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; £50. 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.

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.
Late Jun: Leic Uni Botanical garden, plant & family day. All day. Date not yet available. (N and A)
Sun 11 Oct: Apple Day & tasting at Donisthorpe orchard, 11.00am - 3pm. (Nigel & Alison)
Cotesbach Hall Apple Day: Date not yet fixed.

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GRAFTING PHOTOGRAPHS
All of our students on the Feb grafting course (except 1) have contacted us with progress of their trees, and most 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. 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.

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.

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 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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