Old Varieties

Celebrating and remembering old fruit and vegetable varieties

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Natural Storage

Apple – Red Ellison’s Orange

The Red Ellison’s Orange is a more highly coloured sport of Ellison”s Orange and was discovered in 1948 in H.C. Selby’s orchard in Walpole St. peter, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

Red Ellison's Orange
Red Ellison's Orange

The Fruits have a soft juicy flesh with a rich and strong aniseed flavour.

Red Ellison’s Orange is a good mid season eating apple.

Uses: Desert
Parents: Female – Cox’s Orange Pippin x Male – Calville Blanc
Flowers: Mid May
Picking: Mid September
Natural Storage: September – October.


The Red Ellison’s Orange apple can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.
Young trees available from Adams Apples


Bramley’s Seedling

The Bramley’s Seedling apple is a triploid, raised around 1809 – 1813 by Mary Ann Brailsford in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England.

Bramley's Seedling
Bramley's Seedling

It was introduced by Nurseyman H. Merryweather in 1865 and first exhibited in 1876, receiving a First Class certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1893.

By far the most popular culinary apple in the UK and the variety most often found on supermarket shelves.

The fruit is a green/yellow with a strong acid flavour.  A vigorous grower.



Uses: Culinary
Parents: Unknown
Flowers: Mid May
Picking: October
Natural Storage: October to March.

The Bramley’s seedling apple can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.
Young trees available from Adams Apples

Apple – Egremont Russet

The Egremont Russet apple is a classic English Victorian variety, originating in England in 1872.  Believed to have been raised by the Earl of Egremont in Petworth, Sussex, England.

Egremont Russet
Egremont Russet

This medium sized desert apple has a dull golden skin flecked with yellow and is the third most common apple in cultivation in England and Wales.

The flesh of the Egremont Russet is quite dry but juicy with a  sharp-sweet, delicately “nutty” flavour. The flesh becomes drier with keeping.




Uses: Desert
Parents: Unknown
Flowers: Mid May
Picking: October
Natural Storage: October to December.

The Egremont Russet can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.
Young trees available from Adams Apples

Apple – Charles Ross

The Apple Charles Ross was raised by it’s namesake, a gardener at Welford Park Gardens, Newbury, Berkshire.

Charles Ross
Charles Ross

First exhibited in 1890 as Thomas Andrew Knight ( Then President of the Royal Horticultural Society) but renamed Charles Ross at the request of his employer, Captain Carstairs in 1899.

The apple won the RHS Award of merit and a first class certificate in 1899.

Fruits are rather course in texture, juicy and sweet with a moderate flavour.  The skin bears an orange / red flush.

Easy to grow and scab resistant, this apple bakes well and is a valued garden apple.

Uses: Dual purpose (mainly desert)
Parents: Female – Peasgood Nonsuch x Male – Cox’s Orange Pippin
Flowers: Mid May
Picking: Mid September
Natural Storage: October to December.

The Apple Charles Ross can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.

Apple – Kidds Orange Red

Kidd’s Orange Red is a classic English apple. Named after an amateur New Zealand apple breeder, J.H. Kidd, in the 1920s.

Kidd's Orange Red
Kidd's Orange Red

The thin skin is yellow with a pink blush as it ripens, turning to an orange-red flush by the time it is ready for picking. Irregular light patches of russet can give it a marbled appearance.

Flesh is a cream colour, dense and firm with a sweet honey flavour.

A good garden apple but not a heavy cropper.



Uses: Desert
Parents: Cox’s Orange Pippin x Red Delicious
Flowers: Mid May
Picking: October
Natural Storage: Nov-Jan