From 10am both days. We’ll be hiring a wood chipper to help clear the pruned wood, which will enable the sward to be mown prior to the harvest. Many hands make light work!
If you have a strimmer then please bring that along as well, as there is plenty to clear!
from 10:00
Apples picked in October will contribute to the Trust’s coffers, as the fruit will be sold to Trust Juice … and you’ll also receive some free apple juice in return.
If the access track is still navigable in November then there may also be a fruit harvesting day on Saturday 18th November.
Mistletoe gathering day – details to follow
Saturday 13th January, from 10:00 Pruning workshop at Longney
Saturday 10th February, from 10:00 Pruning workshop at Longney
Saturday 9th March, from 10:00 Pruning workshop at Hartpury
Saturday 13th April: Location and activity to be confirmed
Saturday 11th May: Location and activity to be confirmed
Saturday 6th June; Location and activity to be confirmed
We levy a small fee of £5 for the pruning workshops from our supporters; the sessions are also open to the general public for a fee of £25.
If you’d like to sign up to a pruning workshop then please email martin.hayes@glosorchards.org and treasurer@glosorchards.org
Assessing the environmental and social impacts of restoring traditional orchards in Gloucestershire.
The purpose is to gain a better understanding of the social impacts of orchard restoration throughout the county.
It will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.
Participation in this study is entirely voluntary and you can withdraw at any time. You are free to omit any question.
The survey is at https://rau.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/community-orchards-survey
Our volunteering day at Longney, Monday 8th May
As part of our informal get-together on 8th May, we’re teaming up with CPRE to help with their recently launched Hedgerow Hero project. Hedges are the country’s largest nature reserve and we’re going to assess the health of the hedges in and around our orchards at Longney and submit our findings to their national database. It’s all part of The Big Help Out
First orchard is Long Tyning (long and thin) then Bollow. Also on site are Middle & Lower Orchards which have been planted up with heritage apple and plum trees of regional/national importance.
We look forward to seeing you! Any queries to David Lingren david@cotswoldfruit.co.uk
There is a barn (with interpretation signage), chairs, composting loo and running cold water. Re health and safety, there is a first aid kit in the store in the barn. The ground is uneven, there are some brambles and low hanging branches. The river Severn is fenced off.
GOT orchardist Martin Hayes is running a series of workshops at GOT’s lovely Longney Orchard, south of Gloucester.
Date will be (many not yet confirmed):
The first of our planned monthly workshops at Longney Orchard took place on 18th January.
A small team of energetic (and young) people pruned about 8 to 10 trees at the far end of the Long Tyning part of the orchard.
The prunings have been gathered into piles, but some limbs are rather big for manhandling so there are several piles of wood.
These will be tackled and sorted, and tidying up pruned wood at a later date.
This is a video filmed in GOT’s orchards at Longney: This is the summary from the CPRE page:
An interview with Tim Andrews, County Director of CPRE Gloucestershire, and Martin Hayes. Martin is an expert orchardist and key member of the Gloucestershire Orchard Trust. The interview explores why orchards are special to Martin and Gloucestershire, and the work Martin does to reverse their decline. Around 75% of orchards have been lost in Gloucestershire in the last 50 years.
The interview was filmed in Longney, near Gloucester at an orchard owned by the Gloucestershire Orchard Trust. CPRE Gloucestershire is presently helping to restore around 10 acres of orchard at near Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.
Tim Andrews directed, filmed and edited the video – it was his first try at doing this. And it is rather good, though Tim says ‘improvements are planned for next time’.
Gloucestershire orchards featured in the Christmas broadcast of BBC Countryfile, on 18th December.
Countryfile’s Adam Henson, a Gloucestershire farmer himself, joined GOT’s Jonathan Briggs and Tim Andrews in tackling excess mistletoe in an orchard at Moreton Valence. Jonathan talked to Adam about mistletoe issues and Tim brought along the kit to do the work and talked Adam through the process. And passed round some of his cider afterwards.
The whole piece lasted for about 6 minutes – which is not bad of this sort of programme!
You can view the whole programme (the orchard section starts at about 13 minutes in) at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001gcmv/countryfile-rockingham-castle
There are some screenshots below:
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