An astonishing year for tree fruit across the farm!
As the harvest comes towards its end, we are only now realising how generous nature has been … from the early Mirabelles through to the Medlars which will, as ever, be the last fruit picked, the volume and quality have been one of the best years ever.
The quince trees are heavy with fruit after a couple of barren years and, similarly, every single pear tree has cropped well. In both cases, these are fruit which seem hard and dull when picked – only ripening fully when stored for a week or two. The pears ripening to a rich, soft sweetness and the quince to a fantastically exotic scent. All of these trees benefited from the wet Autumn and early Winter followed by a very long, dry Spring and Summer.
The one fruit that fared less well for us has been the Apple. As we can see all around, there have been improbably large numbers of apples but the fruit were, in most cases, less than half the normal size and the trees started shedding still unripe fruits with the change of weather in early September. The later harvesting apples that remained on the trees have now swollen to decent sizes and are delicious but the total harvest will be lower than most years. Of course the huge numbers of windfall fruits have been a delight for the geese and the pigs – both animals were kept in orchards historically to keep the grass and weeds under control in the summer and to mop up any windfalls in the autumn – both animals love apples and pears with the pigs particularly enjoying the rotting or, as we might surmise, the fermenting fruits! If you are visiting over the next few weeks, do feel free to collect windfalls and take them to the animals …
Still, we have so many trees that there are lots of apples for sale in the shop, heading to Rupert at Tiddly Pommes for juicing and also across our menu… Lots of Apple Sauce with the Roast on Sunday and the Scratchings all week. West Country Cider and Cream with the River Teign Mussels and the most delicious of apple desserts, our signature Tarte Tatin.
