AN APPLE roadshow, helping garden or orchard owners choose what to plant, is taking place at Hatherleigh Town Hall on Wednesday, September 29.

Chairman of the Orchard Live roadshow Michael Gee is hosting the event which will give people a potted history of apples, the various rootstocks, size and form of trees, and pruning plus a tasting session. Mr Gee will also be talking about the types of apples to grow for cider, culinary and dessert and their propagation and grafting.

Examples of fruit will be given covering tree characteristics, blossom time and pollination, as well as harvest and fruit characteristics. There will be many orchard owners from Orchards Live available to talk with about orchards and to help people with planning, planting and care of their orchard.

Light refreshments will be available and the cost is £5 or £2.50 for Orchard Live members. The event runs from 7pm to 9pm.

Devon used to have more than 200 thriving apple orchards in the 1950s. There are more than 650 varieties of apples that used to be widely known and grown. Some of the best known suppliers of apple trees are local Devon firms. The names of the varieties include Beauty of Bath, Pigs Snout, Chorister Boy, Cornish Mother, Duke of Devonshire, Fair Maid of Devon, Greasy Butcher, Paignton Marigold, and Slack Ma Girdle to name just a few.

Orchards Live is part of the charitable activities of the Dartington North Devon Trust which since 1991 has been reversing the decline in orchards by running training courses, locating old fruit varieties, organising walks and talks and acquiring equipment to make cider and juice.