Agree with JBM regarding the apples. Bramley is ok, but not outstanding, and usually turns to mush when cooked whereas I prefer something that holds its shape a little. And Golden Delicious is certainly far from the best you can get.
Amongst others I have Egremont Russet, Blenheim Orange, Ashmead's Kernel and Ellison's Orange. The first three can be used in cooking as well as for eating. In my opinion, Ashmead's Kernel is an absolutely outstanding apple. Egremont Russet and Ashmead's Kernel also keep very well though they don't tend to last that long here, partly because I juice a lot of them. It is nice to have a Cox (and we do), but they can be a bit temperamental and disease-prone so may do well in some environments and not so brilliantly in others.
If you want an early dessert variety then a little against type I think Katy is very good. The red colour of the skin bleeds into the flesh of the apple a little, a bit like the Pink Lady variety sometimes found in supermarkets. I'm told Thatchers actually use them for making cider which was quite a surprise when I found out, but I believe it's more of a "teenager-friendly" type of cider rather than a traditional style.
In case you weren't aware, with many fruit trees you also need to pay attention to the pollination requirements. They're generally split into groups by variety and need another tree from the same group (or sometimes even two) for pollination. The crab apple should hopefully help a bit with that. And whilst they're a bit of a pain to pick, crab apple jelly is lovely with meat.
As a general rule for apples and pears I'd definitely look at the traditional English "heritage" varieties first. When they were developed people had different requirements and a bland fruit wouldn't have found favour regardless of the requirements of the modern supermarkets
If you're going to go to the effort of storing apples and pears properly and individually checking them week or two throughout the late autumn and winter for bad ones, you don't want to be wasting your time on something that doesn't taste good.
As regards the other fruits, my understanding is (I've never grown them myself) that peaches and apricots are quite tender and may well need protecting from frost over the winter. They may well be better suited to a garden (particularly if sheltered by a north-facing wall) than an open orchard. Blueberries require acidic soil, which may be a pain to maintain (and as far as I recall you need more than one). Many people seem to grow them in pots of ericaceous compost. I'd like to grow them, but I can't be doing with pots as I have enough stuff to look after as it is and I've not found a practical way to grow them in the ground here as yet (our soil is not acidic). Quinces can suffer badly in damp summers. We often don't get fruit from ours because of a bacterial infection that spreads through the leaves turning them brown in damp weather. I've not found an effective and practical control as yet. Oh, and be aware that depending on your age you may not live long enough to see a good crop from the walnut
I believe that, somewhat like perry pears, they were traditionally trees that were planted for the grandchildren
Ours is at least ten years old now and I counted a dozen nuts this year, all of which got nabbed by squirrels (I assume) before I got my hands on even one of them. Don't let that put you off planting one though.
James
