Today, May 6, 2025, National Trust Cymru has announced the creation of a National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties that designates 29 varieties of Welsh apples to help safeguard Wales’ rich apple heritage.
Apples have been cultivated in Wales for over a thousand years. References to both the orchards and the fruit appear widely in myth, poetry, folk music and place names, including in the famous Mabinogi myth cycle, some of the earliest mentions of ‘Merlin’ in literature, and the iconic tradition of carving apple-wood love spoons.
Research undertaken by the National Trust in 2022 found that England and Wales have lost more than half of their orchards since 1900.
To combat this widely recognised decline, members of the Marcher Apple Network have been seeking lost and heritage varieties in old orchards and gardens throughout Wales and border counties of England for over 40 years. From their collections and those of the National Trust and the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale there is now the core of a Welsh National Collection.
The newly collated National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties aims to help combat this loss by recording and sharing a significant part of Wales’ cultural natural heritage and encourage continued cultivation of these familiar fruit, bringing Welsh apples and their associated blossom back to Wales.
Alex Summers, National Trust Cymru’s Head Gardener at Llanerchaeron and part of the group that complied the National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties adds:
“At Llanerchaeron we are lucky enough to have six out of the 29 varieties of apples on the National Register thanks in part to the sympathetic management of the garden that dates back nearly two centuries.
Varieties including Baker's Delicious, Bardsey, King of the Pippins (known in Welsh as Gwell Na Mil), and Llanerchaeron Peach can all be found growing in the Walled Garden. Some are veteran trees, and some are more recent plantings, but all contribute to the heritage orchard.
“By choosing varieties listed on the Register when planting apple trees, people will not only have a tree that is suitable to the changeable Welsh climate and resistant to the diseases which are more prevalent in western Britain, but they will also be helping to safeguard Welsh cultural heritage as we strive to do here at Llanerchaeron.”
With the register now established, the partnership are keen to receive further information and are inviting anyone in Wales with an old apple tree associated with an old orchard or farmstead to send details , providing the location (what three words, grid reference or co-ordinates), photographs of the tree and apples, and a brief description about the tree and fruit to: WelshAppleTrees@marcherapple.net and carwyn@ceginybobl.co.uk
A list of the 29 apple varieties designated by the National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties can be found on the National Trust website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/llanerchaeron/visiting-the-garden-at-llanerchaeron .
Apples have been cultivated in Wales for over a thousand years. References to both the orchards and the fruit appear widely in myth, poetry, folk music and place names, including in the famous Mabinogi myth cycle, some of the earliest mentions of ‘Merlin’ in literature, and the iconic tradition of carving apple-wood love spoons.
Research undertaken by the National Trust in 2022 found that England and Wales have lost more than half of their orchards since 1900.
To combat this widely recognised decline, members of the Marcher Apple Network have been seeking lost and heritage varieties in old orchards and gardens throughout Wales and border counties of England for over 40 years. From their collections and those of the National Trust and the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale there is now the core of a Welsh National Collection.
The newly collated National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties aims to help combat this loss by recording and sharing a significant part of Wales’ cultural natural heritage and encourage continued cultivation of these familiar fruit, bringing Welsh apples and their associated blossom back to Wales.
Alex Summers, National Trust Cymru’s Head Gardener at Llanerchaeron and part of the group that complied the National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties adds:
“At Llanerchaeron we are lucky enough to have six out of the 29 varieties of apples on the National Register thanks in part to the sympathetic management of the garden that dates back nearly two centuries.
Varieties including Baker's Delicious, Bardsey, King of the Pippins (known in Welsh as Gwell Na Mil), and Llanerchaeron Peach can all be found growing in the Walled Garden. Some are veteran trees, and some are more recent plantings, but all contribute to the heritage orchard.
“By choosing varieties listed on the Register when planting apple trees, people will not only have a tree that is suitable to the changeable Welsh climate and resistant to the diseases which are more prevalent in western Britain, but they will also be helping to safeguard Welsh cultural heritage as we strive to do here at Llanerchaeron.”
With the register now established, the partnership are keen to receive further information and are inviting anyone in Wales with an old apple tree associated with an old orchard or farmstead to send details , providing the location (what three words, grid reference or co-ordinates), photographs of the tree and apples, and a brief description about the tree and fruit to: WelshAppleTrees@marcherapple.net and carwyn@ceginybobl.co.uk
A list of the 29 apple varieties designated by the National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties can be found on the National Trust website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/llanerchaeron/visiting-the-garden-at-llanerchaeron .
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