Apples: News & Events 2026

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LEICESTERSHIRE
HERITAGE APPLES PROJECT:
NEWS 2026

Events
We ran a LHAP grafting course on the third Saturday in Feb 2026, all day, 9.30 for 10.00. If interested for next year please get in touch; email address is diversity(at)suttonelms.org.uk. We have a maximum group size of 8. Next year's will be on Sat 20 Feb 2027, assuming we have enough takers; price £55; it will probably last until about 3.30-4pm..

Details for the course are here:

If you would like to see photographs from this year's course, scroll down to 21 Feb.

Venue is Cosby Methodist Church, Leicestershire LE9 1RN.

IN THE ORCHARD
A more comprehensive guide to what we offer is on Mel Wilson's LHAP website 'In the Orchard', where a list of our LHAP workshops and talks can be found, including those in North Leicestershire (not listed here).

EVENTS SUMMARY 2026 for South Leicestershire
Sat 24 Jan Pruning at Cotesbach Hall orchard. (not LHAP)
Sat 31 Jan Pruning at Cotesbach Hall orchard. (not LHAP)
Sat 14 Feb: Pruning the apple trees at Foxton (not LHAP)
Sat 21 Feb: All-day LHAP Cosby grafting course, 9.30 for 10.00; ends 3.00-3.30(ish) Cosby Methodist Church. (N & A) £50 pp.
Tues 28 Apr: Interview with Lois Pryce and Louise Orchard for a Radio 4 programme about 'Annie Elizabeth'
Sun 28 Jun: Leic Uni Botanical garden, plant & family day. All day. (N and A)
Sat 3 Oct: Apple Day at Cotesbach Hall (Cotesbach Educational Trust), all day. (N & A)
Sun 11 Oct: Apple Day & tasting at Donisthorpe orchard, 11.00am - 3pm. (Nigel & Alison)
Sun 18 Oct: Radio 4, 7.15pm; then on BBC Sounds: The Mysterious Case of Annie Elizabeth

OUTLINE FOR 2027 for South Leicestershire
End-Jan and early Feb: Cotesbach Hall orchard pruning, two separate days.
Early Oct: Apple Day, Cotesbach Hall
Early Oct: Cosby Apple Day
Oct: Donisthorpe Apple Day

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APPLE DAY, DONISTHORPE
Sun 11 Oct: This was held in the orchard. There has been a poor crop of apples this year because of the excessive heat over most of the summer. Sawfly has also been rife. Leicestershire Heritage Apples (Alison and me on this occasion) were again given a prominent position on the top track; we were clearly visible to everyone as they entered the plot and we had a lot of interest from visitors; over 100 people came to see us (a number of them dragged by young children who'd sampled our tasting before), and 68 participated in our apple tastings. There were many other interesting stalls though we were too busy talking about apples (almost continuously from 11 am to 3 pm) to look at many of them. There was also some moderate-volume folk music which was loud enough to enjoy but not too loud to prevent conversations with our visitors. No cidermaking competition was in evidence this year, perhaps caused by the difficult weather; I hope it returns next time.

We set out eight apples for people to try; Golden Delicious from our trial plot, four varieties which very few people know about (Belle de Boskoop, Limelight, Surprize and Princesse Russet.), and three of our own seedlings. As some of you know, we are engaged in commercial apple breeding as well as promoting Leicestershire Heritage Apples. We are interested in producing more palateable red-fleshed varieties (high anti-oxidants: good health benefits) plus apples with more varied flavours than those currently available. Progress is being made, and it's always good to see how the public react to our offerings. The three seedlings we used all possessed the redflesh gene, expressed to different extents, and the flavours were unusual, including one with a powerful 'punch' of sweet-&-sour. We saw people we recognized from previous Apple Days, and as usual, were visited by some of our old grafting students reporting on the progress of their trees. One person wanted the name of the tree he'd grafted about 3 years ago where the lettering on his label had disappeared. Difficult to help, but next year, perhaps, when we see the first fruit...

