There are increasing signs that autumn is on the way with Marjorie’s Seedling plums now in place on the shelves alongside Victorias.

Waitrose has even extended its Essentials range to include a 1.8kg bulk carton of the former, grown by Paul Mansfield and priced at £3.99.

And as English apples compete to take more space, the supermarket also has a lesser known variety called Sunrise at £1.99 for four, supplied by Rob Simpson in Herefordshire.

The multiple also has its own orchards at Leckford which carry this brand name. There may not be too many examples of retailers producing fruit, but the Co-operative has been offering polybags of Discovery apples at £2.40 (reduced to £1.60) for 56-60mm fruit from its Tillington Estate, and proudly proclaiming “Grown by Us”.

Southern hemisphere fruit is still evident at Marks & Spencer, which has come up with another bi-coloured New Zealand Limited Edition variety called Rockit, presented in an eight fruit tray pack for £1.99, which includes 33 per cent extra free.

Whether it has been the long hot summer creating perfect conditions or not, but I always thought home-grown melons as a crop was the prerogative of those with walled gardens and Victorian ‘hot boxes’. However, M&S is stocking English cantaloupes at £2.49.

Another branch of the same genus - namely pumpkins - have also begun to make an appearance, although Halloween is still some way off.

Sainsbury’s has small fruit at £2/kg, and there is a fair sprinkling of Harlequin squash making a showing across the sector.

While the nation seems to have taken butternut squash to its heart, two lookalikes have come over the horizon - the Coquina and Paquito - both grown in Greece.

The former, at Sainsbury’s, is

£2.49/kg, while the latter at Tesco is a pound less for the same weight.

Finally, another of the more unusual arrivals at M&S has been Tarocco oranges at £1.99 for four. The lightly pigmented variety traces its history back to Sicily and is Italy’s most popular orange.

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