New Apples and Pear Maps for the Walled Garden

Gardeners Jo, Mark and James with the new apple and pear maps for visitors. Find them in the white box shown above, just inside the main entrance to the Walled Garden. 

Gardener Jo has been updating Beningbrough's apple and pear maps today, so that visitors can identify all the different varieties. There are 37 varieties of apple currently grown in our Walled Garden and 28 varieties of pear! They're looking fantastic at the moment too, and are out early this year. It's a good year for apples, pears and plums, according to our gardener Mark, because of the warm spring. Mark is an expert on our fruit trees so he's a great person to chat to about them if you see him in the gardens.

Marie-Louise pears, planted around 1890

The Marie Louise pears pictured above are a variety which has existed since the mid-1880s, but we think this tree, as with most of the pear trees at Beningbrough, was planted in the 1890s.We have a photo from 1916 where they are pictured, but according to a gardener who used to work here in the 1920s, they were here long before that.

Espalier Apple Tree

Beningbrough's apple trees are trained into pyramid trees, espaliers and cordons, and in the through the middle of the Walled Garden is our pear arch. Some of the trees in the arch are now coming to the end of their lives, and strangely this is when fruit production is at its most prolific - as though the tree wants to produce lots of seeds.

The pear arch in the Walled Garden

In October we have some real celebrations of our fruit and fruit trees coming up so watch this space. In the meantime, why not visit the Walled Garden - and don't forget to consult the new apple and pear maps!