Medlar trees

[suealpha]

We inherited a medlar tree when we bought our house and I believe it is nowsomething like 15 or 20 years old. It is about 7 feet tall at a guess and a flat-topped mushroomy sort of shape. (In the 8 years we have been here we have not noticed any real change in its appearance except the obvious ones with the change of seasons.) It's all right to look at but unremarkable.
Last weekend we visited friends who have a medlar tree in their garden and it was much more attractive - bigger and an interesting sort of shape.
Does anyone know if there are different varieties of medlar tree in use in this country (we are in the western West Midlands and our friends live 50 or 60 miles south of us)? If so, would that account for the difference in appearance or is it age, treatment or what?
The fruits of the two trees looked pretty similar to me.

[Thunderbird+]

Hi suealpha,
I think you could indeed be right about your idea that 50 or 60 miles south of you could make all the differance, the Medlar (mespilus germanica) originates from SE Europe and C Asia but has long been cultivated in this country.
However there is a variety which has been selected for its fruit-bearing potential, which is less thorny than the wild trees and it also has considerably larger leaves, which is a named variety known as 'Nottingham' so maybe its this one ? All the Best Tbird+