Accidental orchard owners in Preston Gardens

Margaret and Simon Borbás, Preston Gardens

When Margaret Borbás moved into her house in the 1960s, she found she'd inherited an orchard in the back garden. It used to run over the back of several properties and was probably planted by the original developer, Mr F P Press, in the 1930s.

She remembers selling the fruit from her front door, setting up a table to sell them for "sixpence a pound". The children 'thinned' the apples by having apple fights. 

An old Anderson shelter was used to store the apples on trestle shelving. Most of the original trees are gone now, but the family replanted some apple trees and added some fruit bushes through the years. 

Left: Simon Borbás and his mother, Margaret Borbás, in front of an apple tree. Right: the air-raid shelter or 'apple store'. 

Simon messaged Luton Orchards:

'I grew up on Preston Path, it links Preston Gardens to Talbot Rd. I think our house was built on the site of an old orchard as the land was originally owned by the neighbour. Growing up we had 4 or more apple trees, two pear trees and 2 plum trees greengage and Victoria. Also a couple of hazel trees for nuts. Most of the original apple and pear trees are gone I think, but we still have apple trees and plum trees. I think next door also has a plum, apple and cherry tree. My Mum still lives there, should be ok if you wanted a look, feel free to contact me'

This was the conversation that followed during a visit on 29 December 2023: 

Simon: Well, we had about four or five apple trees, I think. I think we had two pear trees at least. And I think we had two greengage plums and a Victoria plum.

Margaret: [The] Victoria plum was right by where the apple store is. I remember that now.

S: Yes, and that's. Yeah. And then, of course, got the hazel. A couple of hazel trees.

M: Yes, we've got one hazel tree left, but unfortunately the squirrel gets there first, so we've got little nuts like that with a hole where he's taking it out. And I mean, we used to get whoppers, big, lovely big nuts off those. Off the hazel bushes.

Luton Orchards: You said there's an apple store?

S: Yeah. So they called it an apple store, but there's an air raid shelter, an Anderson air raid shelter. I think my dad [called it that]. Because maybe they did use it as an apple store after the war. 

M: Yes. There were like trestles… trestles or shelving down in it.

LO:  And what did you do with the fruit? 

M: [suddenly remembers] But I used to sell them, actually, one tree that's left used to produce very big apples. And I used to sell them, I don't know … sixpence a pound.

LO: Who did you sell them to? 

M: Anybody around here would buy them.

LO: Would they come and knock on the door? So you were known to have apples here?

M: Yeah, we didn't have that big extension then. We just had a small extension and I must have had a table there and a weighing scale, yes.

Well, just two shillings and to give them a pound or just give them a bag and say, hey, and you would keep the money or it would go to charity... or I don't know… I'd probably keep it! [laughs]

S: Yeah, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?

M: No, no, I don't. I really don't know. But that didn't happen for too many years.

LO:  Did you know of anyone else selling their fruit like that? What gave you the idea?

M: No, not round here. [...] There was a shop, Mr Boxell's, down where, um, the flats are, Ryan Court. And I took rhubarb down there and he would sell that and I just. He would just sell it, you know, sort of thing.

LO: Was it like a greengrocer?

M: Well, a general, sort of a general little shop. Just like the house opposite here has got that big wide window. That was Preston Stores.

S: What house was that? 

M: The end one - you notice it's got a very big window. [...] Here at the top of the steps. That was Preston Stores.

S: Oh wow, I didn't know that!

LO: And did your trees look like they were all the same age? 

M: Well, yes, I think they were all planted probably in the thirties or, as I say, the house was built 37. So they must have been planted around then.

LO: How did you look after the trees? Who pruned them?

S: There wasn't a lot of pruning of trees, was there? We just allowed… yeah, they were just allowed to do their thing. I mean, the only kind of pruning we did, or thinning, if you like, was when I might have had friends round and we'd have apple fights. So we'd pull all the small ones.

LO: You naturally pruned it? [laughs]

S: Yeah, yeah. We pull all the small [apples] off and throw them at each other. Yeah. I mean, there were so many. Yeah, we wouldn't pull the big ones for apple [fights], but yeah, the small ones. Yeah. 

That was also the ones that had fallen on the floor. So anything that had fallen on the floor. 

But Dad was more of a gardener of flowers, would you say? And the vegetables then. I think they just kind of allowed the fruit trees to do their thing…

LO: What do you have there now? 

M: You know, they got old and die, you know, the pear trees just got old. The apple trees, unfortunately. Yeah, there's a couple of apple trees in there. 

S: Well, we've planted new ones!