Rosy future for apples as orchard is restored

Thousands of traditional apple orchards have been lost over the last decade, but in Yorkshire a revival is under way. Roger Ratcliffe reports.

IT has to be said that some apple varieties don't exactly sound appetising. For instance, does anyone want a Catshead? Or how about a Bloody Ploughman. Yet these apples are much sought-after by connoisseurs.

The Catshead is a cooking apple which originated in England during the 1600s. With a tart flavour and bright green colour, it was one of the varieties taken to America by early English settlers. Today it is not one you will find on supermarket shelves there or anywhere else. It may be highly prized for its flavour, but it has a lumpy shape which modern consumers are thought to find too unappealing.

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The Bloody Ploughman, by comparison, is a youngster. It appeared in Scotland in the 1880s, and has become a well-regarded eating apple with those who can find it. Blood-red with pink-stained flesh, it was given the strange name after a ploughman was caught stealing the apples and was shot by a gamekeeper.

Both of these varieties of apple are present in an orchard now undergoing restoration on the edge of the North York Moors, thanks to financial help and advice from Natural England.

The orchard at Arncliffe Hall, a few miles north of Osmotherley, on the north west edge of the North York Moors National Park, is one of 19 traditional orchards in the region being saved.

Britain has been losing such orchards at an alarming rate. Research carried out by Natural England has shown that 63 per cent of our orchards have disappeared since 1950.

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The decline is partly due to the huge amount of apples now imported. Our most popular apple is the Braeburn, which mostly comes from New Zealand. Other top varieties are Granny Smiths from Australia and French Golden Delicious.

Despite there being over 2,000 apple varieties to choose from, supermarkets stock only 25 of them. Independent greengrocers have a better record, stocking about 50 British varieties.

Natural England's area manager, Peter Welsh, says: "Although traditional orchards have sadly and rapidly declined in recent years, our agri-environment schemes can help redress the balance. The demand for local food and vintage flavours will hopefully encourage more farmers and landowners to restore these environmentally and historically important sites."

Arncliffe Hall is the home of Sir John Hall, his wife Venetia and their two children. It was built between 1753 and 1754 by the noted Yorkshire architect John Carr, whose other works include Harewood House and the Crescent in Buxton. Although Arncliffe Hall has been altered, the structure of the gardens has remained broadly intact.

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It was bought in 1902 by Sir John's great-great grandfather, Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, who was one of the founders of the great iron and steel industry on Teesside. The company known as Bell Brothers owned the whole process from ironstone mines, and collieries to factories and foundries, and at one stage employed 47,000 workers.

When the family bought the Arncliffe Hall estate there was one orchard in the lower part of the gardens. It was thought to have been there since at least the 18th century but perhaps even longer – there was another house on the site dating back to the 1500s. In Edwardian times more apple and pear trees were added.

Today, Sir John Bell farms the estate with 1,100 acres of arable and 500 acres of grazing for his pedigree South Devon cattle and Lleyn sheep. It was through taking part in Natural England's Higher Level Stewardship scheme, to maintain and improve the land for greater biodiversity, that the idea of restoring the orchard came about.

The orchard is about 2.5 acres and is being restored with the help of one of Yorkshire's foremost apple authorities, Barry Potter. Each tree has been individually fenced to stop damage from sheep, and expertly pruned to thin out the trees' interior.

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"This has let light into them," says Lady Venetia, "so that the apples have a bit more energy reaching them from the roots and bit more sunshine coming through. The trees yield less apples, as a result, but the fruit is in better condition."

Besides apples like Catshead and Bloody Ploughman there are some old cooking varieties like the Howgate Wonder and the Grenadier, and classic but hard-to-find dessert apples like the Egremont Russet and one known as James Grieve.

Sir John hopes to add to the list by planting one of Yorkshire's oldest varieties, the Ribston Pippin, an intensely flavoured dessert apple which was first grown in 1688 at Ribston Hall, near Knaresborough, and is said to come from a pip brought from Normandy.

There are also Williams and Conference pears, and Victoria Plums, and walnut, cobnut and hazel trees. With 40 fruit trees in all, there is too high a crop for Sir John and his family to consume themselves, despite storing numerous boxes in Arncliffe Hall's spacious cellar and converting many apples to juice, cider, pies and chutneys. The residue is offered to local people for free, and about 200lb of mostly windfall fruit is taken to the apple press at Ampleforth Abbey to be turned into brandy.

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But restoring orchards is not all about the apple crop. They are also very important for wildlife biodiversity. Birds feed on the insects and larvae found on leaves, and eat windfall fruit in autumn. Bats are also attracted by the large numbers of airborne insects found in orchards.

Lady Venetia says: "It's not just our imagination, there really does seem to be more going on outside since we entered our Higher Level Stewardship scheme. There is more birdsong in spring and summer. I think what we're doing has made quite a difference."

CW 16/10/10