Community Orchards Project

Coronation Community Orchards

To celebrate the King’s Coronation, North Northamptonshire Council has received government funding to help 21 groups, parish councils and schools to create community orchards this winter.

NNC have worked in partnership with Adam Cade of the Stamford Community Orchard Group to enable the communities and schools to plant fruit trees, mainly on publicly accessible land and school grounds. This will keep our beautiful, bountiful and biodiverse orchards alive and productive in North Northamptonshire.

Some of the orchards will be small - just five different trees in part of a school's grounds. Others will have as many as 20 or 30 trees in public green spaces. The largest orchard will be in Gretton where the Parish Council has recently purchased a field on which they will be planting a traditional orchard with about 100 apples, pears, plums and greengages, surrounded by a shelter belt.

Contact:

Hannah Dunstan | Woodland Ranger
North Northamptonshire Council

Hannah.Dunstan@northnorthants.gov.uk

Update in January 2025

In late January more than 720 grafted and seedling fruit trees arrived in Corby. There were traditional and local apple varieties, pears, cherries, plums, quinces, medlars and more. They were bought from various specialised and certificated fruit-growing nurseries.

With the trees themselves, there were stakes, mesh protectors and mulch mats - everything the groups would need to create their orchards.

The next step was to sort out the trees and equipment into appropriate bundles for the various groups, and volunteers were on hand to help with this over two days.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 28th January the groups arrived to pick up their trees and planting equipment. The rain came down but everyone was in very good spirits.

Adam Cade gave a quick demonstration to show how the planting should be done and then everyone headed off with their trees to get busy with spades and stakes in the very near future.

Look out for new orchards being created by all the following groups, schools, parishes and individuals.

Wren Spinney School
Stanion C of E Primary School
Germain Education Foundation
Kingswood Primary Academy
Kettering Buccleuch Academy
King's Cliffe Endowed School
Wilbarston Primary School
Little Stanion Primary School
Isebrook SEN School
Oundle School
Laxton Junior School
Fletton Field Association
Oundle Town Council
Brigstock Parish Council
Gretton Parish Council
Friends of Sywell Country Park
Deene & Deenthorpe Parish Council
Farah Kidy
Cottingham Parish Council
Coronantion Park Growing Project
Raunds Town Council

And then came the community planting...

Planting

Stanion CoE Primary School

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Sarah Hankins wrote

We have planted our trees now. I have attached some photos of the Year 5 and 6 children planting the trees. They were very excited by this project and hope that they can come back to school to pick the apples when they fruit.

We have placed the trees where they can easily be seen by all school members and visitors. We're all excited about the prospect of growing something that we can pick and eat.

Thank you very much for giving us this opportunity.

Deenethorpe Coronation Orchard

Jane Kennedy wrote:

Community spirit abounded recently on a sunny spring day, when residents of Deenethorpe and Brudenell Estates staff met with the pleasant task of planting young fruit trees to provide an orchard for the village. This orchard is to be called the ‘Coronation Orchard’ in celebration of the coronation of HM King Charles III, and Mr and Mrs Brudenell kindly gave permission for a piece of estate land to be used, along with long-term access for the residents.

Many of the trees planted have been cultivated from specimens pre-dating the 1930’s in an effort to conserve and promote traditional orchard trees, namely -

Apples – Bramley, Wyken Pippen, Adams Pearmain, Egremont Russet, Blenheim Orange, Bloody Ploughman, Lord Peckover, Barnack Beauty, Discovery

Plums – Early Prolific, Kirkes Blue

Pears – Louise Bonne of Jersey, Doyenne du Comice

Quince – Vranja

Also included are Wild Pear, Service Trees and Damson.

The orchard will not only provide delicious fruit, but beautiful blossom in spring and will support the local eco-system by attracting pollinators and small mammals. Windfall fruit is also a great source of food for birds, butterflies and wildlife.

Gretton Parish Council

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Councillor Jacki Lilley wrote:

We were so pleased to have around 40 volunteers turn up to help with the planting - some very young, some not so 😀. We have now planted more than 50 trees - which is very good going for two hours of work, I think you will agree. The weather was not so great, but nonetheless our volunteers made the effort to get the orchard off to a successful start. Douglas Hall and Steve Ellis spent three days last week mapping out the site and have devised a great system for ensuring that the right tree was planted in the right location and with Sara Earl's help, records maintained showing the location, the tree type and the planter which will help in the future recording and maintenance of the orchard. Steve Ellis gave a demonstration on how to plant the trees at the start and must have done a good job of explaining how and why it was important to plant in the right way, as there were no questions afterwards and all of the trees went in well on the first go.

Next week a small group will be planting the hedgerow and the final tree planting date is planned for 15th March (weather permitting).

Oundle Town Council

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Clive Humphries wrote :

Here we are getting the trees in on Saturday 1st Feb. They are all looking good - and very proud we are too!

The local importance of orchards

The new Local Nature Recovery Strategy for North Northamptonshire includes traditional orchards, widely spaced with high trunks, as an important habitat to conserve and develop. Traditional orchards develop over 100 or more years with ‘standard’ trees at low density and main branches above the reach of grazing animals. They can have significant ecological value and wildlife diversity. Ongoing research, in both the UK and abroad, has identified their importance for birds, including the woodpeckers, bullfinch, fieldfare and redwing. The trees veteranise within 50 years as the dead and decaying wood provides a microhabitat for fungi and saproxylic invertebrates.

Many of these old orchards have been grubbed up or gone for housing and industrial development, even though they are a Priority Habitat in the Northamptonshire Biodiversity Action Plan.

Open day at the former Fineshade Community Orchard

All through the year an orchard can enrich the landscape and biodiversity of the local area

The Orchard Year

In the autumn fruit can be picked, processed and used to promote healthy, local food. You could organise community fruit pressing to make juice, cider and vinegar. Borrow a fruit mill and press from Stamford Community Orchard Group here.)

In the winter the orchard can be celebrated with a wassail and new fruit trees and a hedge can be added to the orchard. You can organise a wassail event like this. And why not attend a grafting workshop?

In the spring the blossom and trees provide a focus for exploring pollinators and nature in all its forms. Why not organise an Orchard Blossom event? and plant wild flowers in the orchard meadow

In the summer spot the pollinators and growing fruit. Photograph the bumblebee pollinators and add them to local records. Mow or scythe the orchard meadow before the fruit falls

Apple pressing in the former Fineshade Community Orchard

An orchard is natural investment for the future!

It can bring people together who may be enticed to support or help such an outdoor project.
It can commemorate any event, such as the King’s Coronation.
It can provide a cool, shady, screened area for quiet enjoyment, such as picnics or special events.
Seeing families lying under drifting blossom or picking and tasting their first fruit will soften any heart.

Download a leaflet/guide

This has more details with live links and can be printed out.