
Local beekeeper looking for orchard trees for a bee hive:

Sunday April 23rd 1.00 – 4.00 – details coming soon at dayscottage.co.uk
Hartpury Orchard Centre Blossom Day
Sunday 23 April 2023 12 noon-5pm Blossom day, enjoy a picnic in the orchard. Bar will be open. https://www.hartpuryheritage.org.uk/events/blossom-day-event/
Big Apple Blossom time
Sunday 30 April and Monday 1 May 2023 at Much Marcle. https://www.bigapple.org.uk/blossomtime-putley/
Other Blossom opportunities
GOT’s Longney Orchard by the River Severn is pretty when the plum, pear and apple blossom is out. See access information here: https://glosorchards.org/home/got-orchards/
Local community orchard groups such as Horfield Organic Community Orchard (Bristol) and Wolds End Orchard (Chipping Campden) often hold a lovely blossom event. Check their websites soon!
The Vale of Evesham has a blossom trail. https://www.visitevesham.co.uk/about-vale/blossom-trail/
Orchard Network Blossom Day Resources
https://www.hartpuryheritage.org.uk/events/ and https://www.nationalperrypearcentre.org.uk/events/
Sunday 23 April 2023 12 noon-5pm – Blossom day, enjoy a picnic in the orchard
Sunday 7 May 2023 5am Dawn chorus walk led by Mervyn Greening (for details click here)
Sunday 14 May 2023 Rogation service in orchard 6pm
Sunday 21 May 2023 Moth breakfast 9am opening moth traps and identification
Between 3 and 11 June 2023 (dates to be fixed) Moth event in Hartpury churchyard
Bat walk in churchyard (provisional)
Sunday 11 June 2023 Garden Open Prestberries Cottage (Jim’s large garden includes fruit trees)
August – Plum display date to be fixed (provisionally Sunday 27 August 2023)
Saturday 16 September 2023 Perry pear display
October Apple display (provisional)
Sunday 26 November 2023 Christmas market
Stuart Smith writes to say: that the sheep have returned to the orchard after spending winter at home on the farm. The lambs are a few weeks old, so not at the leaping for joy stage, but seemed to be enjoying the grass and the sun on their backs. Studies have shown that sheep recognise human faces, and this one seems to know our volunteer from last year!
If you leave the track in Long Tyning, you can walk beneath a canopy of apple blossom. The most common varieties here are Bramley’s Seedling and Newton Wonder – both cookers.
Joan Morgan says that when apple trees began to be included in formal gardens by the Victorians, and the blossom came to be valued as much as the fruit, “some of the grandest spring displays were to be found on the prolific cookers”.
Our friends at the UK Orchard Network have recently announced that they have a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help launch a new annual celebration – Orchard Blossom Day.
This will be:
An annual celebration of fruit trees, flowers and food. See buzzing pollinators, eat and drink tasty orchard products, and enjoy the fresh spring air
Few British sights are as uplifting or evocative as fruit tree boughs heavy with spring blossom, and nowhere is this more in evidence than in orchards. Partly man-made and partly natural, orchards are a meeting point of both worlds.
The Orchard Network are launching a new annual celebration called Orchard Blossom Day. Sites across the country will host events with activities like tours, produce fairs, picnics and practical crafts.
The ‘day’ is set as the last Friday in April, this year the 29th, but events can be throughout the blossom season. There are events taking place across Europe centred on the same date.
UK Orchard Network are inviting orchard groups and enthusiasts people to arrange orchard blossom events orchards – which can be promoted as part of the new venture
Blossom events will be publicised on social media channels, so do get in touch with Orchard Network and let them know what you’re doing.
@UK_Orch_Network
#OrchardBlossomDay
#OrchardsEverywhere
#BlossomWatch
Instagram: UK_Orchard_Network
More information is available at https://ptes.org/campaigns/traditional-orchard-project/orchard-network/orchard-blossom-day/
Blossom Afternoon at Days Cottage Orchard & Rural Skills Centre, Sunday 24th April 2022 1.00pm-4.00pm
Brookthorpe near Gloucester dayscottage.co.uk
Come and enjoy our orchards in blossom – picnic under the trees and immerse yourself in the fragrance of apple blossom. Help us celebrate springtime in our traditional orchards and their biodiversity.
Apple juice, cider, perry, orchard honey and trees for sale. Hot spiced apple juice and home made cakes. Orchard information and live music.
Limited parking in field.
Dave Kaspar and Helen Brent-Smith are very knowledgeable about orchards, so full of advice!
On the right-hand side of the tree guard is a nest tube holder, already stocked with a dozen cardboard nest tubes.
Stuart Smith spotted this beautiful blossom in Bollow Orchard at Longney while preparing for the arrival of the red mason bee cocoons at the end of March.
This particular tree is a unique perry pear, meaning that its DNA fingerprint does not match any other perry pear in the National Collection at Hartpury.
Jim Chapman says this suggests that just the seedling rootstock remains and the grafted perry variety has died – but at least it makes a lovely show!
Big Apple are planning a Blossomtime event over the bank holiday weekend of Sunday 1st and Monday 2nd May.
This will be centred on the village of Putley around Putley Parish Hall.
Details are still being finalised.
For more information on this and other planned 2022 Big Apple events visit their website:
Wolds End Orchard Blossom Weekend is not far away! Join the Wolds End orchard volunteers over the spring bank holiday weekend from Saturday 30 April to Monday 2 May to mark the start of this year’s growing season.
Come and enjoy what we hope will be a breath-taking pink and white mosaic across our 94 fruit trees, sitting within nearly three acres of ridge and furrow landscape on the edge of historic Chipping Campden.
In Japan, spring blossom is celebrated with the traditional custom of Hanami, which means ‘flower viewing’ and is an opportunity to take in the beauty of flowers. It’s a practice of restoration, an invitation to connect with plants and the soil; time to give yourself space to breathe, go slowly, walk mindfully and just be in the moment.
From late March to mid May the blossoms of apple, pear, plum, walnut and quince burst onto the scene: expect to enjoy everything from gossamer white through soft pinks and onto deep vermillion.
It’s not just about the fruit trees. We also have a ‘Shadow Orchard’ in the form of boundary hedges where you’ll also spot a variety of blossom including hawthorn, blackthorn, elder and wild damson as well as pussy willow catkins and maybe even some early wild rose.
The National Trust has a great Blossom Activity Pack on its website as part of it’s #BlossomWeekend activities.
The gate will open from 10.30am-4pm each day. Everyone is welcome – just pop in and have a wander around.
Note: the orchard is very uneven underfoot so ensure you wear appropriate footwear. Also, no dogs please as the orchard is a nature reserve as well as a working orchard.
Address: entrance on corner of Aston Road and Back Ends, GL55 6AB.
Parking: in the High Street, Campden School Car Park or public parking bays on Back Ends – no parking on site.
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