Old Varieties

Celebrating and remembering old fruit and vegetable varieties

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Saving Derbyshires Ancient Trees and Legends

Some of the oldest, greatest trees in the UK are located in Derbyshire, many are associated with local legends and ancient traditions.

A £45,200 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund is financing a project to capture these stories and give the trees better protection


oak-leaf
Some UK oaks are over 1000 years old


Volunteers will be recruited locally by The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, to carry out a range of tasks.

The Trust is building on a major tree survey, funded by an earlier HLF grant, which identified and mapped more than 4,000 veteran trees, some of which were found to be of not just regional, but of national importance.

The ancient trees, some of which are thought to be over a thousand years old, are important to the landscape and for wildlife, providing a habitat for many rare and endangered species.

Among their number are the Old Man of Calke, an oak tree thought to be more than 1200 years old, and the remains of the Betty Kenny Yew in Shining Cliff Woods near Crich which is believed to be even older. This tree was said to be the inspiration for the lullaby Rock-a-bye-baby in a tree top.

Although some of the identified trees are protected within reserves or sites of special scientific interest, most are outside such areas and have no legal protection. The project “Saving the Great Trees of Derbyshire” will train volunteers to help them monitor the condition of trees locally and spread awareness of their value. They will also be able to spot specimens at risk and take action to save them with specialist support.

Legend and folklore


Where there are local legends these will be documented and an archive created on the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s website. A programme of special events will also be devised to engage further public interest, including guided walks and craftwork for children and families.

Land owners, managers and local communities who have ancient trees locally will also be able to find advice online detailing how they can protect the older trees in the future.

Emma Sayer, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands, said:

“As well as their importance to the landscape and to nature conservation these magnificent trees have in many cases contributed to local folklore. This project will protect all these aspects and is especially appropriate as it is beginning within the International Year of Biodiversity.”

Commenting for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Jo Brown Conservation Manager said: “We are delighted that the HLF are supporting this project. Our survey showed that many ancient trees are at risk because their value is not recognised, and we hope that by helping people celebrate their local trees we can make sure they are still around for future generations to enjoy.”

More information

Heritage Lottery Fund

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust

Return of the Doddin Apple

The small, sweet Doddin (Daddin) apple is a native of  Worcestershire and thanks to a few dedicated people, is set to make a comeback.

What is the Doddin?


doddin_apple
Small, sweet fruits made this a popular "scrumper's" apple



The Doddin (sometimes pronounced Daddin) is an apple tree that is rather diminutive in size but produces heavy yields of equally diminutive but juicy and very sweet apples.

Doddin apples are ready for harvest in July.  Pale green in colour, they are slightly larger than a golf ball and a little elongated.

They are best eaten within a few days of picking and are eaten whole, including the core.  A real hit with children due to it’s small size.

A Doddin tree grows freely on its own rootstock and tolerates wet and heavy clay soils.

Doddin Preservation Society

It is thought that the Doddin apple tree is found only in the town of Redditch, Worcestershire, England and the immediate surrounding area. The actual numbers of native Doddin are not known but there are probably less than twenty.

The Doddin Preservation Society, is a not for profit organisation whose aims are to;

  • Discover and, where possible, preserve existing specimens and  encourage others to do so.
  • Keep The Doddin name in the public domain.
  • Reproduce, by vegetative means, The Doddin and endeavour to raise specimen numbers.
  • Get The Doddin recognised as a variety and to be accepted by the national collection at Brogdale.

World War II





Unpruned and unfed Doddin
An unpruned, unfed Doddin shows it's natural shrubby nature





Pip Taylor of The Doddin Preservation Society said;

“I remember my father telling me of The Doddin and of how it was an important crop for the people of Redditch during the War.

The apple’s virtues are; cropping early in July, thus extending the apple harvest, very sweet and bite size.

During wartime England, when sweets had disappeared from shop shelves, The Doddin could send a child in raptures of ecstasy with just one bite.

The sweetness is exceptional, combined with the low level of malic acid so, with its deminutive size it lent itself nicely to a sweet substitute. Bought for a penny a bag it was not unusual for locals to take them into cinemas.

Eaten whole, there would be nothing left but the stalk. The only drawback is the high tannin levels which can turn the teeth brown”.

Doddin’s Fall and Rise

With the expansion of Redditch, which was designated a New Town in the early 1970s, most of The Doddin trees in gardens and allotments disappeared under the new ring roads and housing developments.

Recently, Pip Taylor became concerned that the younger generation and those recent to the town, would not know of The Doddin and may cut down existing trees.





Taking cuttings from a Doddin
Kevin taking cuttings from a well fed Doddin





Pip’s hope was for nothing more than to get the apple’s name in the local press but with the help of Kevin O’Neil of Walcot Nursery, Drakes Broughton, Worcestershire, they managed to get a good number of maiden Doddins ready for sale.

