This website has been set up to help people to enjoy their local apples orchards, the trees in their gardens, and to learn something about the historical importance and heritage of apples in the town. It has grown out of a project with Leominster Meeting Centre, and is supported by the Heritage Pathfinders Seedcorn Fund, supersum, the University of Worcester Association for Dementia Studies and The Tudor Trust.
We want to encourage individuals and groups to enjoy the apples that are such an important, if ordinary part of our culture. This site is a work in progress and will develop over time. It is not designed to be a specialist website for particular subjects like wildlife, heritage varieties or poems about apples, but it is a great place to find out about apple things.
In 2023 we are looking for funding to be able to give talks, demonstrations and take walks and apple information into the community. We would like to provide sessions for schools, community centres and adult education and to help foster links between community groups. We can provide specialists and enthusiasts in various fields including wildlife, biodiversity, traditional and modern apple recipes, apple tree growing and care, the history of orchards, cider and apple juice making etc.
What is your favourite kind of apple? Do you enjoy making or eating pies, chutneys, cakes and other recipes using apples? Do you use phrases like ‘An apple a day keeps the Doctor away’? There is much to discover about how important apples have been and are to the people of Leominster.
Apple Phrases
Apple Phrases are common in our language, an important part of our heritage, and provide an interesting source of conversation about all kinds of subjects at...
The Bramley
The world’s oldest Bramley tree is 212 years old. It was planted from a pip by Mary Anne Brailsford in 1809, in the Nottinghamshire town of...
Apple Quotation Quiz
Here's a list of authors who have written about the importance of apples. See if you can match the author to the quote? Solomon Jane Austen...
The Noble Chafer
The Noble Chafer is a rare, metallic-green beetle that can be found in traditional orchards. The larvae live in old, decaying fruit trees, where they take...
Marmalade Hover Fly
The marmalade hoverfly is commonly found in orchards, sunny woodlands, parks and gardens. The larvae eat aphids and the adults feed on nectar on flowers tansy,...
Leominster Orchards
Look at the number of orchards in around Leominster on this map of 1885 Cassey, in 1808, described the area surrounding Leominster as ‘one entire orchard’....
The Crab Spider
The flower crab spider is one of 27 species of crab spider. The female flower crab spider can alter the colour of its body to match...
The Ten Commandments Apple
The Ten Commandments apple is a small dark red flushed apple used for cider making or eaten as a dessert apple. It originated in Herefordshire in...
Simple Apple Muffins
Ingredients 1 tsp ground cinnamon 150g self-raising flour 3 dessert apples, peeled, cored and chopped finely pinch salt 120ml milk 1 egg, beaten 50g melted butter...
Apple Songs
Many of you, of a certain vintage, will know the Andrews Sisters’ ‘Don’t sit under the apple tree’, and the traditional ‘The sweetest girl I ever...
Apples in Language
Apples have always been an important part of life in Leominster. We use words connected to apples in our general conversations every day…rotten to the core,...
Animals & Insects in the Orchard
Animals that live in the orchard Three of the most important features of orchards are: the dead, or decaying wood caused by trees which age quickly...
The Millennium Orchard
The Millenium Orchard, just a short walk from the Priory Church, has a wide variety of apple trees (including dessert, cooking and cider apples). It is...
Interesting Apple Facts
Apples originated in the Middle East more than 4000 years ago. The Celtic word for apple is Abhall. They have been grown in the UK as...
Favourite Apples at Leominster Meeting Centre
There are many poems on the theme of apples including Laurie Lee’s famous ‘Apples’. If you feel inspired to write you own and would like us...