We had discussions about the apple market, why it takes so long for a new apple to reach the shops once it's been selected, the restricted flavours you get when you buy from the supermarkets, and the vast range of the flavours which exist in this surprising fruit. We have apples which taste of citrus, vanilla, bibblegum, licorice, for example. Yet when you go to the supermarket the main quality that the apples have is that they are inoffensive; tolerated by those who buy them, but lacking flavour. Though as you will have discovered if you tasted our selection this afternoon - Golden Delicious from your own tree is nothing like Golden Delicious from the supermarket. It's quite a decent apple, and a good storer.

Please email if you would like to attend any of our grafting courses. Mel Wilson does courses in North Leicestershire; Alison and I hold an all-day (5 or 6 hour) session on the third Saturday in February in Cosby each year. The cost of the Cosby course is £55; date will be Sat 20 Feb; 9.30 for 10.00 in the Methodist Church Hall. (see link at the top for the complete list of what LHAP does). And for those of you who are curious about what you tasted, the results are shown below.

Scores: these are the responses to the question: 'which is your favourite apple of the ones you've tasted?'
22 Seedling 2917: 'fruit-punch' and pale pink flesh
11 Seedling 4116: deep red flesh and tastes of berries
10 Limelight; strong taste of lime and grape
8 Surprize: sold pink flesh; hints of anise and watermelon
6 Princesse Russet
5 Seedling 13516: intensely fruity, small, and pale pink flesh
4 Belle de Boskoop: strongly aromatic
2 Golden Delicious

A few snaps below; click on the thumbnails for a better view.

11 Oct 26

BROADCAST DATE
We now have a broadcast date for the Annie Elizabeth programme: Sunday 18th October, 7.15pm, Radio 4. I'm reproducing Lois's Facebook post below. We hope you find it interesting. And if you'd like to come on our grafting course, please let us know.

5 Oct 26

APPLE DAY, COTESBACH
An enjoyable Apple Day at Cotesbach Hall, in the stable yard, Saturday 4 Oct, 11am-2.30 pm. . We also ran an apple tasting, with 8 unusual types of apple, including some redfleshed ones which we've used in our breeding work. Pictures of the day's activities will be put below when I have time. Many thanks to Sophy and Annie for a delicious lunch - Cotesbach quiches are easily the best in the county!

4 Oct 26

OPEN DAY, BOTANICAL GARDEN, LEICESTER UNIVERSITY
The day was busy as usual, and rather hot. There were many stalls. LHAP was represented in the main hall by Alison and me, answering questions about apple tree problems and talking to past grafting students. (and another student from 36 years ago, but that's another story). I've put a few snaps below to give a flavour of the event. Main topics of discussion this year were the trouble caused by apple ermine moths, problems with aphids, and how to tame (and balance) vigorous trees.

30 Jun 2026

APPLE DAYS
Dates for your diary - note that we will be attending Apple Days at Cotesbach (3 Oct) and Donisthorpe (11 Oct) later in the year. This will include apple tasting: of unusual varieties, including those from leicestershire and others from around the world and from our breeding programme. There is no charge for this unique experience.

We are also in attendance at the Leicester University Botanical Garden open day on Sunday; 28 June, where we'll be talking about apple pests and your coming to one of our grafting days to make your own apple trees. We look forward to seeing you there.

26 Jun 2026

GRAFTING PHOTOGRAPHS
All of our students on the Feb grafting course have contacted us with progress of their trees, and have sent photographs. The success rate has been good; remember to keep checking below the grafts to rub out any rootstock shoots.

15 May 2026

THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF ANNIE ELIZABETH
I and others have recently been asked to help contribute to a programme (title above) about the Annie Elizabeth apple and the history of how it was raised; an interesting human story. Regular readers of this page will be aware that Mel Wilson of LHAP located the original AE tree in 2011 and you can find some information about it, plus pictures, on the Annie Elizabeth page.

Annie Elizabeth was known to me for years as the Sutton Elms apple; the people who marketed it (Harrison's Seeds) once lived in the old brick farmhouse in Sutton Elms, which has now been turned into an old people's home. When I was a child it was a dairy farm run by Alec Essex. I was told years ago to check the old garden there to see if Annie Elizabeth was there, but any such tree had long gone.

