Future of first Bramley apple tree in doubt as cottage where it stands is sold

Bramley apples are a staple in supermarkets across the UK and it all started in a house in Nottinghamshire. But now the future of the original fruit-bearing tree is in question after the garden where it stands has been sold by Nottingham Trent University (NTU). The news has left campaigners aiming to turn it into a heritage site “gobsmacked”. The tree, which is more than 200 years old, was the very first Bramley from which millions of saplings have been grown worldwide. It was sown by Mary Ann Brailsford in the garden of her parents’ home in Church Street, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, between 1809 and 1815. Artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, who unveiled paintings of the tree in 2024, co-founded a campaign to buy the cottage from Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and keep public access to the tree by making it a heritage site for tourists and an educational facility. On Friday, Llywelyn Hall was informed by the university that the garden in which the “Mother Bramley” resides had been bought privately by the owners of a neighbouring cottage. The campaigners had raised £14,000 from more than 320 donations around the world. Llywelyn Hall said: “It is a very sad day for our ancient heritage trees. “It has been failed by all the institutions and now Nottingham Trent University, ironically a uni of environment and agriculture, have done this. …