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Traditional Orchards in Herefordshire
As a leading landscape conservation body, CPRE Herefordshire is concerned
about the intensification and loss of traditional Herefordshire orchards.
The County has a long tradition as a centre for cider making. Cider is
part of the county’s folklore and orchards have given the Herefordshire
countryside a unique character. The value of traditionally managed orchards
- which retain standard fruit trees, are grazed by cattle or sheep, and
contain important wildlife habitats such as hedgerows, ponds and dead
wood - is recognised in the Herefordshire
Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). Recent intensification has led to
the development of smaller trees that produce larger crops - ‘bush
orchards’. 
Commercial
pressures have resulted in many old apple varieties becoming rare. They
tend to be found now only in neglected and abandoned remnant orchards.
One aim of the BAP is to restore and/or create new traditional orchards.
In 2001 CPRE Herefordshire played an important part in one such scheme
at Bodenham Lakes, near Hope-under-Dinmore. 
In
partnership with Bodenham Village, St Michaels Primary School and Herefordshire
Council Parks and Countryside Service, part of the 114 acre nature reserve,
site of former gravel extraction, was replanted with 100 trees, 20 cider
apple varieties and 8 varieties of perry pear. The new orchard was part
funded under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.
Research into the history of the site, as part of an information display
to mark the planting, discovered that the ‘new’ orchard was
being planted on ground that had been given to St. Mary’s Church
in the 12th century when it was called Lady Close. This same field is
mentioned as an orchard in deeds of the farm dated 1799. An orchard was
a traditional part of a mixed family farm and farmers would have made
their own cider and perry for family use. In the days before easy transport
and supermarkets, farmers produced food and beverages for their own and
local use, and cider would have been a staple drink.
The tree planting day was arranged in December 2001, during National Tree
Week and also celebrating CPRE Herefordshire’s 70th birthday. The
site is a Nature Reserve and part is open to public.
| CPRE has a long history of landscape conservation in Herefordshire. Our first major project was as long ago as the 1930s. It involved the purchase of 157 acres of Dinmore Hill, which was under threat from development, through the generosity of CPRE Herefordshire's first Hon. Secretary, Mrs Guy Trafford. This woodland later became the core of what is now Queenswood Country Park. The northern boundary of Bodenham Lakes is adjacent to Queenswood. |
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CPRE Herefordshire is a registered Charity: No: 213951. The Campaign to Protect Rural England exists to promote the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in town and country.
© 2003 Design & Development