AUTUMN and English apples are just made for each other. You can bet that when that first nip of autumn freshens the air, the Cox's Orange Pippins will just be ripening on the trees.

Which makes it all the more of a pity that it's becomingly increasingly difficult to actually go out and buy an English apple.

Go to your local supermarket and the shelves will be lined with imported Golden Delicious. There's a token gesture towards diversity - Granny Smiths and the odd box of Cox's - but little attempt to offer any of the dozens of different varieties of apples grown within our own shores.

Even the Braeburns - a wonderfully Scottish name if ever there was one - are as likely as not imported from New Zealand.

At a time when we've been reminded so powerfully just what a precious resource fuel is, it seems crazy that most of the apples we eat travel half way round the world before reaching us. Especially when Britain probably has one of the best apple-growing climates in the world.

The Great English Apple campaign was launched this week amid concerns that shoppers, who think they are buying British, are all-too-often ending up with inferior imported substitutes.

English apple growers want to end the misleading practices employed by many foreign apple suppliers who do not label their apples with the country of origin. The campaign "Stick with British" will highlight the need for consumers to check the label.

But where in York and North Yorkshire can you go to buy good English apples? And is there anywhere you can actually buy locally-grown apples?

It's harder than you might think. Gary Dawson of the RV Roger Plant Centre near Pickering, which holds an Apple Day every year, says that while Cox's don't really grow that well this far north, there are plenty of other varieties of English apples that do. But for some reason there don't seem to be any local commercial orchards.

One great place for the apple enthusiast has traditionally been Ampleforth Abbey. The monks there grow almost 60 different varieties, and in the past have been happy to sell surplus apples to those who want them. Phone first on 01439 766000.

Next try your local market or greengrocer. Market stall-holders such as those in York's Newgate market will certainly sell English apples - and may even be able to tell you where they come from. The same goes for your local greengrocer. Russets, Cox's and Worcesters seem to be the most popular at this time of year, and while they probably won't be local, they should be English.

In York, Alligator - the organic wholefood shop in Fishergate - does stock locally-grown apples from York gardens when they are available. Spokesman Steve Heyman said they were expecting a delivery from one local garden soon. "They're eaters, but I'm not sure which type," he admitted.

If you're really serious about eating locally-grown apples, though, you could do worse than think about growing your own.

The RV Roger Plant Centre stocks 67 varieties of apple tree ready for planting in your garden - and growing is not as difficult as you'd think.

If you want to be a real purist, you could grow the same hard apples that Captain Cook took on the Endeavour: Hunt House.

If you want to actually enjoy your apples, though, you might be better going for a modern variety. James Grieve eaters grow well here, Gary Dawson said: a sweet, crisp, juicy, reddish apple. So do Discoverys, another juicy, crisp eater. Sunsets are described as the "Cox of the North" and grow very well up here; and if you're looking for a good cooker, you could do worse than the Howgate Wonder, which can reach 3lb.

One man who grows his own apples is the Vicar of Old Malton, the Rev John Manchester. He "inherited" his orchard of seven trees - and has got great pleasure out of them. "They take very little looking after," he said, "and it's lovely to have your own supply."

The next Apple Day at the RV Roger Plant Centre will be on October 21 and will include a tasting and apple identification session. Phone 01751 472226. Alligator is on 01904 654525.