|
TRADITIONAL ORCHARDS - A KENTISH HERITAGE
Our guest speakers were Dr Robert Baxter (Lynsted’s Park Farm Community Cherry Orchard Group) and Pippa Palmer with Sally Evans (North Kent AONB). Our speakers explained how local communities across Kent are being encouraged to preserve the remaining traditional fruit orchards for future generations. Lynsted’s Group have led the way for more recently formed groups throughout Kent who have similar aims.
We were reminded how fruit-growing and animal grazing went hand in hand under the canopy of orchards in the past. But in recent times, farmers have favoured cultivation of fruit on shorter stocks for ease of harvesting and turned to a more limited range of varieties. We were reminded how important the work of Brogdale is in maintaining diversity of fruit collections.
We learned that traditional orchards tend to contain several varieties to aid pollination and support longer harvesting seasons up to two months. Park Farm has fourteen varieties.
The Orchard Group have worked with the land-owners (the Neaves family), North Kent AONB, and Lottery Fund support to promote the value of traditional orchards in our community. To this end they have developed a series of seasonal events and sought to study and diversify the habitat to help fungi thrive, monitor bats, and create a haven for insects and small mammals including a colony of slow worms that were moved from a building development in the Parish. Within the Park Farm Orchard, there are interpretation boards, a sculpture by a local artist and a wooden seat in memory of John Disney, who had been central to the success of the Group. The many events to take place in the Orchard include the very popular Halloween children’s party, Blossom Day, Cherry Day, and barn dances. All these aspects are publicised and celebrated through their excellent web site – www.lynsted-orchard.org.uk
Plans for the future include:
- a Brass Band concert;
- a return of the Detling Singers concert in Lynsted Church on the eve of Cherry Day;
- More oral history interviews to be stored on the web site;
- Further wildlife studies, especially with local children; and
- Joining the North Kent AONB in supporting a wider network of community-based traditional orchard groups.
The Orchard Group would very much welcome more people to help set up these and other events - setting up displays, pergolas, tables, and so on.
If you can help this enthusiastic and pioneering group,
please call Bob Baxter on 521515.
The second speaker for the evening was Pippa Palmer from North Kent AONB, which covers a large swathe of north Kent from the White Cliffs of Dover westwards, taking in 137 parishes. The are of coverage includes 70,000 inhabitants and has 5 million people living within 5 miles.
North Kent AONB supports and promotes village festivals (one in Lenham had cherry pizzas.....apparently delicious!), country walks, the diversification of crops including the cultivation and traditional harvesting of thatching straw. Returning some chalkland to traditional management has seen the return of several orchids, butterflies and moths. We were also shown the fascinating carved bench and pilgrim at Harrietsham – surely worth a visit! Society members will recall the story of the Noble Chafer Beetle and we were asked again to look out for old (50 years old or more) plum and cherry trees that have rotted parts in which the beetle might be found.
Returning to the theme of traditional orchards, Pippa applauded the inspiration given by Lynsted Park Farm Community Orchard Group. North Kent AONB are now working with four other communities to manage and restore traditional orchards – Sheldwich, Stockbury, Lenham, and Milsted. It is their hope that this small network will grown and share their experiences, providing the foundation for a much more ambitious project to identify and support other orchards across the whole of Kent. Already, Lenham has held open days to identify how the community views orchards and their history and created an attractive map as a work of art that captures their story. We also learned of the connections between Lenham and Grants Morella Cherry Brandy that was produced locally. Alongside stories like this, the AONB has sponsored the writing of a play (Cherry Ripe) that celebrates the history of cherries since Roman times until 70 years ago.
Finally, we heard from Sally Evans, who has built on the magnificent work of Pippa to build more community engagement in traditional orchards. She invited Society Members to help the AONB identify the location of all traditional fruit orchards throughout Kent to help the AONB build a database and that will support a bid for significant Lottery Funding to further expand the network of traditional orchards with their local communities. If you know of any old orchards, please do visit the AONB pages and let them know.
There are also efforts to identify traditional orchards by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species who recognise the importance of retaining diversity in habitat for many endangered species.
One final thought left by a question asked from the audience - if you do want to plant a variety of cherry or other fruit, you can choose a suitable rootstock (some apples can be grown on very dwarf stocks) to suit your circumstances. However, you do need to give Brogdale a year’s notice as this service is provided “on demand” and it takes a year to graft your favourite variety onto a rootstock that can be suited to the most modest garden.
Nigel Heriz-Smith
|
