Community orchards - have u discovered your local one yet?

[YogaLite]

If u fancy free organic fruit, check out one near you, there are hundreds around the country.

Just been to my local, apples are just about starting, there are plums and pears too. Have picked some apples for apple butter, last year I made lots of jars for the winter and hope to do the same this year.

Don't leave all that beautiful fruit to the wildlife.

ptes.org/campaigns/traditional-orchard-project/orchard-network/community-orchards/

Never heard of this. How fantastic, thank you!

Yes, they're delightful. There was one near where we lived in Oxford - complete with instructions that the fruit was only for residents(ie., home owners) of the area, not scummy renters like us. It warmed my heart.

I've just used the map search. How exactly are they defining "orchard"? It lists a local nature reserve which definitely doesn't have any fruit trees.

In fact all the "community orchards" round here seem to be private ones that you can only use if you live on the estate. How would I go about finding one that's open to the public?

That website showed the small green in my village. It's not an orchard. I'm not sure who added it!

One nearest to me is a community garden but produce is used for the cafe.

The only one within easy distance for me the website is defunct. Its just a parish council address for which the correct website shows nothing about any orchard.

A community farm has just one in Cambridge. It’s amazing

Two I know are pretty good, one is not even fenced off. The other one is fenced off but not locked. Both are located near but not at the allotments and u don't need to enter the allotments at all.

Both open to everyone.

There are several within 40 minutes walk of us in Hackney, east London. All open to everyone, and the trees get wassailed every year!

There’s one at the bottom of my garden, just over the fence.
The village holds an annual Apple Day to raise funds for maintenance, stuff to encourage wildlife and so on.
It’s lovely.

@SarahAndQuack - ‘residents’ usually means anyone who lives there, regardless of who actually owns the property. Does it specifically say that renters aren’t allowed?

@SarahAndQuack

Yes, they're delightful. There was one near where we lived in Oxford - complete with instructions that the fruit was only for residents(ie., home owners) of the area, not scummy renters like us. It warmed my heart.

If it said residents then that means everyone who currently lives there. I can’t imagine it said home owners and not renters surely?!

Thanks OP, these are a fantastic community idea and it’s good to get more publicity.

No, it was specific. I know what residents usually means (it's amazing! I'm almost like a normal human being!).

Sorry to sound chippy, but it annoyed me then and does now. There were allotments with a community orchard, and we asked about both and were told they were only for people who owned their own homes.

It's not that uncommon to restrict allotments to home-owners. Still a bit shit, though.

(My memory is the wording was literally 'residents (ie., home owners),' btw.

The closest one to us has a £10 joining fee plus you need to donate a minimum of 10 hours a month to the project. Once you do that then you're allowed to buy the produce. So not free in any sense of the word but I'm sure a lovely idea for anyone who doesn't have a garden or want a full allotment.

@CantStandMeow

The closest one to us has a £10 joining fee plus you need to donate a minimum of 10 hours a month to the project. Once you do that then you're allowed to buy the produce. So not free in any sense of the word but I'm sure a lovely idea for anyone who doesn't have a garden or want a full allotment.

That's almost exactly how ours operates. Nothing free about it, except that you are expected to give your time for free! The price they sell the produce for isn't even cheap - they do fruit/veg boxes at approx the same price as Abel and Cole.

There's a community apple orchard in our village. It's maintained by volunteers and anyone can pick the apples.

I apparently have two near me, but can’t find any info about them online. One is just a regular public park. The other one I don’t know. Might go take a walk to check them out!

Just thought I mention I am in the south so fruit here will probably be ready earlier than further north.

@SarahAndQuack that’s really shit. I’m not surprised you are annoyed. Can you complain to anyone? I would be very tempted to kick up a stink about that.

I’m on our Horticultural Society committee, and our allotments have no such ridiculous rule. If they did, and someone drew that to my attention, I would be making very sure that was changed.

(In fact I will be double checking it at our next meeting)

Turns out that I walk past one several times a week.

The one local to me where I used to live was stripped by several branches of one family who owned a few corner shops in the town. They then sold the produce in their shops 😠
The committee running the orchard had to put in place some guidelines etc, but I’m not sure it stopped them
Very sad it was taken advantage of.