"Bloke Down The Pub" wrote in message
I've jsut been reading Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls cookbooks and am now
quite interested in planting Bramleys given how highly he praises them as
a cooking apple. He's also into cider apples and has piqued my interest
in them too.

I would dearly love to grow Bramleys here in Perth but apparently we do
not get a cold enough winter for the trees to go dormant.
I had a Bramley in my last garden that I managed to half "prune" with a
particularly large bonfire. It wasn't as bad as I expected as the tree
went from producing every 2 years to producing every year but on separate
halves. If I left the apples on long enough they became about as round as
a large saucer, floury and sweet enough to eat. picked smaller they
were/are the best cooking apples around.

That's interesting about the change in bienneal bearing. We do get enough
chilling to grow good apples here, but I havent' yet got a Bramley.
Possibly too late to do so this year, but I might put in a request for one
or more with He Who Likes To Be Obeyed.