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Gardener’s World’s Toby Buckland to plant new ‘Pilgrim 400’ apple to mark Mayflower 400 Anniversary
28th September 2020
The ‘Pilgrim 400’ apple was born out of a conversation between two friends, Celia Steven and John Stirland. Celia is the great granddaughter of Henry Merryweather, the nurseryman who raised the Bramley apple, and she lives very near The Garden House, outside Plymouth, Devon. John Stirland is a horticulturist and a former presenter with Radio Nottingham and he lives in a village near the area where some of the Pilgrims came from. In 2015, they heard about plans to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s epic voyage and decided to find a new apple tree that could be named for the occasion. They already knew that apples were extremely important in the lives of the early colonists. They appealed for a unique apple that could be named and having found one, in 2018 'Pilgrim 400' officially registered as a Local Cultivar.
BBC's Toby Buckland will plant the historic apple
As Celia lived nearby, she was keen to plant a Pilgrim Apple at The Garden House to mark Mayflower 400. After donating a plant for free and she was delighted when Garden House fan, TV presenter Toby Buckland agreed to plant it to commemorate the moment .
Toby will plant the tree in a special ceremony on Sept 27, 3pm and The Garden House will open til 5pm that day. The Dartmoor based charity is usually open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays 11-3pm.
“We hugely excited at the opportunity to mark Mayflower with this very special plant and also to welcome Toby Buckland to The Garden House for the planting ceremony,” said Karen Willcocks, Visitor Services Manager. We do hope people will join us for what we think will be a special day.”