Twenty apples in three days

On the train back to London with my apples.

I seek out apples when I travel. It's a rewarding way to connect with another land and its culture ¶ .

But I don't go so far as to plan entire trips around the pomaceous fruit. That reflects my priorities, but sometimes leads to missed opportunities ¶ .

A recent October trip to England yielded many of those, but also many apples.

And a few surprises.

Hunting for apples

I was strangely disappointed in my quest for apples in London and Bath.

To find apples, I took a train to East Farleigh in Kent on October 16.

There I visited Keepers Nursery, to learn about the nursery business and to get as many apples as I could.

It was a charming trip, and a really great day.

Logistics are stubborn things

For reasons too tedious to relate, October 16 was the earliest day I could take this trip.

I also absolutely had to be on an evening flight back to the States on October 18.

Which set a tiny window. Agricultural products from England (and many other places) are not allowed into the United States.

So, more like two days, to eat my East Farleigh finds.

More than just to eat: to document. To eat mindfully, and to photograph and describe.

During those two days, I also needed to participate fully in a conference in London. That left maybe 9 hours, in irregular blocks of time, not all usable.

Not really much time for all those apples!

Apple ideal vs real

I like to take my time, mindfully, when tasting an apple

I prefer to evaluate at least two samples, as insurance against a dud singleton.

I try to find a certain setting and lighting quality for my photos. I'm used to being able to reshoot as needed.

And to be honest, one can only assess so many varieties, critically and fairly, at a time.

There's also not much opportunity to look back and consider what you've just tasted when the imperative is "on to the next."

Apple Triage

Faced with this schedule, I made a calculated decision to review based on a single sample.

I settled for a Bramley from a supermarket, knowing it was not likely to be the best example possible, because it was one of the few varieties I could get and write up before October 16.

I'd hoped to try some traditional American varieties I know to see if they grew differently in the UK. But I abandoned that project to focus on apples new to me.

I tasted when I could, under all sorts of conditions. I took photos on the grounds of of the Tate Modern and the British Museum, in my room, and in a flower pot outside of my hotel.

I assessed three varieties on the train back to London. I ate my last sample at Heathrow, waiting for my flight home.

My trip wasn't all about apples. Above: A detail from a choir stall at Bath Abbey.

Consequently, some of the apple descriptions are short. (Maybe they are better that way!)

Some rely on what turned out to be subpar samples. 

The quality of my photography...varies.

I could have, perhaps, made better, but fewer, reviews, had I limited myself to a half dozen varieties and not been so greedy.

But maybe I've got more "good" reviews this way, even if I've also got a few more placeholders. 

And I finished them all.

A little help from my friends

Online friends and acquaintances gave me plenty of cheer and good advice.

They told me where to find a glass of Oliver's Cider (at the Borough Market).

A colleague brought some apples to the conference for me.

Karim Habibi at Keepers was incredibly generous with his time. Faced with literally hundreds of varieties available at his orchard, I asked him to select some for me based on what was ripe, good, historical, and/or interesting.

Only Margil was at my express request. That apple was suggested by Richard Borrie, the man behind Orange Pippin, because of Margil's newly discovered relationship to Cox's Orange Pippin.

Richard also introduced me to Karim.

For me, a memorable trip made more so by apples.

It started with an apple: Sir Isaac Newton's tomb in Westminster Abbey