Stunning National Trust property brimming with apples turns leftover fruit into work of art
Passionate gardeners at a National Trust house have turned leftover apples from its orchards into a giant mosaic. Cotehole, in Calstock, is brimming with fruit in all shades and varieties.
With hundreds going spare, staff used 'windfall' apples to create a perfect outline of a giant fruit on a patch of grass within the grounds. The unique display comes just in time for its annual apple festival this weekend.
The leftover apples were picked from the Mother Orchard with over 300 trees and 125 heritage varieties. It's all done very precisely and has taken them a fair bit of time.
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Gardener Hannah Milburn said: "We started doing the outline first and then began filling it in. We do it by shaded colour, so it’s very precise and takes quite a lot of time.''
Head gardener Dave Bouch told ITV Westcountry: "We've got three areas in the orchard - eating apples, cooking apples and cider apples. We've been working on it for about 20 years, building a collection of West Country and Cornish apples.
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"Perhaps when people think about apples, a Granny Smith or Pink Lady comes to mind. But there is an opportunity here to learn about the huge variety of apples out there."
Cotehele’s seven orchards cover approximately 15 acres and the trees planted over the last ten years were specially chosen because they are local varieties and are adapted to the growing conditions in the southwest.
The Mother Orchard alone houses 125 different types of apple trees, each with its distinctive flavour and character. Visitors can pick their own apples until Sunday 22 September.