It's been many years in my experience since the English apple and pear industry has publicly been seen to be in such good heart.

Admittedly in the City last week it was a smaller and more informal dinner to mark the start of the season.

Perhaps that is another sign of the contraction of numbers in the grower-supermarket relationships. But it was in sharp contrast to last year, when English Apples & Pears castigated guilty parties for not funding its promotional initiatives, and there was a general undercurrent bemoaning a lack of profitability.

Digging deeper, this discontent appeared to embrace a host of issues, from supermarket relationships to Continental competition, and above all shrinking acreage.

12-months on, amazingly it seems these problems have disappeared from the English orchards as swiftly as an early morning dew. The highly respected independent chairman of EAP Robin Pooley was at his most avuncular and his trusty lieutenant Adrian Barlow gave news that crop quality ñ despite a few minor gaps ñ is looking good. The multiples have never been so supportive.

There was even a promise that, based on the expectations of 2003/2004, the celebrations next year will on an even higher plane.

So the season seems set for a good start at the very least. Fruit is eating well, thanks to some of the highest acid:sugar levels ever recorded.

However, there are inevitably some question-marks lingering at the back of growers' minds as to the likely storeability of fruit post-Christmas. After all growing apples when temperatures well into the 90s have been recorded this summer is a new experience for everyone, so nobody can know precisely what might happen.

Underneath the glossy feel-good factor of the event, there was even some added spice for us journalists, with the news that one supermarket ñ later named as the Co-op ñ had hit on a novel way of promoting the English crop.

Simple ideas, particularly in marketing, are usually the best. But until now, the concept of putting money-off promotional coupons in poly bags of French Royal Gala extolling the virtues of the competitive English apple had never been used.

This certainly raised a few eyebrows. But if the idea catches on, merchandisers will ensure that we see endless variations on the pro-British theme.

Meanwhile as the harvest is gathered in we can expect some coverage in the national media. Adding to interest many garden centres now have apple days, and the RHS at Wisley is going the whole hog by displaying and selling old fashioned varieties which it has even exhibited at that Mecca of the industry ñ as I still call it ñ the Marden Show.

It is not a new idea of course. Lord Selborne attending the seasonal launch in London confided that his farms down in Hampshire have built up an eager and patriotic clientele over no less than 34 years.