THE discovery of a mystery apple variety that has been growing in a Dorset garden for the last 200 years has amazed and baffled fruit experts.

For generations the family of Diana Toms have enjoyed the fruits of the ancient tree, known as Granfer's Apple, after her great-great-grand father who first planted it.

Although the apple tree is one of the oldest in Britain, the family have never known the true identity of the cooking apple and recently made attempts to discover its name.

And the humble fruit has stumped pomologists across the country who have been unable to identify the apple, which is older than the famous Bramley.

Excited experts and puzzled pomologists now believe it is either a previously lost variety or an unrecorded new type.

Mrs Toms, 83, from Beaminster, is now calling on the National Fruit Collection, the leading authority in fruit identification, to name it Granfer's Apple.

She said: "I am rather pleased that it is baffling all these people - it's most interesting.

"But if nobody knows what it is then it should officially be called Granfer's Apple. I would like that.

"All I know is my grandfather was born in 1860 and he always referred to it as Granfer's Apple, as in grandfather's apple, so it was obviously around when his grandfather was alive.

"It is so old that the family took it for granted and never tried to find out its real name."

Mrs Toms's great-great-grandfather Isaac Bugler grew the tree in an orchard attached to the family home in Beaminster in 1803. Her great-grandfather John always referred to the fruits as Granfer's Apples and the family have enjoyed it in delicious home-made pies, cakes and strudels for two centuries.

But the mystery fruit only came to public attention when widow Mrs Toms showed it to experts at the famous Symondsbury Apple Day in Dorset.

One enthusiast and a pomologist failed to came up with an answer, along with the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale in Kent.

Some have now taken cuttings of Granfer's tree in a bid to grow many more of the 'new' species.

David Squirrel, of the Symondsbury Apple Project, said: "Mrs Toms brought it along to the Symondsbury Apple Day asking if we could identify it.

"Its appearance just doesn't match up with any other variety.

"There are lots of things about it - the shape, closed eye and length of stalk.

"We had a look at it and I had an idea of what it might have been.

"I went to see the tree the following spring to have a look at the blossom to confirm my suspicions but the colour of the blossom blew my theory out the water.

"I showed it to a pomologist and she couldn't put a name to it - we had to return a verdict of don't know' to Mrs Toms.

"Her great-great-great-grandfather bought the property in 1803 and we think he planted the tree.

"If that is correct then this apple is older than the Bramley, which was discovered between 1807 and 1814.

"It looks like he took the secret of the tree to his grave.

"We are a bit in the dark about what variety it is. It might be a new variety that nobody knows about but it is probably an old one that was forgotten about many, many years ago.

"A completely new variety is very, very rare.

"The Bramley is the benchmark because everybody knows it and it is very old.

"It is baffling us at the moment, but it would be very exciting if it is a new variety."

Although the ancient tree has had its crown blown off after being ravaged by storms over the last 30 years, it has survived and is still producing apples today.

Grandmother Mrs Toms said: "When I was a child I learned to catch by standing under the tree and my father would climb up it and drop the apples down to me.

"It is a wonderful cooking apple and my family have used it in cakes and pies for years and years.

"In the autumn I freeze a lot of pies and give away many apples because the crop is so big.

"But if you like a sharp and crisp taste, then the apple is equally good for eating."