Gooseberry bushes are sometimes trained as standards. Might that be the case in this instance?

Gooseberries this colour are usually the sweet dessert varieties. Lovely.

I'd like to try to train a bush like this - much easier for picking! The fruit were an unusual shape though - teardrop, much fatter at the bottom than the top. Tasted good!
Thank you both.

You're welcome. Love gooseberries!

Was it thorny? I wondered if it might be one of those crosses like gooseberry/blackcurrant, though the fruit looks rather big for that.

I had 7 gooseberries on my allotment, trained to grow on one stem. They gave good crops. Had to keep removing the shoots from the roots every spring. When they were 15 years old they got attacked by Sawfly. Spraying just didnt get rid of the virus which stayed in the plants for 3 years eventually destroying them. Had to burn them.
I saw one in a German garden with a stem as thick as my arm. Must have been 40 years old.
Maybe its best to just have one.

It MIGHT be Jostaberry which is a gooseberry/blackcurrant cross. It is very vigourous. Grows rather tall and and the pigeons love them, and so does the blackbird. It looks like a goosberry for a while then goes black. It freezes well and makes a very strong tasting sauce or jam combined with blackberries. I only say MIGHT. Jostaberry is not prickly at all like I believe a gooseberry is thorny.

There is a variety of gooseberry called Captivator which has this shape fruit, produces July and the fruit is red, could be that. There used to be loads of different varieties - my sister worked on a fruit farm down in Kent 35 years ago, and they grew black, red, green and yellow fruiting gooseberries, and many varieties of these too.

Ah I wonder if that's it Bamboo. It was an old restored garden called The Potager (lovely place to go for lunch if anyone's down that way - nearest place is probably Falmouth. They have a website). Thanks everyone.

Not Jostaberry. That looks more like a big blackcurrant when ripe and is perfectly round. Picked over 40 pounds of them this year. Makes a nice chutney too. No need to spoil them by adding blackberries to the Jam though. :).

Whatever it is I want one! I tried making my own standard gooseberries a few years ago but they weren't strong enough to stand up to the wind and I hadn't staked them. I did read somewhere that professionally grown standards are grafted onto a strong Ribes stock - can't remember which one.

They must be much easier to haevest if they are standard. I have had a fantastic crop this year from a few bushes, but they spread from the base, and I have to be really careful when picking! Gooseberries must be the thorniest plant of all!

Worcesterberries are worse for thorns.

I don't know those, Owdboggy. I've just googled it, though, and it certainly has a very thorny reputation!

Bit like a Black gooseberry and they make lovely Jam, but we got rid of ours, they were just too prickly for comfortable picking.

Mine are just very ordinary green ones, which I use mainly for crumbles. I have never had a dessert gooseberry, but my grandmother - whose father had grown them - used to talk about them longingly!

To go back to the original, Gooseberries can be grown in almost as many pruning styles as Apples. I have seen them grown as Oblique Cordons and sort of 'U' shaped Espaliers against a wall.
For a good red one look out for Whinhams Industry. We used to have it 20 years ago and it is still available as far as I can see.

I've grown them as three stemmed cordons against the garage wall. You can cut off all the branches that stick out and so picking is much easier. (Grew redcurrants the same way)They cropped heavily too.
I have Greenfinch at present as it doesn't get American Blight. If they are left on the bush long enough they do get lovely and sweet though not over large.

Mine have previously been mildewed, and devastated by sawfly (though it never seemed to affect the fruit too much). But this year really has been a bumper - no problems and loads of fruit. And a couple of self-seeded bushes (they are in the wild area, so I've always just left them) have cropped fo the first time.

Nice to know something appreciated the weather anyway!

:-)))