Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness
Dispatches from the North West
“Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness”: so goes the well known first line of John Keats’ poem ‘To Autumn’. A little over 200 years since that poem was written we still marvel at the wonders and beauty of the season. Here in the Vale of Clwyd in the far north of Wales mists are rarely seen – in fact Team Terroir Gogledd Cymru/North Wales find it difficult to recall the last time it was truly misty or foggy in the Vale. To the east over the mountain range where north east Wales meets the Cheshire Plain the towns, villages and countryside are frequently shrouded in mist at this time of year but the fresh winds blowing across the Vale from the moors and mountains to the west ensure that any would-be mists are rapidly dispersed.
But fruitfulness we have in abundance. And not just fruit but also seeds and berries in profusion. It can be said that the autumn of 2022 has been truly bountiful, more so than for many years. The hedgerows are filled with blackberries, sloes, bullace (the latter two excellent for fruit gin connoisseurs), hips and haws. The trees are laden with acorns, rowan berries, crabapples, beech mast and chestnuts. Similarly the trees in our orchard have produced most plentifully and the fruit harvest has kept this part of Team Terroir fully occupied throughout much of October.
Orchards are not a dominant feature of the landscape of north Wales (unlike the vast areas of fruit trees in some English counties) but they do, in a quiet and discrete way, occur frequently in association with many farms and smallholdings. Small is beautiful as they say. Typically an orchard here can range from just five or six trees up to maybe a dozen or more but rarely larger. The small vernacular cottages may only have the space for one tree but growing fruit for self-sufficiency rather than any commercial reason is very much the tradition here. This is reflected in the fairly frequent occurrence of the Welsh word Perllan, often mutated to Berllan, in local farm and other place names. Examples include Ty’n y Berllan (house in the orchard), Cae Berllan (orchard field) or even Berllan Surgery in Denbigh suggesting it’s on an old orchard site.
Sadly many of these orchards are in serious decline with numerous dead and dying trees. Their contribution to biodiversity has been recognised for some time and traditional orchards were given priority Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) status in 2007. Much more information can be found in the Traditional Orchard Habitat Inventory of Wales produced by Natural Resources Wales (https://cdn.cyfoethnaturiol.cymru/media/685908/eng-report-018-traditional-orchard-habitat-inventory-of-wales-2014.pdf).
Our original orchard (see images above), which we think dates from around 1900, contained five apples, three pears and two plums. A typical mixture. What is of particular interest, of course, is the composition of types. Two of the apples are straight forward gnarled old Bramleys. One consistently crops heavily whilst it’s equally healthy immediate neighbour normally refuses to produce a single apple – this year being no exception. Very occasionally it concedes and yields maybe 10 or so fruits and then reverts to its intransigent state of fruitlessness. One apple tree succumbed to Armillaria (honey fungus) at an early stage and two of the remaining apples are of unknown varieties. Very productive they are too but we can only guess at their origin. With that in mind and aware of the need to conserve heritage varieties we have taken cuttings and grafted them onto rootstock. The other trees are a couple of pear varieties, a yellow plum which died recently and a Denbigh plum which is slowly disintegrating with each successive storm. The latter is of great interest though as it is the only plum variety native to Wales and now enjoys Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. It therefore stands alongside such wonders as Cornish Clotted Cream, Jersey Royal Potatoes and West Wales Coracle-caught Salmon! (https://businesswales.gov.wales/foodanddrink/how-we-can-help/new-uk-geographical-indication-gi-schemes-0/vale-clwyd-denbigh-plum-pdo). There are now a number of projects the length and breadth of Wales aimed at identifying and propagating heritage varieties of all fruit trees and encouraging the establishment and restoration of orchards.
To these trees we have added a couple of damsons and two more Denbigh plums as our original tree is in rapid decline. Anxious to ensure long term continuity we found a small area in the old paddock to plant more fruit trees.So the ‘new orchard’ was born (images above). Starting in 2008 with around 15 trees, mainly apple (including Worcester Permain, Cox, Red Falstaff, Russetts, and James Grieve) but also a plum and three Morello cherries (the latter having been disappointingly unsuccessful) the growth rate was phenomenal and most started to yield within a couple of years.
Above left and centre: Red Falstaff - small tree but consistently big crop Above right: Russett - all round versatile favourite
Two trees are of special note being North Wales heritage varieties. The first is the Enlli or Bardsey apple originating from a single tree on Ynys Enlli/Bardsey Island off the extreme North West tip of the Welsh mainland. More on this at www.bardsey.org which describes how the apple came to be ‘found’ as well as lots about this fascinating but remote island. The other tree of note is the Anglesey Pig’s Snout/Trwyn Mochyn Ynys Mon. So called because of its tapered and angular shape broadly reminiscent of a pig’s snout albeit rather greener! There is more on this at https://treborth.bangor.ac.uk/welsh-orchard.php.en along with descriptions of other Welsh heritage varieties growing at the Bangor University botanic gardens.
