Cornwall volunteers turn overgrown allotment into community orchard

  • Watch Kathy Wardle's report

A group of volunteers in Cornwall are creating community orchards with the hope they will provide free, locally-grown fruit for generations to come.

Resilient Orchards Cornwall is currently supporting a community in North Country, Redruth, to develop a former overgrown allotment into a traditional orchard.

Work started last February with 30 fruit trees including apples, plums and pears being planted on the site.

Michelle Lawson who runs Resilient Orchards Cornwall told ITV West Country: “We’ve lost huge numbers of orchards, traditional orchards over the last decades, so we do need more.

Volunteers working in the orchard

She explained: “There's certain invertebrates and wildlife, rare species that live within orchards, so not only is the fruit really important for us but also the habitat is really important and rare as well.” 

Through the project, people are learning to cultivate the land with traditional skills, including the art of scything, a repetitive movement made with a tool used to upkeep land.

“The skills involved in looking after an orchard are quite extensive,” added Michelle, “you need to manage the grass and all the brambles underneath, so we’re doing scything.”

“We also need to prune the trees every year so we’re encouraging everyone to learn these skills of orchard management to then look after the orchard going forward.”

Apples growing in the orchard

The volunteers meet every Sunday and some members have even gone on training courses to improve their traditional orchard tending skills. 

One volunteer commented: “It’s been lovely to meet other people who have got similar interests and work together.”

Although the trees are not expected to fruit for three years - once they do, this community will enjoy free, locally grown fruit, for as long as the orchard is maintained.

The group is looking for more volunteers so that others can reap the benefits of this traditional practice.

For more information, including how to start volunteering, go to the Resilient Orchards Cornwall website.