Anyway, back to the programme: we were visited by Lois Pryce and Louise Orchard, who have made a number of 30-minute documentaries for the Sunday evening "Illumination" series. Lois did the interviewing; Louise made the recordings. We visited the house where the original tree is still located, and chatted to the owners about the man who raised the tree, and the garden's history. The programme, a mixture of apples and genealogy, will be broadcast in the Sunday evening "Illumination" slot fairly soon, presented by Lois and produced by Louise Orchard of 2° West, for BBC Radio 4.


The picture shows Alison, Lois Pryce (interviewer) and Nigel in the evening sunshine after locating the gravestone of Samuel Greatoex, the man who raised the seedling of 'Annie Elizabeth', the well-known Leicestershire apple.

Details are on the Annie Elizabeth page. I will alert you closer to the time.

3 May 2026

ANNIE ELIZABETH PARENTAGE
Annie Elizabeth, a Leicestershire apple raised from a pip by Samuel Greatorex in 1857, was rumoured for years to have had Blenheim as a parent.

This has always appeared to me to be a tall story; there's no way it can be true. Annie Elizabeth is a very vigorous variety; the original tree reached about 40ft in its heyday. Blenheim is triploid so its seedlings struggle to grow; they are invariably puny, assuming you can get any of the pips to germinate.

.... Later note.....We now have an update about the parentage, as follows:

...DNA analysis confirms Rymer, paired with Northern Greening, as the parents of the cultivars Annie Elizabeth and Newton Wonder. Both Rymer and Northern Greening also appear as a parent or grandparent of Bramley’s Seedling. (From Hortnews.com)

1 May and 15 May 2026

ALL-DAY GRAFTING COURSE, COSBY, 21 Feb
Another enthusiastic group attended last Saturday's session, which lasted until about 4 o'clock. After introductions, we looked at natural grafting, then progressed to the reasons for grafting rather than using other forms of propagation. Cuttings don't work; seeds don't breed true; only grafting keeps the DNA the same. A budding simulation followed.

Next we moved on to properties of bark; how canker can be cut out and how bark can flow over wounds. Then to recognizing scion wood; knowing where to look and what to do if no scions are present. Following this we started grafting itself - making V-grafts. One student had difficulty handling her Opinel knife - new from the factory, but it was blunt! Never seen that before on a new knife! After sharpening on the oilstone it was fine.

The lunch break included a tasting of twelve Phase 3 apples (late ripeners and good storers); you can find the varieties on the photo below. Favourite varieties were Devitt Pippin, Mere Pippin, Burford Yellow and Xmas Pink. There was some interest in Burford's Redflesh, which tastes rather bitter when raw but which cooks very well. Alison supplied a delicious apple cake made mainly from this apple.

In the afternoon session, we demonstrated V-grafts and whip & tongue, with rootstock and scion of equal thinkness. We then moved onto using very thin scions on thick rootstocks. This often happens when trying to repropagate from an elderly tree.

Students completed the tasks without difficulty and then chose their scions and got to work. They all departed with new skills and two trees. The Leicestershire varieties were popular, especially Annie Elizabeth and Leicester Burton Pippin. Two students brought their own scions from old trees from their garden.

We hope you will all remain in touch, and that you will send pictures of your trees when they start to grow. Any queries - just email.

A few pictures from the session are shown below; click on the small pictures for clearer ones.

24 Feb 26

PRUNING DAYS AT COTESBACH HALL
The trees are now well-shaped and just need regular maintenance pruning: removing water shoots, removing congested growth and making sure the tree is well balanced and not allowed to get too tall. An open centre is also advisable when the growth habit allows it.

A group of 9 met on 24 Jan and sorted out the younger orchard; the older trees were tackled by a group of 6 on the following Saturday. Thanks to Sophy for the opportunity to pass on the art of pruning to those who are not familiar with it, and for the excellent lunches; one in the CET Centre and the other in the lovely Stable Yard cafe.

Some pictures are shown below; if you look closely you'll see some 'before' and 'after' shots (pictures 3,4,9,10). Click on the small pictures for a better view.

3 Feb 26

LEICESTERSHIRE APPLES
Alison and I recently did a tasting of virtually all of the Leicestershire Heritage Apples - the first time all of them had fruited in the same year. The link for the video is here:

Apple Tasting 1a, Leicestershire Varieties, 12 Oct 2025

4 Jan 26
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