Once upon a time there were three apple trees…………. One was a Bramley, one was a Worcester Permain and one was Unidentified (because for the five years we have been here it never produced a single apple).

The two fruiting trees had been so badly pruned in the past that the apples produces were way out of reach and in the case of the Bramley down right costly. With a thud they fell on the roof breaking tiles as they bounced. The windfalls also bounced off our cars but it was the broken slates skidding down that did the damage. A blanket of apples lay on the ground attracting hoards of marauding wasps and hornets and if you weren’t careful getting into the car they became unwanted hitchhikers. The trees days were numbered.

A local chappy was duly called to take down the trees, but tree number three had a reprieve, it could stay. It was well behaved, producing lovely flowers in spring but no apples. It wasn’t a great shape but had lovely bark and It wasn’t any bother.

Now with the exceptionally late spring this year, all the fruit trees around us flowered pretty much at the same time (we live in a part of the world with the odd orchard or two). Now in the case of tree number three this was obviously a happy thing. For the first time in all these years the partner tree required to pollinate it was flowering just at the right time. So for the first time it has apples.

I have no idea what it is or what the apples taste like, it seems rather more eater than cooker. Happily our local school is having an Applefest so I might take it along for identification.

Its fate is now in the balance, if it’s going to do this on a regular basis it might just have to join its friends in the wood shed.

But for now it will be the ingredient for seasonal Bapple Cake.