Our beautiful fruit trees have once again put on a wonderful blossom display. Hopefully there will be lots of apples to pick and juice in the Autumn!
Blossom Time!
Author: simonandeleanor
Big Help Out Day 8th May 2023
To celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, the orchard took part in the Big Help Out Day on the bank holiday Monday. Despite the rainy weather we had lots of visitors and everyone was able to help out building a new bench to commemorate the coronation. The Junior Wild life group also attended and our young visitors were able to make bug hotels.
Earth Hour 25th March 2023
At 8.30 pm all around the world on the 25th March, people switched off their lights for an hour to highlight the issues of climate change. Despite the very wet day, the rain stopped just in time for us to celebrate Earth Hour in the orchard. Well done to everyone who braved the weather to attend and to all our members who celebrated Earth Hour at home. Same time next year!
First signs of Spring!
If you’re going for a walk around the orchard in the next few weeks watch out for the snowdrops and other early Spring flowers.
Our Colourful Nut Trees!
Our annual display of colourful catkins can be seen in our nut grove. It’s a joy to see the orchard waking up after the long winter and well worth a wander around the orchard to see them!
Pruning Day 11th February 2023
We have to prune our apple trees twice a year to maintain the health of the trees and encourage crops and growth. This time we were under the expert eye of one of our members, who lead a masterclass in pruning techniques for our other members. Despite the hard efforts there is still plenty of pruning left to do if you want to help at our next work session.
Celebrating the Winter Solstice December 2022
Everyone wrapped up warm and arrived with chairs, blankets and warm drinks to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Windbreaks, a fire pit and some mulled cider helped ward off the chilly night!
1
A New Bug Hotel for the Orchard October 2022
A five star bug hotel is now open for use by all our creepy crawly inhabitants in the orchard. The Junior Wildlife Group spent the day creating an amazing bug hotel. A big thank you to everyone who took part.
Community Orchards on the rise
Our community orchard is part of a growing movement across the country. You can find out more in this article from the BBC website.
If you would like to become a member of the Lanchester Community Orchard, please get in touch via our ‘contact’ page. New members are always warmly welcomed!
Apple Harvest and Juicing Day October 2022
This year we have had a bumper apple crop. With so many apples to pick from our productive trees we needed lots of members to help! We spent a busy day harvesting the apples. Some were packed for members to collect to eat and some were turned into delicious apple juice. We now have a new apple press which came in very handy.
Lanchester Community Orchard 