Back in May, I wrote about our vegetable plot. Now, belatedly, it’s time to run the rule over the orchard.

The Italian word for orchard is frutetto. Nicer I think. The frutetto is about 250 square meters and like the veggie plot – or orto – faces due south.

English varieties predominate. Are they suited to a central Italian climate ? Only one way to find out…

(Click on the main headline title above and be transported to the sun-baked soil of central Italy, where you’ll discover our Abruzzo garden’s fruity secrets…)

It took a while for Abruzzo bees to cotton-on to the fact that they were the key element in pollinating the flowers, but once they’d grasped this, we had the start of a promising crop.

(Nothing beats your own home-grown fruit’n'veg. Read about the first season in our Abruzzo veggie plot…)

It’s a strange thing with some Italian delivery drivers. Give them clear skies and warm sunshine and they’ll find endless excuses for ignoring you. But the first flake of snow inspires a kind of mass Pony Express mentality that sees them battling through the elements to bring you a package that’s been sitting in the back of their van for a week.

(For more – and scenic snowy shots – click on the main headline title above…)