My brother brought me one of his huge apples to try. He has no idea of variety (he bought a job lot of cheap fruit trees and never looks at labels - if they had any), but it is very similar in looks and taste to a Cox. So I've sown the seeds. they'll probably come up as crabs. I've also potted up 2 volunteer apple sprigs that have come from cores thrown out for the blackbirds.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished – Lao Tzu