
Local beekeeper looking for orchard trees for a bee hive:

This is, as we understand it, an historic orchard planted in the 1930s for Bulmers.
It is a traditional mixed variety orchard, and a perfect opportunity for an orchard enthusiast/group to restore and conserve
Selling Agent is Sunderlands. Their opening description is below:
Traditional orchard next to Adams Hill, Breinton, Hereford, HR4 7PB.
Summary of features:
– Approx. 2.53 acres (1.024 ha)
– Good roadside access
– Traditional cider orchard
– For sale by Informal Tender
Offers to be received by 17 February 2022
Here’s an inspiring report on this year’s Longney Orchard camp from the Creative Sustainability organisation. This local Community Interest Company organise (amongst many other things) camping weekends and day camps for disadvantaged young people, including disabled, refugees and asylum seekers.
Most of their camping programme had to be cancelled this year because of the Covid restrictions so the Longney event was particularly important this time.
Some quotes from the report:
‘I haven’t been into the countryside since I came to England, I don’t know where to go, whether I am welcome or safe or whether I have permission, or where I can walk’
‘This is the first sunset I’ve seen since coming to England’
‘..I found myself daydreaming of home before it became unsafe, for the first time. Normally I have nightmares. It’s being here at the orchard. It’s so peaceful – I slept well.’
‘I can see my home all around…(he pointed around the orchard as he spoke) these fruit trees, some crops, the muddy track, homes where my family, friends, aunties and uncles live, someone sleeping under the trees, the smell of cooking, goats here, chickens over there, camels and cows here’
‘It made me remember to live’
You can read the full report below or click here to download it. For more information on Creative Sustainability click here.
Click to access Report-for-Orchard-Trust.pdf
Update July 27th: Good news – we understand that the house and orchards were purchased by a private buyer sympathetic to orchard conservation.
Here’s an opportunity for someone – or some organisation – to acquire and save nearly 30 acres of traditional orchard – with an option on a recently derelict (fire-damaged) farmhouse and yard too. The site is being offered in 4 lots at auction on 22nd July.
The location is Saycells Farm, once a significant player in our local orchard history. Positioned just inside Gloucestershire but along the border with Herefordshire it is very close to the cider-making village of Much Marcle, where Westons Cider are based today. But, back in the 19th Century, Saycells itself supported a cider and perry business as big as, possibly larger than, Westons. The remaining traditional standard orchards – about 29 acres in total – reflect that legacy.
The land within the orchard lots also includes a rare parcel of flower-rich old grassland. The orchards, and the grassland, are local and national biodiversity conservation priority habitats, so the wildlife value – and potential – is huge. Maintaining the continuity of these habitats is completely compatible with reinstating fruit production and suitable grazing, so there is of course significant production potential too. There is also, sadly, a possibility of a new owner not wanting the orchards.
GOT is working with other groups and individuals to highlight the orchard value of the site – and we hope to galvanise the interest of persons wishing to own and care for this important conservation asset. We feel this is the surest way of avoiding the loss and damage that may follow a sale to persons not so motivated. There is a well-established local community orchard group – The Big Apple – very close by in Much Marcle who could support a new owner make a success the acquisition.
More details and links are below – but do get in touch with GOT or others if you want some advice – we can put you in touch with local orchard owners, some on adjoining farms, who can help explain the possibilities and potential.
Location: Postcode HR8 2NP, gridref SO663312 – see map extract above.
The Auction details:
Saycells Farm is for sale at auction via HJ Pugh & Co, unless previously sold, at The Hazle Meadows Auction Centre, Ross Road, HR8 2LP on Wednesday 22nd July 2020 at 6.30pm.
Sale details are online at http://www.hjpugh.co.uk/full-details.php?id=2810&farm-much-marcle-ledbury-herefordshire-ledbury
There is also a pdf brochure available here: http://images.portalimages.com/24206/29684739/brochure/s1/637268616575672537/33468ef07ed4d7bb6a6e022a6890d7fadb2d8357.pdf
The sale lots are (see map below right):
(Words from Mark July adapted by Jonathan Briggs)
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