Orchard Reclamation

A half-acre of old Vale of Evesham orchard that had been neglected for nearly twenty years. Brambles up to the lower branches, a few of the trees half-collapsed, and the rest of the ground in nettles. The owners had inherited it and wanted to bring it back to a working productive orchard.

It took most of the winter. We cleared the understorey by hand, sympathetically pruned the standing trees, and replaced the worst losses with bare-root replacements grafted from the original stock by a nursery in Pershore. The grass paths are now mown three times a year, and the windfall is back in the cider press.