On the 18th October an Orchard member spotted some very confused apple trees producing blossom. Perhaps a reflection of the erratic weather we have been experiencing this year!


On the 18th October an Orchard member spotted some very confused apple trees producing blossom. Perhaps a reflection of the erratic weather we have been experiencing this year!


Sue and Lynn set up our orchard table and invited everyone to taste the different varieties of apple. Many of the apples and fruit we grow in the orchard are heritage varieties and can not be bought in shops. You can find more information and how to become a member of the Community Orchard by visiting the ‘Orchard’ page of our website.

Well done to all of the Orchard members and friends who turned up to help pick our apples and make juice. Despite not being such a big crop as last year we still picked the apples from 50 trees to share with orchard members and produced quite a few bottles of delicious, organic apple juice.








The fruit and nuts have been ripening during the summer and are close to being picked. The apples need a few more weeks until our fruit picking and juicing day, but the windfall apples have been well sampled! The squirrels as usual are enjoying the nut crop but they have left some for us to pick!






The Margery Flatts Allotment Association organised a Summer BBQ and invited Orchard Members along. A big thanks to Gill and Steve for organising this event. Despite the rather mixed weather we still managed to consume lots of delicious pizzas and marshmallows!


We usually complete a wild flower survey every year. Many thanks to everyone who joined in with the survey and here are their results…
We found 47 species of wildflowers up from 31 last year with a few extra grasses. Our best finds were Bittersweet, commonly known as Deadly Nightshade, and Self Heal.
Here are the different species of grasses we found: Yorkshire Fog, Perennial Rye grass, Meadow Foxtail, Cocks Foot, False Oat grass, Crested Dogs Tail, Sweet Vernal grass, Timothy, Creeping Bent grass.

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!



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.






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!


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.
