From Chris Murphy writing in the Sunday East Kent Digital Edition of 24/10/2010:-
The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England reports that in the last decade the UK has lost 31% of its apple orchard land; in the last 25 years more than 1/2 our apple orchards have disappeared. Between 1946 and 2003, 92% of orchard land disappeared in Kent county, and from 1999 to 2003, the net loss per year was 1.8%.

Every year Britons consume 680,000 tonnes of apples, but just 1 in 3 apples are British, despite the fact the climate in the UK can support 2,300 varieties.

Common Ground said "Since the 60's, Kent lost 80% of its orchard land. The reason so many have been lost is because the economics haven't been working because so many superstores have been buying the cheapest, and importing them from Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand at the height of our UK season from July to March. Many varieties are suitable for short-term storage, making UK produced apples available for much of the year."

Sally Roger, of the Brogdale Collections in Faversham, said: "Thousands of acres of orchards and many heritage varieties of apples, pears, plums and cherries have disappeared from Kent over the last few decades as shoppers have demanded more perfect looking fruit all year round from supermarkets."

You can select one of 8 APPLES by clicking on the thumbnail in

• Blossom Colour
• Foliage Colour
• Eventual Shape of Container Grown Apple Tree
• Eventual Shape of Bare Root Apple Tree
• Apple Fruit Colour or
• Apple Trres in Bed Picture Comparison Pages from the menu on the right

or by clicking on the Apple Tree Name in the list below.

To ensure that the apple blossom is pollinated by the bees, then another apple tree from the same or adjacent flowering group ( Group 1 with Group 1 or 2,
Group 2 with Group 1 or
Group 3, etc ) should be present within a short distance.

The list of Apple Trees is in alphabetical order with the
Acid/Sweet Taste - Flowering Group - Month of Picking in UK - Apple Type - Apple Name

Nurseries that grow and sell plants to the Public:-

Ken Muir Ltd, Honeypot Farm, Rectory Road, Weeley Heath, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. CO16 9BJ. Tel: 08707 479111. Email: info@kenmuir.co.uk. Website: www.kenmuir.co.uk grow soft fruit and top fruit plants. They provide a 175 page handbook packed with the most up-to-date comprehensive information on all aspects of fruit growing free with the first fruit stocks order (Grow Your Own Strawberries will be supplied instead with your order of strawberry plants).

Trees for Life, Frank P. Matthews, Berrington Court, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire. WR15 8TH. Tel: 01584 810214 Email: enquiries@fpmatthews.co.uk Website: www.frankpmatthews.com grow soft fruit and top fruit plants.

Marshalls, S.E. Marshall & Co, Alcondbury Weston, Huntingdon, Cambs. PE28 4HY. Tel: 01480 443390. Website: www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk sell seeds and plants.

It is a shame that British shoppers do not buy UK produced fruit, but if the British Public are prepared to put up with a Dairy Farmer being paid 3 pence less per litre of milk than it costs them to produce it and then for the suppliers between them and the consumer to charge 40 pence per litre extra, then how can we get the British Public to realise that if they do not support their own agriculture, then we shall lose it.

The British Public also has to pay to cross the M25 Dartford Crossing years after the toll has paid for it (the government imposed the toll to pay for the crossing and stated that the toll would be removed once it was paid for, which it was in 7 years) and that charge will be increased in the next 2 years (October 2010).

I wonder whether the phrase in the Rule Britannia Chorus of:-

Britons never, never, never shall be slaves

was incorrectly written and actually is:-

Britons always, always, always shall be slaves

since we as the British Public do not do anything about the above.