Kevin took material from a local Doddin to graft onto various rootstocks for bare root maidens which where ready in November 2010.

Judging from the response, these are popular little trees and would be well suited to the smaller gardens of today or even container planting.

Doddins throw suckers and unlike many commercial apples, they survive quite well on their own rootstock.

It is not known yet, just how long a tree will take to bear fruit but they are slow growing and the picture below, is of a tree which is thought to be the oldest at about 80 years old, showing just how diminutive they are.

We have been told that there are only a few plants remaining from the 2008/2009 cuttings but new stock is quite likely to be grafted this year.

If you are keen to own a Doddin, it is suggested that you contact Walcot Nurseries to reserve your plant.  The Doddin is probably the earliest fruiting apple known and as such is not likely to tolerate climates which suffer late frosts.

Doddins on the map





Doddin thought to be about 80 years old
Apple scrumping memories from an 80 year old tree





The Doddin Preservation Society are trying to place all known Doddin trees on the map and would love to hear from anybody who thinks they may have one.

We at Oldvaieties.com would be interested to know how many Doddins still survive and if you know of any stories or folklore surrounding this fruit.

Is this the oldest Doddin tree?

How was the fruit used?

Do you have an old Doddin recipe?

Contact us using the comments section at the end of this article.

More information

Doddin Preservation Society

Walcot Organic Nursery – A selection of traditional and modern fruit tree varieties.

BBC – Rare apple planted in local orchard.

Help available for orchard management

Natural England hope that a new guide will curb the demise of the English fruit orchard.

Traditional orchards are a classic feature of the English landscape and are fantastic places for wildlife but they have been disappearing at an alarming rate.

According to Natural England over 75% of traditional orchards in England have vanished since the 1950s.

A red apple
New guides produced to help orchard owners

Orchards are home to wildlife

Restoring and managing orchards is good for wildlife and it is hoped the new guides will also help protect the orchard eco-system.

The guides are designed to provide practical advice to land managers on how best to look after orchards in their care and are now available as PDFs  by following the links below.

Orchards are important for a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna and in 2007, traditional orchards received UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority status in recognition of their importance to wildlife.

Wildlife is attracted to the mosaic of habitats such as dead wood, scrub, hedgerows, unimproved grassland and ponds.

Declining bird species such as the lesser spotted woodpecker and bullfinch can thrive in orchard environments, as can a wide diversity of mosses, lichen and fungi and bat species.

Traditional orchards also provide important habitats for the beautiful, but rare noble chafer beetle, that lives in the dead wood of older trees.

Orchard advice guides (.pdf)

Produce Link

Following requests from readers trying to find out what they can do with surplus fruit and veg, we have created an online database linking growers with food producers.

There are many family run specialist food producers around the UK, who will take in or harvest surplus fruit and veg in return for a quantity of the finished product.

The UK has many gardens which are home to old varieties of fruit which are full of flavour and go to waste every year, as well as those types of fruit which are no longer in commercial cultivation, such as Quinces and Medlars.

Thanks to specialist food producers, we are now starting to see a revival in the use of these rare varieties, harnessing recipes and skills from our past.

Medlar Jelly, juices from pears and apples, along with wines and ciders are among the many British products now gracing our shelves. So full of unique flavour, they make a welcome change to the usual mass produced fare.

If you would like to be added to our list of growers and producers, then please contact us via the comments section at the end of this post.

Looking for Medlars

Medlars are one of our ancient British fruits making a come back.

During the middle ages, people would have been very familiar with this strange looking small fruit which is actually eaten in it’s over ripe or “bletted” stage.

Common Medlar
Common Medlar

No longer in commercial cultivation, old gardens are generally home to the only trees in the UK.  Some of these trees will be about two hundred years old.

Tracklements Ltd. in Wiltshire have launched a delicious new Medlar Jelly. Great with turkey, pheasant or game it is perfect for the Christmas table or the cold cuts’ table for left-over meat.

The medlars for this jelly were picked by the kind people int he surrounding area. You can see pictures of the donatees and picking adventures on their facebook page.

Tracklements started a quest to find some of these ancient medlar trees and the option of taking the unused fruit in return for finished product.

BBC Countryfile heard of this project and joined them picking for a day.

Put your fruit to work

We are aware that there are various food producers around the UK who will take in unused fruit from gardens and orchards in return for a quantity of finished product.

It would be handy for producers and growers if we could create a database of people willing to link up and put the country’s unused fruit to good use.  If you are interested in joining our list then please contact us via the comments section at the end of this post.

More information

Common Medlar – More information about the Common Medlar

Tracklements Ltd

BBC Countryfile