Coombe Abbey Nonpareil Apple
In past centuries, England had hundreds of different varieties of apple, all with slightly different shapes, colour and flavour. One of these was actually named after Coombe Abbey, the Craven ancestral home in Warwickshire, where it was first identified and grown. Its name , the Coombe Abbey Nonpareil, means "incomparable" or "unrivalled". It was described in a book called The Botanic Garden; representations of hardy ornamental flowering plants cultivated in Great Britain; with their names, classes [&c.]. [With] The floral register [and] The fruitist, Volumes 10-11 Benjamin Maund 1824 . We are told that this apple is not only delicious but will keep in the right conditions until March of the following year. Credit for developing this variety from the earlier "Nonpareil" is given in the book to John Oliver, a gardener who was said in 1824 to have been working at Coombe Abbey for upwards of forty years. So he could be the ga...