There are over 3000 apples varieties in Britaiin. We've only planted a few! Here they are.
More information on local Berkshire varieties can be found at the Orchard Network, Faringdon Free Foods, the Bernwode Nursery catalogue and Orange Pippin.
More information on local Berkshire varieties can be found at the Orchard Network, Faringdon Free Foods, the Bernwode Nursery catalogue and Orange Pippin.
Here's a downloadable list of our trees and when to pick & use them:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
Blenheim Orange - The original tree was found in Blenheim Park in Oxfordshire in about 1740 by a worker call Kempster and was originally called Kempster's Pippin until 1804.
A classic English apple, it is suitable for eating and cooking and has a dry, nutty flavour. It is mainly yellow\orange in colour, with red flushes and a hint of russet.
Pick in late September or early October.It can be cooked in October, then becomes a dessert variety until December.
Bountiful - A modern cooker bred in 1964 in Kent.It has creamy-white flesh tinged with yellow and is sweet enough not to need any sugar added when cooked.
A heavy cropper ready to pick in late September and can store through until January.
Bramley's Seedling - The classic English cooking apple, the Bramley was raised in a cottage in Southwell, Nottinghamshire between 1809 and 1813. The cottage was bough by a Matthew Bramley and when the fruit was first exhibited in 1876 it was named after him.
The tree is a vigorous grower and the fruits have good flavour and plenty of juice.
Pick in mid October, the fruit stores from November until March.
BERKSHIRE APPLE:
Breedon Pippin - raised around 1801 by Rev Symonds Breedon in Pangbourne.
The trees are small and well suited for dwarf training in small gardens.
The apples a re small and flat, looking slightly square. When ripe the skin is a dull yellow tinted with red-orange - more red in the side facing the sun.
Pick in early September, the apples keep until October.
BERKSHIRE APPLE:
Charles Ross - raised by Charles Ross, who was the head gardener at Welford Park in Berkshire from 1860 until 1908. He crossed Peasgood’s Nonsuch and Cox’s Orange Pippin, and his first selection from the results became the apple named after him in 1899. It was first exhibited in 1890.
Now used as a dual purpose apple. It is lightly aromatic, very sweet and juicy, with a firm texture, delicious to eat raw, and keeping its shape when cooked. Good for baking.
Picked in Sept it will keep until December, but best used earlier as the flavour does fade.
Charles Ross - raised by Charles Ross, who was the head gardener at Welford Park in Berkshire from 1860 until 1908. He crossed Peasgood’s Nonsuch and Cox’s Orange Pippin, and his first selection from the results became the apple named after him in 1899. It was first exhibited in 1890.
Now used as a dual purpose apple. It is lightly aromatic, very sweet and juicy, with a firm texture, delicious to eat raw, and keeping its shape when cooked. Good for baking.
Picked in Sept it will keep until December, but best used earlier as the flavour does fade.
Egremont Russet - the most important and widely grown russet apple in the UK.
The variety has been known since 1872, though it's earlier history is unknown. There are hints that it was originally on Lord Egremont's estate at Petworth in Sussex.
The apples are medium sized with russet colouring over a green skin, sometimes with broken red patches showing,
It has a sweet,nutty taste that becomes richer with storage.
Pick in late September and early October, it keeps until December.
BERKSHIRE APPLE:
Granny Shan - A cooker found in a Newbury garden!
The original variety name is now lost, as it cannot be readily identified from any similar apples in national collections. "Rediscovered" in the family garden by Shannon Carr and bred by Bernwode Nursuries in Buckinghamshire, who have adopted the name given by her daughter - Granny Shan.
The fruit is distinctively shaped which it retains when cooked lightly,but will puree if left to cooker longer. It has a full flavour.
Flowers late in the Spring but is ready to pick by the end of September.
James Grieve - raised by James Grieve in Edinburgh in 1893 and introduced by his employers Dickson's nursery.
Produces round fruits with bright yellow-orange skin and a bright orange-red flush or streaking.y
The flesh is creamy-white, soft but very juicy.
Pick in mid September. The main eating season lasts until the end of October, but it can be picked early for cooking and can keep until December.
Limelight -This is an excellent new disease resistant dessert apple bred in Kent in 1985 and introduced in 2000.
A cross between Discovery (for shape and taste) and Greensleeves (for colour). Good for wet ground conditions.
Ripe in mid September and keeps until December.
BERKSHIRE APPLE:
Miller's Seedling - Raised by James Miller in 1848 at Speen Nursery, Newbury. Very decorative fruit, with a creamy skin flushed coral pink, and sweet, crisp, juicy flesh. Crops heavily, but sometimes trees produce biennially and fruit bruises easily, so commercial production was limited.
An early dessert apple – normally ready for August Bank Holiday- which should be eaten soon after picking.
Planted at the Digby Road orchard only a few hundred metres from it's "home" in Speen.
St Edmund's Pippin - An early Russet variety raised by R Harvey in Bury St Edmunds, hence the name.
An excellent early apple with a rich and sweet flavour and hint of pear and vanilla.
Pick in mid September. Needs to be eaten by the end of October as it does not keep well. Is also good for juicing and cider.
Tom Putt - Raised in the 1700s, probably by the Rev Tom Putt in Trent, Somerset. A cooker that is also used in cider making.
Fruits are naturally uneven in shape, yellow-green in colour with red flushes or stripes. It has a crisp, slightly acid flavour and can be eaten straight from the tree.
Pick in early September and keeps until November.
Welford Park Nonsuch - Raised by Charles Ross, Head gardener at Welford Park from a seed sown in 1864. Despite having a high reputation the variety was lost for several decades and was rediscovered in Herefordshire in 2007.
A dual purpose apple with an excellent aromatic flavour and tender flesh. The fruit has pink\red and orange flushes.
Pick in early or mid October September and keeps until November.
BERKSHIRE APPLE:
Winston - Raised in 1920 by William Pope at Welford Park. It was originally called Winter King in 1935 and then renamed Winston in 1944.
A cross between Cox’s Orange Pippin and Worcester Pearmain, it has medium sized fruit, conical and boldly streaked with red, over green. Flesh is crisp, pale and sweet with the flavour of a Cox.
A late dessert apple, ripe in late October, it will store until March. Said to be disease resistant.
Winston - Raised in 1920 by William Pope at Welford Park. It was originally called Winter King in 1935 and then renamed Winston in 1944.
A cross between Cox’s Orange Pippin and Worcester Pearmain, it has medium sized fruit, conical and boldly streaked with red, over green. Flesh is crisp, pale and sweet with the flavour of a Cox.
A late dessert apple, ripe in late October, it will store until March. Said to be disease resistant.
King of the Pippins - named in the early 1800s by Mr Kirke, a nurseryman of Brompton, but was known even earlier as Golden Winter Pearmain. The fruits are sweet, crisp and juicy with a rich flavour. Very good of small, lunchbox-size apples.
Pick in early October, it's eating season is mid-October to December, but will keep until February.
Lord Lambourne - raised in 1907 by the Laxton Brothers of Bedford and introduced to the public in 1923. The trees are known good croppers, producing yellow/green fruit with a strong red and orange flush. Creamy white flesh with a strong aroma
Pick in mid September, can keep until November.