In a field of about 2 acres near the farm at Croft we have a collection of very old apple trees, twisted with age but still productive. Some lie on their sides like wrecked ships and the smallish green apples with a red flush have an odd, somewhat ancient flavour of well matured cider with a peppery after taste. It conjures up images of wassailing parties of years gone by with pots and pans being played like drums along with hunting horns and the low hum of a concertina all to wake the spirits and to cast a spell for a good harvest.
We have always called the fruits in there ‘cow apples’ and just thought they were a well- known old cider variety. However we had our plant specialist from the Trust come out to check the provenance of some of our well known older varieties and to take samples for DNA testing. One of the samples was a cow apple and to our amazement it turned out that there was no DNA match for it on record so to all intents and purposes it is unique to Croft .We hope to propagate it to keep a viable stock and then hopefully give it a name – the mind reels with possibilities!