Above left: a cluster of Enlli/Bardesy apples Above right: the distinctively shaped Trwyn Mochyn Ynys Mon/Anglesea Pig’s Snout - crops late, keeps well, excellent baked or in pies
Fast forward nine years and the North Wales Wildlife Trust have embarked on a project to propagate and establish heritage fruit trees. We referred earlier to the typical farm orchard so often in decline. This project attempts to reduce that decline and foster better care and management of orchards and the attendant biodiversity value.
The Trust collected cuttings from unusual, maybe unique, varieties and grew them on. In many cases they didn’t know the names of the varieties so developed their own nomenclature. This consisted of a series of traditional Welsh girls’ names. Then, with the Trust overburdened with little trees needing secure homes, we were duly offered a number of young plants. So we acquired Myfanwy, Catrin, Angharad, another Enlli, several Denbigh plums and, slightly bizarrely, a Warner’s King (right) whose origins are in Kent. www.gardenappleid.co.uk
The importance of fruit trees and orchards for their wildlife value cannot be over-stated. Not just the trees themselves but their flowers for early pollinators, buds for finches, fruit for birds and butterflies (red admirals love fallen fruit) and the tall vegetation beneath. One tree or many trees – they all contribute significantly to biodiversity.
Next week is all about consuming fruit!
All images © T Thompson
Life and Death on the Fringe
The concept of the favourite aunt or uncle has always seemed a tad too sentimental for the likes of Terroir. We had no shortage of appropriate relatives. Between us we can muster seven uncles (of which four share our DNA) and twelve aunts (of which a mere five are genetically connected). The arithmetic is interesting, I agree, but multiple marriages (in sequence, we are not aware of any bigamy), plus an extra family lurking in the shadows, make for the usual complicated familial links. Some we never met, or even knew about as children. The known uncles and aunts were loved and appreciated but never promoted to ‘favourite’ status.
One set of relatives, however, has always generated an irresistible magic (one of Scary Great Granny’s daughters married into the clan – see Booth map blogs) and some years ago, I promoted a first-cousin-once-removed clan member to Favourite Cousin. No one could accuse Meg of being saccharine or a cliché. I first consciously met her when I was maybe six or seven years old, she in her early 30s, a tall figure in a beautiful summer dress. She knew how to engage with children - and also how to buy them presents. I still have that wooden jigsaw puzzle of the United States of America. I rated her as special from then on and was never disappointed. I hope she will forgive me for promoting her to ‘favoured’ status.
Last month, Meg died at the age of 92. I was uncharacteristically upset. The funeral was a Covid 19 limited edition, but with space for Terroir amongst the congregation of 30 max. The location was the Cotswold village of Ilmington, where Meg had previously lived for many years.
Why had Meg chosen Ilmington as her favoured terroir? It turned out that Ilmington had chosen her. A cousin (obviously not on the Terroir side, to whom such things do not happen) had left Meg a house in the village (a joint inheritance with someone else). Possibly scenting internecine warfare, the house was put up for sale, but the transaction later fell through. Realising the house was rather special, Meg and husband upped sticks, left the south east and moved in. They were right about the house and, fortunately, right about the village too.
Ilmington depicted on an Ordnance Survey map of 1897
The contours to the south west of the village rise inexorable up Campden Hill to the top of Ebrington Hill (731 feet above sea level). The gardens of Hidcote and Kiftsgate lie on the lower, western slopes of the hill.
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland' https://maps.nls.uk/index.html
Ilmington is described as a Cotswold Fringe Village. This seems to be an established typology, relating partly to geography (Ilmington is on the very northern fringes of the Cotswolds) rather than a derogatory comment on village character. It is also noted as the highest village in the Cotswolds and lies at the base of Ebrington Hill, the highest point in Warwickshire. I can bear witness to a certain draughtiness which becomes apparent when the sun goes in on an otherwise fine March morning.
Apart from its immediate attraction as a honey-coloured Cotswold village (however fringe), two specific things strike me about Ilmington. One is related to food and drink, and the other to architecture and buildings, both an integral part of any discourse on terroir.
Farmers have probably been cultivating the Cotswolds since the Neolithic period (from about 6,000 years ago) but Terroir’s sources of information stem from a slightly more recent era. Go to http://www.fabulous-50s.com/memories/oral-histories.html and you will find a rich seam of oral history called ‘Ilmington Remembers the 1950s’, inspired by celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 1977. The stories are captivating, and revealing about post-war Ilmington life, which very much revolved around agriculture and its supporting trades and activities.
Two things stand out. During a time of continued food rationing, when other communities were still struggling to find a sufficiency and variety of nourishment, it appears that the village had plenty to eat. Gardens and allotments were the norm, obviously well tended and productive, even to the level of providing a suplus for sale (there is a mention of one family producing over a ton of potatoes in a year). Blackberries were foraged for eating or selling on. Meat was avalable - often in the form of rabbit, but a more traditonal Sunday roast did not seem uncommon and there was a butcher in the village as well as a grocer. Local farmers had dairy herds and there is mention of milk available as well as fruit for making puddings. No one seems to mention hunger, and many comment on having enough to eat.
