Hedgerow Apple Trees of Wing in Buckinghamshire

One of the benefits of having a dog is that you get to go on regular walks and so over the past year I've got to know the footpaths around the village very well.

What I have noticed this autumn is the abundance of crab apple trees in the hedgerows. Almost every field seems to have one. Not many people seem to pick them although recently I did see a woman leaving the church yard with a basket on her arm. She walked purposefully down the field and straight to an apple tree I'd not seen before.

Unpicked apples

 These apples on the ground are where two footpaths intersect near the allotments. I have made a note for next year to go along to collect them before they fall.

Followers on instagram will know that I have been gathering up crab apples and some beautifully scented yellow apples which were larger than usual. I imagine that the tree with scented apples grew from a discarded core from someone's picnic.

I had far more than one bowl...

and filled the jam kettle to the brim.

Then they were in a jelly bag overnight before being cooked with sugar and turned into jelly.