Talks
I will always tailor-make a talk to the particular group, so please contact me to discuss what you would like. Subjects include:
The history of the apple
The apple in art
Wassailing
Apple folklore and customs
Women and apples
Gothic and possessed orchards
Starting a community orchard
Orchard biodiversity
Fruit tree pests and diseases
Garden fruit tree care through the seasons
Victorian gardeners and their advice
Victorian food
Recent publications
My Ph.D. thesis on ‘The Social and Cultural History of the Apple and the Orchard in Victorian England’ can be enjoyed in full via Essex University’s research repository. If you’d like to quote extensively from it, please ask me first.
I also have a chapter on ‘the Gothic Orchard of the Victorian Imagination’ in Ecogothic Gardens in the Long Nineteenth Century: Phantoms, Fantasy and Uncanny Flowers, edited by Sue Edney (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2021)
Media
The naming of apples at The Allusionist
Interest in my Ph. D. from ITV Regional News and from the Southend Echo
My comments as part of an article on the wild apple at Discover Magazine
Nine strange facts about apples written for BBC History
Apple Histories 