The other recurring theme relates to orchards. Lots of orchards. There is mention of plums grown locally, but the product of the apple orchards seems to have made the biggest impact, with many farm workers reported as receiving considerable quantities of cider as part remuneration for their daily labours!
The maps below show that orchards were significant thoughout the late 19C and though to the interwar years of the 20C. Both oral history and mapping confirm the importance of the orchards in the early 1950s, but by the end of that decade, surveys show the bginning of reduction in area. The orchards today are sad remnants of their former glory, more so perhaps than even in Kent or Herefordhire. Some of Ilmington’s orchards are extant but derelict, others converted to alternative uses including housing.
Terroir has, however, just ordered some refreshment from a renewed interest in the apple harvest resulting from remaining trees, and we will report back on the apple brandy and dry gin in due course.
All map images reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland' https://maps.nls.uk/index.html
Satelite image of Ilmington today.
A new tree-scape now characterises Ilmington but it is still possible to pick out where the orchards used to be.
© Google Maps 2021
Railway gricer alert: check out the route of the Morton-in-Marsh to Stratford Tramway, a horse drawn system authorised in 1821 to supplement the canal system, and visible on both maps of eastern Ilmington and on the satellite image.
Terroir is in possession of another document relating to food, this time a substantial cookery book, produced in 1982 to raise funds for the Ilmington Church Roof Fund. I can still remember Meg flogging us a copy in a determined effort to do her bit.
We can’t find a single recipe with her name on it, but it is obvious that diets have changed a lot since the Cider with Rosie era of the 1950s. Bacon Jack, Back-bone Pie and Soldiers Cake are now heavily outnumbered by Tonille aux Pêches, Bermudian Banana Fritters and Sole à L’Indienne. I leave you to draw your own conclusions on the changes in lifestyle and demographic.
But I also mentioned architecture and housing, and those honey-coloured, marlstone Cotswold buildings. Unsurprisingly, Ilmington is a very attractive village (excepting the draughts). Unsurprisingly it is also heavily regulated. The Cotswolds were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) (aka be innovative and outstanding before you even think about trying to build a house) in 1966. It was the 14th AONB to be designated and I’ve not begun to work out why it took them so long.
In 1969, nearly the entire village was designated a Conservation Area (apply for permission before you do nearly anything). When this designation was reviewed in 1995, there were 41 listed buildings or structures in the village (check your bank balance before contemplating modifications). Today, there are no less than 61 such listings!
An analysis of these buildings offers a fascinating insight into the agricultural heritage of ilmington and also to the extraordinary level of change which has occurred in the village since the 1950s. Out of the 61 listings, 58 are Grade II. Of these, I would suggest that over a third relate to the village’s agricultural heritage. No less than ten are described as ‘Farmhouse’ and the remainder are barns, outbuildings or cart sheds. Structures related to the religious life of the parish mop up another 10 listings, leaving less than 50% for other forms of residential buildings (which seem to range from cottage to Dower House) and the Chalybeate well head (see below). What a heritage. And, in case you are wondering, Wikipedia tells me that ‘Chalybeate means mineral spring waters containing salts of iron’.
As an aside, it is no surprise that this area comes very low in the England deprivation indices, with the main exception of ‘physical and financial accessibility of housing and local services’ (http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk). Even in the 1950s, the oral history accounts often mention the wait for council housing, although it also records that such did exist in village. Today, private house prices in Ilmington are only slightly below typical prices in the south east commuter belt.
Only two buildings manage grade II*: the grandiose early 18C Manor House (think Doric Columns and a pediment on top to attic height) and the earlier 16C ‘Ilmington Manor with attached Barn’. The latter is much more to my taste, particularly because of the down-to-earth and very functional attachment.
Which leaves us with a single grade I listing, the Norman parish church of St Mary. This deserves a blog in its own right, but a mention of the embroidered apple map is essential. Created by resident June Hobson, the map is a copy of a 1922 plan which identified the locations of all the orchards in the village (https://www.cotswolds.info/places/ilmington.shtml). The church is also famous for its wood carvings by Robert Thompson (no known relation to Rob Thompson, the artist/architect, featured in the Cynefin blog, last month). Not only did he create the pulpit and pews, but carved his signature mice in eleven places throughout the church (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilmington)
I sat in one of Robert Thompson’s pews last week, saying goodby to favourite-cousin Meg. Although she had temporarily left Ilmington (a decade in a life of 92 years counts as temporary in my book) to live closer to essential amenities in Stratford upon Avon, she had chosen to return to Ilmington for her final farewells and for her ashes to be interred next to her husband, in the church yard. It has been a great privilege, not only to have known Meg, but to have actually been related to her. A Grade I human being resting beside a Grade I Norman Church.
