Community orchards
What is a community orchard?
A community orchard is a great way to bring a community together. Increasingly popular, there are now hundreds of these orchards scattered across the seven counties of our region. They range in size from just a few trees to over a hundred, and most are open to the public all year round.
They are good for both people and wildlife, offering all-year round opportunities for community activities, from winter pruning work parties to spring blossom days, summer pruning and fruit thinning tasks, summer picnics, autumn picking sessions and apple days. The fruits can produce a useful source of income to help sustain the orchard, sold fresh-picked or processed into juice, cider or preserves.
To find a community orchard near you click on the Homepage tab Our Region’s Fruit and then select a county.
Getting started
A community orchard is a long-term project, so you need a good team to get it off the ground and to keep it going. After planting, the trees will need managing, as will the grass beneath them.
Where to get help, inspiration and funding
- EEAOP – we have years of experience in this field and can advise on all aspects of starting new community orchards. We also run workshops on creating new orchards and orchard skills and offer the largest range of ready-to-plant local variety fruit trees in the region.
- Common Ground – the UK charity which started National Apple Day in 1990 publishes ‘The Community Orchards Handbook’. This contains all sorts of useful guidance for groups considering starting an orchard project, including sections on writing a constitution, dealing with health and safety, insurance and tackling leases. They also publish helpful booklets on orchard customs and orchards games. www.commonground.org.uk
- Your Town, City, Parish, District and County Council – under-used council-owned allotments and other parcels of undeveloped land are good sites to consider for community orchard projects, because councils prefer seeing land used by and for, the benefit of the community they serve. Leases, or annual rents, are often small when compared to the cost of purchasing land. Furthermore, councils may also help with initial site preparation work using their own machinery and labour, as well as contribute to the annual running costs, such as paying for site insurance. They may even help with small grants towards fencing, planting costs and site interpretation, in the form of leaflets or public information boards.
Contact your local council’s Landscape Officer, Green Spaces Officer, Allotments Officer or Tree Officer for help with possible community orchard sites.
Funding sources
Contact your local council’s Community Development Officer to discover if there are any small grants for local schemes which your project may be eligible for. They should also have access to national directories of grant making trusts and other funding databases.
- Tree sponsorship – offering this to your local community is a proven and popular way to cover start-up costs. We recommend asking for £25-30 per tree as this will cover the cost of one tree, plus a wooden stake, soft rubber tree tie, a plastic open-mesh tree guard and some cable ties to attach it to the wooden stake. Local businesses will often donate towards tree costs and equipment for community orchard schemes. They may also donate machinery to help with site preparation, as well as volunteer labour.
- Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) – is the national charity and umbrella organisation for county rural community councils. These, or their equivalents, exist in most counties and are a useful source of free information and advice regarding funding opportunities for rural projects, particularly at a local level. www.acre.org.uk
- The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) – a helpful web site listing funding opportunities. Some counties have their own local branches offering free advice. www.ncvo.org
- The National Lottery Awards for All England – Environment – Community projects can apply for grants of between £300 and £20K. www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk
- Landfill Communities Fund – funding may be available if your proposed community orchard site is near to a landfill site. The scheme is overseen by Entrust. www.entrust.org
- Biodiversity Partnerships – these county-based partnerships sometimes grant-aid community orchard schemes, school orchards and individual projects where they are beneficial for biodiversity. Contact your county wildlife trust for more details.
And finally
- Former commercial orchards – these are occasionally adopted by community groups, under rental agreements with the landowner. Taking on mature trees will still require a management plan as they will need periodic pruning and possible replacement. Their fruit will offer an immediate and useful source of income for a community group and they can offer picturesque opportunities for public events, such as blossom walks and apple days. It is important to respect the greater biodiversity value of older orchards wherever possible.
EEAOP – we offer general advice and workshops on the maintenance of old orchard trees. Visit our Learning and Contact Us page for more information.
Local Wildlife Trusts – these will help survey the flora and fauna of old orchards.
DEFRA – orchard owners might be eligible to apply for grant aid under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. This pays an annual amount to assist with general management and replacement of trees, usually with local varieties. Older ‘traditional’ orchards are most likely to qualify. For more details see www.naturalengland.org.uk