Apples

I've enjoyed my Bramley apple tree this year. Quite a good crop, despite having pruned it ruthlessly some months ago. I've made chutney, eaten stewed apple and made an apple crumble this evening. What I've never seen before, though, is conjoined apples as in the photo below. Does anybody know if they are a rarity?

Backpackers Dorset Weekend

I left around 9.30 this morning and went off to do a little exploring. I drove a few miles up the road towards Salisbury and stopped off at Martin Down Nature Reserve There is a sizeable car park and the area is criss-crossed by well defined tracks and grassy paths. I found plenty of blackberries to eat along the way and walked maybe three to four miles. There weren't many people around.

Backpackers Dorset weekend

We are camped for two nights on the same site - what they term a "static" weekend - at a village called Sixpenny Handley. It's a very nice spacious site with good facilities and a restaurant with bar and a very good local beer.

We've walked eleven miles today. Plenty of wildlife. This morning, we were crossing a field, heading for a wood and no fewer than twelve fallow deer burst out of the wood not far from where we were. This afternoon, I was the only one to see a magnificent red deer stag, antlers and all, only about fifty yards away. He stayed no more than a couple of seconds. No chance to photograph him.

Quite a lot of our walking was in woodland which suits me very well. In one place there was a party shooting partridges. We were offered some but they wouldn't have been dressed and my skills don't extend that far.
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