Family Apple Trees

My Dad had one which was great, and a family pear tree too which is still going strong.

The three varieties of apple on his all were suitable to pollinate each other. He did have to prune it carefully though as one was far less vigorous than the other two.

Can't remember the varieties thought sorry. One was Egremont Russet though, I do know that

Overall they will work if

1. The varieties are properly matched

and

2. You know how to prune apple trees properly

The main problems being that one variety can often be much more vigorous than the others, so will eventually dominate the tree unless you're very wise with the pruning. And pruning is complicated by a mix of spur and tip bearers.

Avoid anything that has Bramley as one of the 'family' - Its absurdly vigorous and very tip bearing!

What you can do is buy a single variety and try your hand at grafting some other varieties onto it. Its very satisfying to see a graft take and grow away 

Also, while Cox's Orange Pippin is a great apple, its not an ideal garden variety as its hard to grow well without spraying, particularly in wet areas.

See if you can find a Sunset. Almost as good a flavour as Cox but much easier to grow and bears regularly and prolifically. Then if you want, graft away with whatever takes you fancy.