There are five acres of orchards at Waterperry, dating back to Miss Havergal’s School of Horticulture, holding a collection of more than 60 different varieties of apple, including more unusual types like Ashmead’s Kernel, Orleans Reinette and Kidd’s Orange, as well as old favourites like Egremont Russet. Plums and pears are also here – Marjorie’s Seedling, Victoria and Opal for the plums, as well as greengages and damsons. The ornamental garden contains seven varieties of pear – Comice, Conference, Beurre Hardy, Williams, Gorham, Glou Morceau and Merton Pride.
Waterperry’s Family Apple tree, pictured above, was created by Chris Lanczak, the Orchard Manager, in 2010. It is a family apple tree onto which he is in the process of grafting around sixty different varieties of apples grown at Waterperry. The 25 year old Spartan ‘mother tree’ is in excellent health and has sufficient large branches to make it perfect for the tricky job of grafting on the new varieties. ‘It is am ambitious project but with early, mid and late season grafts, our family tree will provide fruit of different tastes and varieties over a very long season.’
I bought four bottles of apple juice from the shop – Ashmead’s Kernel, Norfolk Beefing, Howgate Wonder and Kidd’s Orange Red…..
The Teddington Gardener 