Apples and snakes

[shewhomust]

Wiltshire man discovers new variety of apple while out jogging.

I don't think it spoils the story to know that Archie Thomas, the hero of the tale, works for a wild plant and fungi conservation charity (Plantlife) and wasn't entirely taken by surprise by his discovery.

I love that he lives in the Nadder Valley: I don't know the origin of that place-name, but I do know that a nadder is an adder - so the apple was given to him by a snake.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Fascinating story which I saw on the beeb- it seems likely that the apple in question is a crab cross and I hope he attempts to bring it on.

[shewhomust]

It sounds as if he plans to try ...

[sovay]

Wiltshire man discovers new variety of apple while out jogging.

That's really cool.

[shewhomust]

That's really cool.

Isn't it?

[asakiyume]

I haven't read the linked article yet, but your telling of it is just wonderful ^_^ Love it.

[shewhomust]

Thanks! Do read it, it's only short ...

[asakiyume]

Charming! I like the look of it! And it sounds delicious.

[athenais]

How great. Very exciting to find a new variety. Also, now I am hungry for apples.

[shewhomust]

Mmmm, apples ...

[wolfinthewood]

"I love that he lives in the Nadder Valley: I don't know the origin of that place-name, but I do know that a nadder is an adder - so the apple was given to him by a snake."

I couldn't resist looking this up: Nadder, it turns out, is a river name; Eilert Ekwall in The Concise Dictionary of English Place Names derives it from a hypothetical British word Notr, derived from a root meaning 'to flow'.

For Old English næddre 'adder' Ekwall refers us to Netherfield in Sussex, early forms Nedrefelle (Domesday Book) and Nedrefelde, 'a feld (open space) infested with adders'.

[shewhomust]

As so often, a little research demolishes my pretty image - luckily it was just an image, not a theory ...

Place-names: if it seems to be derived from something, it probably isn't; if there's no obvious resemblance, it might be...