tree in a neglected orchard in Shropshire were identified as Bringewood Pippin, first bred in the early 19th century. Local orchardist Tom Adams said: ‘It was probably 100 years old and the only one of its kind left. It was a lost variety. Its DNA was tested and it was shown to be unique.’
Speaking to the Observer, Mr Oram said of the enthusiasts: ‘They are finding, protecting and naming hundreds of apple varieties. There are possibly thousands more varieties to be discovered. Many were not recorded by commercial growers but were grown by farmers and households.’
Some rediscovered varieties had no name, so are being named after the person who found them, the place they were found, or what they look like.
‘Thousands of apples waiting to be discovered’