IT'S apple blossom time in the Vale of Evesham and this year's display is blooming beautiful.

"The blossom does look very good this year, the trees are covered," said Nick Dunsby, of Paul Dunsby and Sons, who grows a wide variety of apples at Cotswold Orchards, Childswickham.

He pointed out it was too early yet to forecast what the crop might be like when it came to harvesting time in late summer and autumn.

"A lot can happen between now and then," he said.

"There's still a danger of frost and severe weather later on which can make a difference."

He said: "We do seem to get more extremes of weather, either very wet or very dry, compared with a few years ago, and the seasons are getting a bit earlier. But I don't think it is going to make any difference to fruit growing, in the short term at least, and who knows what might happen in the future."

He added: "I am not yet planning to plant any peaches ."

Frosts had damaged blossom on the Bramley apples, particularly in orchards on lower ground, said Robert Haines, an Evesham fruit grower.

Plums, which blossomed earlier, had also been caught by the frost on the lower levels, but appeared to have escaped the severe thinning on higher ground.