I am Stephen Hayes, the apple maniac of Old Hampshire, Old England. Slightly mad but mostly harmless. I want to infect you with the love of the good old English apple. OK, I know the apple originally came from Kazakhstan via Persia, but we English have made it our national fruit and over the centuries a legion of enthusiastic amateur gardeners, plus nurserymen like the Laxton brothers, have unleashed the genetic potential in the original apples that the Romans, Normans and others brought here from the east and due to their loving efforts over the years we have the 6,000 or so varieties, intelligently selected to meet many tastes. England has a great apple heritage which is under threat from globalisation and supermarket hegemony and IT MATTERS! Home grown flavour and freshness really IS better than imports even before you think about food miles and horticultural heritage. And you should think about food miles! Don't you know the oil's gonna run out?




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