This is my selection of the sites I know and love, there are many others.
Of course they all have links to other sites, which have still further links...that's why they call it the world wide web. Cider links from our cider page .    

APPLE TREES

we bought our original stock from Blackmoor nursery in north Hampshire, near Liss.  The nursery business has recently gone independent from the main estate, but they are still there. Not far from the naturalist vicar Gilbert White's house, so if you are coming some way to pick up trees you might want to visit there and make a day of it.

Keepers nursery in Kent claim to have the largest number of varieties. I bought a very rare apple from them many years ago, they have changed hands since but  I am told by contacts they are still very good. First rate web site with much information about apples even if you are not buying.

For some apple and other fruit trees and the best range of hedging and coppice plants, try the excellent Buckingham nurseries. We have had hundreds of plants from them mail order and they have not let us down. Whether it's crab apples, medlar, quince, hazel, cedar, sloe, guelder rose or whatever, they have probably got it. They have a very nice colour catalogue you can download in Acrobat. Very good for plums.


The place to go for a superb orchard walk or if you want apples identified (cost £18.00) is the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, Kent. Sponsored by Tesco, it's future has hung in doubt in recent years-we would be better off losing every painting in every art gallery in London than losing our National Fruit collection-watch out, it's fragile and the genetics are non replaceable. To our shame, Julia and I have never visited Brogdale, but at blossom and harvest time when its most worth visiting, we always seem to have so much to do in our own lovely orchard, and its quite a ong drive, still we must find a way to get there in 2008, perhaps we'll fit a visit into a long weekend with a trip to Canterbury and a Calais booze cruise. A fine web site well worth a look, click here Brogdale


Thornhayes nursery in the west country also have a wide range of good things to grow including a very good range of cider apples, and a downloadable Acrobat catalogue which is packed with information about apples and well worth browsing even if you don't buy anything from them, which I confess I haven't yet. A friend showed me the catalogue at Damerham Apple Day a few weeks ago and he said he had found them excellent, so worthy of a mention.

Scotts of Merriot have recently put up a web site, find it here Scott's nurseries, Merriot, Somerset or write to Scott's Nurseries, Merriot, Somerset, TA16 5PL. They are a good source of cider apples, perry pears plus many rare apple varieties, also they specialise in roses. If you are going down that way there are a number of cider farms not so far away, not least Julian Temperley's place at Burrow Hill.



BOOKS

Obviously Amazon, but for a really interesting selection of books relating to apples, cider, alternative lifestyles, smallholding, forestry, backyard poultry, coppice crafts, compost toilets and what not, try eco-logic books of Bristol. Vigo mainly do cider making stuff but have books too including some very rare perry books.

. There are also loads of books and reviews on several of the cider oriented sites which I have linked to from the cider page.

These good people offer some lovely apples and other good things in Sussex, check them out.

Finest Quality British Apples at Farm Shop prices - Tullens Fruit Farm
English apples, organic lamb and apple juice at Farm Shop in Sussex.


VARIOUS

Check out  Ronnie Appleseed's website, especially if you live in or near Essex. Ron lives in Essex and started up a site devoted to the local apples and growers. Every county needs its Mr Appleseed. Also, try Googling on Johhny Appleseed-the legendary character really existed! I'll put something about him on the site in due course. I am also hoping to put something on line about the legendary Hamble delta bluesman Ramblin' Steve Appleseed, but that'll have to wait. He's a busy guy, and his very naughty teenage daughter is driving him crazy lately as well as the zider getting to his fevered brain, and the paperwork....I keep telling him to lay off it at the keyboard...but will he listen/?!?!?...

On a national scale, Common Ground tries to promote English local distinctiveness, they started with apples as an emblem of folkish local distinctiveness, but continue to branch out into other areas of life. They invented Apple Day, find out about this delightful festival and where your nearest event is. You are unlikely to live more than 90 minutes drive from an Apple Day event and if you have read this far you are probably fed up and bored enough against the MacdonaldCokeation of the nation to want to do something loving and lawful about it so WHY NOT ENJOY AN APPLE DAY EVENT THIS YEAR and MAKE ONE HAPPEN NEAR YOU NEXT YEAR!?

A new site set up by one Nigel Deacon which has a high apple content and plenty of links is Diversity . I have linked direct to Nigel's apple page, he has covered a lot of the same ground as me but differently, which is always worthwhile.

I discovered this new site while viewing my site statistics and noting that some people had come here from there. I checked it out briefly and it is a lovely site dedicated to the apple, nice book reviews and nursery details etc, well worth a click on orange pippin.com

Over the Atlantic Ocean, I recommend the apple journal site for an American view of things Pomological, and also the site of my friend Michael Phillips whose book "The Apple Grower" I have reviewed elsewhere in the site. On a more light hearted note, ALL ABOUT APPLES is a Canadian based Geocities site which is full of links and a bit of fun. As always, these sites are full of more links. Click away, fellow Cidersurfers! Hear about any good apple and cider sites, ESPECIALLY English ones, let me know on stephen.hayes007@onetel.net


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