National Trust reports bumper fruit crops

The nights may be drawing in and the days becoming chillier but there is cheering news from the orchards and walled gardens at National Trust properties: a bumper crop of apples and pumpkins.

- Steven Morris

Fruit and squashes have ripened weeks earlier than normal in many places, and yields are higher thanks to near-ideal conditions, including 2024’s wet weather followed by a warm and dry spring and plenty of summer sun this year.

It is a stark contrast with last autumn, when rain boosted slug and snail numbers, resulting in pumpkin and squash crops being wrecked.