Author: simonandeleanor

Celebrating Earth Hour

Members of the Orchard switched off their lights and headed up to the Orchard on a cool, windy evening to celebrate Earth Hour. Millions of people around the world celebrate this every year, highlighting the awareness of climate change. Despite the cold, breezy weather, the sky was very clear and we were able to see stars and planets. An orchard member talked to us about what we could observe and we were able to see Jupiter’s moons via a telescope. Afterwards, coffee and biscuits were much welcomed.

Creating a New Dead Hedge

Orchard members created a new dead hedge during our recent work morning. Dead hedging makes use of the sticks and branches from tree pruning and provides hiding places and nesting habitats for all sorts of creatures, as well as food for insects. They are quick and easy to make and leave little impact on the environment.

Blossom Makes You Smile! Lanchester Orchard Blossom Trail Coming Soon… 

In 2025, The Nation Trust commissioned a YouGov poll to survey people’s response to nature and the outdoors. The poll found that ‘the majority of UK adults, 94%,  feel happy when seeing blossom in bloom on trees or in hedgerows’  (Nation Trust press release March 2025)

This Spring, make yourself smile and pay a visit to the Community Orchard during the blossom season. Take your blanket or chair,  sit under the trees and enjoy!

Watch out for the Blossom Trail notices on Newbiggen Lane. 

New Plum Trees

Two cherry plum trees were recently planted, adding to the diverse range of fruit trees already thriving in the orchard. Members helped to plant the trees, one of which will replace the Plum tree lost in one of last year’s storms.

New Life in the Orchard

Despite the start of the year remaining cold and wet, our trees in the Orchard are starting to come alive again. The nut trees are starting to produce catkins. If you are passing the Orchard. pop in to see the nut trees. A good reminder that Spring is on it’s way.

Dead Hedging

Our last workday was very productive. All the branches produced by the pruning were put to good use in the dead hedge created by the drop off area. Dead hedges are easy to make and put all the wood produced by the maintenance of the trees and fruit bushes to good use. They make an ideal habitat for the smaller wild life inhabiting the orchard along with fungi. It all helps to create a diverse environment.

Communities in Focus Project

George and Chris from the Communities in Focus Project joined us for our Wassailing event. The project aims to record people, places and moments in our local communities.

George and Chris have created a wonderful record of Wassailing in the orchard and shared some of their photos with us. If you’d like to see all of the photos and find out more about the project, you can visit the Communities in Focus website here.

Wassailing January 2026

Every year we hold our Wassailing event, this is a tradition that’s held around the country at this time of year. In the past people saw it as a way of thanking the trees for the fruit, wake up the trees ready for Spring and bring luck for a good crop of fruit.

This year we had another bright sunny, snowy day for our Wassailing. We were led round the orchard by our Green Man, and musicians leading us in traditional songs and dances. Our trees were woken up with loud noises and fed cider and bread to encourage another bumper crop of apples. Many thanks to our musicians and dancers and our Green Man. Hopefully we will see the results in September!