Heritage Fruit Trees... A National Treasure ?

I had a very sad trip to Scotts Nursery at Merriott today. Scotts were a a byword for quality and choice in fruit trees, and had been trading since before the 1850s until the recent sudden and premature death of John Scott Wallis. One consequence of this tragic tale is that all their stock is now being auctioned off, with potentially catastrophic results for a number of rare traditional varieties which Scotts alone sold. Common Ground told me about someone locally who bought 300 apple trees at auction last week, of unspecified types "beginning with B, M, or W." He has probably ended up with a lot of Bramleys, but he might have Bridgewater Pippins or Byford Wonders. He'll never know, in all likelihood. Ian Roger of R.V. Roger, one of our key suppliers, has very kindly agreed to help to persuade the auctioneers to identify, re-categorize, and hopefully sell us some of the rarer trees. Let me know if you would like to be involved.