Countryman's Diary: Apples still a healthy delight

It is said there are some 2,300 distinct varieties of apple, sharing between them more than 40,000 different names, some of them very localised, and these include a worldwide selection that embraces cookers, caters, cider apples, crab apples and even those grown for little more than decorative purposes.

For example, the French grow a type known in England as "the apple from hell" because it is so sour that it is almost inedible, while one English variety seems able to thrive only on the salty mud flats near Faversham. Most of us more familiar with the well-established types such as Cox's Orange Pippin, Granny Smith, Beauty of Bath, Golden Delicious or Keswick while the supermarkets have introduced us to other tasty caters such as Gala and Braeburn.

If those names are familiar to most of us, then consider these: Kitchen Door, Peasgood's Nonsuch, King Coffee, Catshead, Norfolk Beefing, Farmer's Glory, Transylvanian Felcete Tanyeraima or Scotch Dumpling. In addition, some 70 varieties, thought to have disappeared, were recently discovered in Ireland, including Red Brandy, the Smeller and Irish Molloy. To these we can add some very local varieties - from a farm called Hunt House at Goathland there is an apple called Hunt House, and other local or northern varieties include the Simpkin Pippin, the Perfect Apple, the Acklam Russett, Carlisle Codlin and the Syke House Russett, which seem to have vanished from our orchards.

There is just a possibility that some of these, and other long-vanished varieties, might be thriving in some unknown place. Your orchard perhaps?

A place in history

The apple has regularly featured in our history. The story of Sir Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity features an apple which, in 1666, fell from a tree in the garden of his house at Woolsthorpe Manor, near Grantham in Lincolnshire. Only a couple of years ago, that very tree was found to have survived and it can be viewed by the public because Woolsthorpe Manor is now owned by the National Trust.

Perhaps the most famous apple is that which tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden but in fact, the fruit in question is not identified by the Bible as an apple. The actual words tell us that Eve took "the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden", and although the word "fruit" appears dozens of times in the Bible, it seems the apple may not be identical with the fruit we know by that name.

One fruit which is often mentioned is the tappuach, and in some versions this has been translated into apple. Some authorities, however, believe that the fruit which tempted Adam and Eve was in fact a quince while others consider it could have been a pomegranate and yet more believe is was a fruit known locally as a citron, a relation of the orange.

Another possibility is the Apple of Sodom; this is believed to be the madar or oschur, a tasteless fruit which grew on the shores of the Dead Sea.

The benefits of eating apples seems have been a feature of ancient history as well as more modem medicine. The Ancient Romans believed the apple was a source of health and accordingly took great care of their orchards, while in the Arabian Nights stories, Prince Ahmed's Apple was a term used to imply a means of curing almost any kind of disorder.

In Norse mythology the god Loki stole the apples which the goddess Ithunn had given to the gods in her attempt to prevent or inhibit the onset of old age, while here in England we recognise the healthiness of apple eating with the old phrase "An apple a day keeps the doctor away".

It is not surprising, therefore, that the eating of apples gave rise to some superstitious practices and one of the best known, still practised in these modern times, is to rub an apple before eating it. Our ancestors used to perform this modest ritual in the belief that it would ward off any evil spirits. The truth was, of course, that it was wise to clean an apple skin before biting into it, especially if it was fresh from a tree in which birds roosted, and most of us continue this little routine in our attempts to cleanse the fruit before enjoying it.

But does the eating of an apple make us more healthy? Some years ago, 400 students were enrolled on an apple-eating course. It was discovered that 30pc of them reduced their frequency of coughs, colds and sore throats, and that others were found to suffer less from nervous disorders.

The benefit of eating an apple a day is something over which we will continue to argue, but I've yet to read anything which suggests that the eating of fresh apples is harmful.

Dramatic dale

We enjoyed a visit to Arkengarthdale earlier this week, complete with lunch at the famous CB Inn and a sample of the dramatic landscape which surrounds this tributary dale of the Swale.

Arkengarthdale, a name which is sometimes shortened to Arkendale, probably gets its title from Arkil, the son of Gospatrick, who was a major landowner in the pre-Domesday period of Richmondshire. It means "the valley of Arkil's enclosure" and was known as Arkillesgarth as early as 1199.

Arkle Beck flows down the dale while on the hills behind is the Stang and the lonely Tan Hill Inn, the highest in England at an elevation of 1,732ft above sea level. If that is Tan Hill's claim to fame, then the name of the dale's pub, CB, means it is one of the shortest pub names in England. There used to be a pub called the GI, in honour of American servicemen, but I understand that has since disappeared, while in Lancashire a pub called the XL competed with the CB for the inn with the shortest name.

With the re-naming and re-building of modern inns, however, there may be some village inn with an even shorter name. Purely as a matter of record, I think the pub with the longest name is the 13th Mounted Cheshire Riflemen which is at Stalybridge in Cheshire.

So far as the CB is concerned, the initials stand for Charles Bathurst, who was lord of the manor in the 18th century, and who owned both the dale and the pub. He was responsible for the opening of many lead mines in this locality, the remnants of which can still be seen, and he stamped his initials on every pig of lead which left the dale.

The dale in fact belonged to his ancestor, Dr John Bathurst, who bought it in 1656; he was physician to Oliver Cromwell. Dr Bathurst's descendants remained in the dale to develop the lead mining industry and although that hectic commercial aspect has now vanished, it has left a landscape which is still perhaps a little scarred with the efforts of the miners, but which remains a place of astonishing peace and beauty.

I was fascinated to discover that quoits is played in Arkengarthdale and district, the season stretching from April to September, and I learned that next year's world championships will be played on a newly-constructed pitch near the CB Inn.

Having hailed from Yorkshire's Eskdale, where the tiny village of Beckhole is the focus for this renowned sport, I was delighted to see that quoits takes place in other areas of Yorkshire, not forgetting the important part also played by Beamish Museum.

Thyme for God

My correspondence this week includes a letter from reader who lives in Marton, near Middlesbrough. He has sent a note of what is known as Gardening God's Way, i.e. you plant four rows of peas - peas of mind, peas of heart, peas of body and peas of soul, or four rows of lettuce - lettuce be faithful, lettuce be kind, lettuce be obedient and lettuce really love one another.

There is also advice like turnip for meetings and turnip for the church service, or make thyme for God, thyme for study and thyme for prayer, And, of course, you reap what you sow.

l David Leyshon of the Ramblers' Association writes to criticise my Sinnington correspondent's use of "Gestapo-minded" as it applies to a few ramblers who enter his land and persistently complain about very trivial matters - and then Mr Leyshon exhorts ramblers to make complaints. No further comment is necessary